STRATEGIC PLANNING AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Understanding Your Community's Needs and Charting a Course Forward
We support organizations in understanding their landscape, identifying community priorities and assets, and developing strategies grounded in evidence and community wisdom. Our strategic planning and needs assessment work is designed to help organizations move from information to action—aligning priorities, goals, and accountability with equity-centered outcomes.
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We work with organizations across health, housing, education, and social services to facilitate planning processes that are collaborative, rigorous, and responsive to context.
How We Approach Strategic Planning & Needs Assessment
Our approach centers both data and lived experience. We design assessment and planning processes that bring together multiple perspectives to build a comprehensive understanding of community needs, system dynamics, and organizational capacity.
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Equity is embedded throughout our work. We pay close attention to whose voices are included, how findings are interpreted, and how decisions are made. This includes examining which communities benefit most from proposed strategies and ensuring planning efforts are designed to reduce—rather than reproduce—existing inequities.
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Our goal is to support strategies that are realistic, actionable, and grounded in the contexts where organizations operate.
What We Provide
Support is tailored to organizational goals, scale, and decision-making needs and may include:
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Comprehensive needs assessments using multiple data sources
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Analysis of public datasets, administrative data, and existing research
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Interviews and focus groups with community members and key stakeholders
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Policy and landscape analysis relevant to organizational priorities
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Synthesis of findings into accessible formats for different audiences
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Facilitation of strategic planning processes with leadership and partners
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Development of clear strategic priorities and measurable goals
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Support in establishing accountability and implementation mechanisms
Impact From Our Work
When Strategic Planning Is Most Useful
This work is especially helpful for organizations that:
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Need a clear understanding of community needs, assets, and gaps to guide future strategy
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Are navigating complex policy, funding, or systems-level environments
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Want to align leadership, funders, and partners around shared priorities
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Are planning for growth, transition, or significant investment
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Value planning processes that center community voice and lead to actionable direction