Trinity Center
Organization
Trinity Center (Trinity) began in 2012 after a vital community service provider in Walnut Creek announced that it was discontinuing homeless assistance services after 15 years of continuous operation. In response, several volunteers committed to this critical program opened Trinity Center’s doors on Trinity Avenue, without missing a day of service provision to homeless community members. Fast Forward to 2020 where a collaboration between the City of Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, housing developer Resources for Community Development and Trinity Center opened a new affordable housing community, St. Paul’s Commons. Trinity operates on the ground floor of St. Paul’s Commons, with member advocates providing ongoing case management to some of the residents.
Situation
Incorporated as a nonprofit in 2013, Trinity has grown from a grassroots program operating two days a week to a multi-service resource center providing safety and services five days a week. Included in its portfolio are case management services, substance use counseling, wellness programs, seasonal overnight shelter services and support to formerly homeless persons who have regained housing. In addition, Trinity develops innovative strategies to address housing insecurity and provides community education on homelessness. Trinity wanted to develop a strategic plan that builds on the momentum it has experienced from its successes to date and builds cohesion within and between board and staff (there were many staff and board changes in 2020).
Project Objectives
Trinity Center’s staff leadership and Board of Directors received ACT’s help to facilitate their process of creating a strategic plan, one that addressed the ever-changing conditions under which the organization works as well as increased demand for its services. Success metrics and implementation steps were important elements of the plan.
Project Overview
The project consisted of Key Stakeholder Interviews, Industry Research and coaching the Strategic Planning Process which included the development of key elements such as Vision, Mission, Values, SWOT analysis, customer analysis, key high-level strategies and tactics.
Key Recommendations
Based on the ACT team’s strong desire to ensure the client owned the Strategic Plan and therefore would implement it after the project concluded, the team played an input provider and coaching role during the Strategic Planning process. The client lead and facilitated the Strategic Planning Committee meetings and ultimately developed the Strategic Plan as a collaborative effort between members of the Board, Staff leadership and the ACT team.
The input ACT team provided from the interviews and industry research was used fully in the development of the strategies and the full Strategic Plan.