Team UPO,  Happy New Year… Happy new FISCAL year, that is. Last October 1, if you had told me the journey we would find ourselves on, I would not have believed it but here we are. Strong as ever.  When I took over the helm at UPO, I shared plans with you to assess our programs, expand into mental health supports for our customers, and embrace innovations that would continue to move our agency in the direction of excellence. Some of these things we were able to do in fantastic fashion.

In January, we broke ground on a 76-unit affordable housing development specifically built for those with low incomes, just steps away from Nationals Stadium and the new Audi Field. Our Affordable Housing Office continues to look for new ways to deliver 500 affordable housing units in 5 years.

The Communications team launched our first Metro campaign highlighting the UPO Workforce Institute training programs. The campaign was so effective that we had full classes and waiting lists.

We entered 2020 with a wildly successful MLK Breakfast that garnered greater attendance and fundraising for scholarships than it had done in years!

Although we went into partial shutdown in March, our frontline heroes continued to provide high-quality direct services:   The Shelter Hotline gave rides and meals to the city's most vulnerable — the homeless. The Office of Early Learning cared for the children of first responders so they could battle COVID knowing their children were safe and cared for by committed educators. The Comprehensive Treatment Center ensured that treatment was available to keep our customers healthy physically and emotionally. The EBT team ensured that residents were still able to feed their families by receiving their SNAP benefits even in the midst of a pandemic. Our Advocacy team ensured that hundreds of families each month had direct access to groceries and hot meals and got counted in the 2020 Census. Remotely, WFI provided ongoing training and job placement to our Comp TIA A+ Help Desk and Building Careers Academy trainees, and the OEL teachers and home visitors engaged with families remotely to ensure that they were safe and had the support they needed.

These examples are just a snapshot of how the UPO Family responded (and is still responding) to the public health crisis. Even COVID could not stop UPO from thriving. Internally, our Facilities team renovated the office space for Shelter Hotline’s team. This was a long overdue and well-deserved upgrade. The Facilities team has also kept us safe by ensuring well-sanitized buildings during this health emergency. The forward thinking of our Information Technology and Human Resources offices prepared us for the remote work that became so necessary to continue giving excellent service to all of our internal and external customers.  When we learned that we would receive appropriations through the CARES Act, our Youth Division, Finance team and General Counsel sprang into action to ensure that we supported other non-profits endeavoring to aid young people who were disengaged from the school day for several months to help them recover that academic loss and to socially re-engage. They also worked with IT to ensure laptops would be made available for low-income families to engage in remote learning during the school year. 

In September we learned that our beloved Gail Govoni, VP for the Office of Early Learning, has decided to retire (or perhaps recharge). We cannot thank Gail enough for the excellent foundation that she created for UPO to build upon. As we lose Gail, we add on several new Board members and will begin 2021 with new faces governing the agency.

SO WHAT IS NEXT?

We will continue to have excellence as our North Star. Over the next two years we will administer the additional CARES Act funding to support those affected immediately by the health crisis and make sure that as we come out of the pandemic, our customers are equipped to get back on their feet and into the education and job markets. We know our customers face non-clinical mental health challenges and we will continue to assess how UPO incorporates this into our service delivery model. We cannot discuss 2020 without reflecting on the conversations on racial equity and justice. Our HR office will be making recommendations for how the agency intentionally and reflectively engages in racial equity dialogue and actions. I hope that you are as excited as I am about the opportunities that are ahead of us.   I will end with a quote from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 

“[I want to be remembered as] someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has. To do something outside myself.”  - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

This is my hope for UPO. That we use the talents we have to work to the best of our ability to make this society better for the people we serve. I am walking arm-in-arm and lockstep with you into fiscal 2021. Look…excellence is just there in the distance. Be Safe, Be Well, Andrea Thomas | President and CEO of United Planning Organization

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