The Arc New York Strategic Plan: Phase 2 Update

As we continue to move forward with Strategic Planning, we wanted to review what we have accomplished, and where we are headed. In such a large organization, it takes time to agree on priorities and come to consensus on how to execute them. Despite those challenges, we have been able to find common ground and make meaningful changes to strengthen The Arc New York.   

Initial Strategic Plan: 2021-2024

We adopted our first organizational strategic plan in 2021. Over the next few years, workgroups collaborated to execute these strategic initiatives and advance our strategic goals. Workgroups were created to support DEI (diversity, equity & inclusion), governance, financial sustainability, advocacy, innovation, and staffing. The State office invested a total of $1.23M in those first initiatives.

A variety of tools and products came from those groups, including:

• Statewide Chapter DEI survey and analysis
• An educational DEI webinar series in partnership with Georgetown University
• Implementation of joint accounting software
• Toolkits for optimizing quality and revenue in Chapter programs
• Grant funding initiative launched, and staff person hired
• Creation of Joint Advocacy Committee, and work with a consultant to develop a plan to improve our advocacy framework
• Board dashboard and Guide to Excellence created, reinvigoration of mentoring program, committee training, and Board training tool
• Innovation engine launched and idea areas developed
• Best practice guide for staffing recruitment and retention, development and execution of the Discover the Rewards campaign, student loan program, and more

When the workgroups completed these deliverables, the Strategic Planning Committee sunset so the full Board of Governors and the Executive Committee could take a more direct role in planning.

We gained many insights from the successes and challenges of our initial strategic efforts, and those lessons are informing our work moving forward.

Development of New Strategic Plan

Beginning in January 2024, we began meeting with the full Board of Governors to discuss our next strategic priorities. The three top areas identified by the Board are advocacy, staffing, and branding. To maximize our impact, we agreed to focus on one area at a time, and to ensure we reach agreement on clearly defined, actionable goals within each area before we moved forward.

We focused on branding for the balance of 2024. Following robust discussion, the Board of Governors decided a cobranding strategy would be the best approach, as it would make progress in elevating the organizational brand without compromising local Chapter identity.

In February 2025, the Board adopted a policy to define our co-branding requirements. The deadline for completing most of these changes was in May 2025. Today, all Chapters have added The Arc New York logo and a description of our connection to their websites, and have added the logo to social media sites, merchandise, fliers, and other items. This is truly a major achievement for the organization and will help shape public perception of The Arc New York as a unified force across the state.

After February of this year, we turned our focus to the second priority: advocacy. We have had rich discussions about our advocacy goals at board meetings, and gathered additional feedback through a survey. We are narrowing our focus on advocacy and hope to reach consensus on overall goals when we meet next month. Spoiler alert – the survey showed clear agreement on two top goals:

1. improving the number of personal connections between our families, self-advocates, staff, and legislators, and
2. better engaging our full family network in advocacy action. The advocacy team at the State Office agrees that these are the best places to invest our time. Achieving these goals will require collective effort to accomplish, but we believe they will yield meaningful returns if we work together.

The third focus area, also set in January 2024, was staffing. Like our advocacy and branding priorities, further discussion will be necessary to ensure we take impactful action in this area.

Next Steps

I hope to bring our advocacy goals into closer focus at our next meeting, so we will be positioned for the Board of Governors to act on them in the coming months. We will turn to staffing strategy after the Board makes its decisions about advocacy.

Although our progress takes time, we have a large organization with many perspectives to consider. The Board’s full engagement is essential to ensure we define clear goals that are impactful, achievable, and shared. Identifying goals we all support will encourage the participation we need to be successful.