Our FY23-FY25 Strategic Plan

We are committed to access, equity, and opportunity.

It is an incredible honor to present our FY23-FY25 Strategic Plan, Access. Equity. Opportunity.

This plan is the culmination of months of meetings, conversations, interviews, and self-reflection with our community – including participants, staff, alumni, board members, partners, and supporters. We also drew influence and inspiration from what we were seeing in our world today – and how it was impacting the people we serve.

This was a long, but fulfilling process. From it, it was evident that nearly 32 years into this work, Cara Collective still stands on an incredible foundation, envisioned by our founder Tom Owens and built by this devoted community. We wanted this plan to honor where we’ve been, while recognizing where we can go, what it will take to get there, and how can we do more for the people we serve.

With this plan, we are making a commitment to what is possible. We are expanding access to our services by working with our participants to evolve our program design, centering it in what they say they need for success in our ever-changing workforce. We are going deeper, both within ourselves and with our partners, to examine what it means to truly frame our work and practices in equity. And we are creating more opportunity for our job seekers, their families, and communities as we live out our vision of eradicating relational and financial poverty.

As you review Access. Equity. Opportunity., including our new mission statement, updated values, and strategic priorities and objectives, our hope is that you too feel excited and motivated about what is possible. Thank you for being a part of this beautiful community, for walking alongside this work, and for your commitment to access, equity, and opportunity.