Introduction

Our previous strategic plan guided our organization out of the Covid years, through a change of leadership on both the staff and board levels, and a redevelopment of our allocation system to better help agencies tackle the challenging problems their clients are facing in challenging times. During that time we continued to expand our food security farm Edwin Binney’s Community Farm and Education Centre in order to respond to skyrocketing food prices and increased food insecurity. We also made a long awaited name change from United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes to United Way Haliburton Kawartha Lakes in order to more fully represent the entire jurisdiction that we serve.

This was a time period of great change, adaptation and transition. We extended the life of that plan for one year in order for the board and staff to develop a clearer picture of the direction United Way Haliburton Kawartha Lakes needs to take in order to continue to adhere to our mission in a rapidly changing world. It is now time to move forward with a new strategic plan that maximizes the potential of our organization and the communities that we serve.

The City of Kawartha Lakes is a growing community. With this growth we expect to see a change in demographics, creating a potentially younger and more diverse community, especially in the larger population centres. At the same time, our United Way jurisdiction includes Haliburton County, a much more rural area, but one that is also seeing growth. We always try to take this balance of urban, rural and remote into account with our work, and projected population changes will make the difference starker in the coming years. Our goal is to position our United Way so it is in the strongest position to fully engage with our growing jurisdiction, while also addressing the challenges of rapidly changing communities.