Puente de la Costa Sur II

For over 30 years, Puente de la Costa Sur (Puente) has been serving the San Mateo County South Coast community (Pescadero, La Honda, Loma Mar, and San Gregorio) by promoting and advocating for equitable access to education, health, and economic security. Puente assists 1700 underserved individuals (40% who are farm workers and 70% Hispanic) across 900 households.  Puente’s comprehensive services include educational programs for children through adults; community mental health & wellness programs; forums for community engagement and public policy advocacy; housing for community members; and community development assistance such as tax preparation, health coverage enrollment, and public benefits navigation.

In 2024, Puente launched its Puente Housing Solutions (PHS) subsidiary with generous grants including $2M from MacKenzie Scott and purchased an apartment complex to house 28 farm workers, expanding its services critical to the community’s well-being. Puente is in a strong financial position with annual revenue of $7M+ over the last two years and sufficient liquid assets to cover a year of operations.

Issue

How does Puente ensure that the strategic priorities outlined in its upcoming 2025-2030 Strategic Plan align with its stakeholders’ increasing needs as the external landscape poses uncertainty and challenges?

Situation

Puente has begun developing its 2025-2030 strategic plan as the organization is at a critical inflection point and the 2020-2025 strategic plan is nearing completion. Puente’s overall strategic priorities have been consistent: Economic Security, Expansion of Educational Opportunities, and Organizational Development. Given many factors at play, the leadership team aims to be intentional and clear with the refinement of these strategic priorities and resource allocation in the 2025-2030 strategic plan. The issues that Puente faces include growing community needs; an expanding program portfolio; its one-year strong PHS building requiring renovations and therefore a new capital campaign; and the increasingly complex external environment, particularly for immigrant communities.

Being proactive, Puente has already formed a Strategic Planning Steering Committee including staff and board members and are prioritizing the 2025-2030 strategic plan along with the upcoming capital campaign for the renovations of the apartment building purchased last year for local farm workers. Stanford ACT recently completed a 3-year financial planning project with Puente that will be an important tool of the strategic planning process.

Project

Puente is seeking strategic guidance and thought partnership as the leadership team develops its next five-year strategic plan. The team requests support to clarify its organizational priorities, align staff and board around shared goals, and design a plan that is both aspirational and grounded in financial and operational realities.

Before detailing a plan, Puente needs to examine, refine, and define more clearly its Mission, Vision, and Values including specificity on whom they are serving given internal and external stakeholder input. This assessment with ACT’s help is necessary at the outset of the planning process to ensure leadership alignment on operational decision-making and to strengthen its ability to adapt to shifting policy and funding landscapes.