Toward Tomorrow: Our Strategic Plan (June 2023) 

At our 100th anniversary, the League of Women Voters of Greater Hartford (LWVGH) marked a renewed beginning with adoption of a Strategic Plan, known as Toward Tomorrow. Made possible in part by a grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the plan charts a multi-year course forward for the League. Toward Tomorrow results from considerable effort, including comprehensive data collection and analysis, facilitated by a League committee working with Cross Sector Consulting.

Toward Tomorrow focuses on building capacity within the League and by solidifying partnerships with like-minded community organizations. The plan provides a path for sustainability and expansion so that the League achieves ongoing viability in the thirteen regional towns it serves: Avon, Bloomfield, Farmington, Glastonbury, Hartford, Manchester, Newington, Rocky Hill, Simsbury, South Windsor, West Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor.

Toward Tomorrow embodies our long-term vision of what the League can become.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

It envisions that LWVGH:

• Has vibrant, relevant activities and programs that align with our mission.
• Has a growing, diverse, engaged membership with camaraderie among members.
• Has a prominent place in the public eye and is known as a nonpartisan, grass roots organization with a revered reputation for protecting and expanding voting rights, and advocating and educating on issues that build a stronger democracy.

In addition to the vision, and drawing on extensive member input, Toward Tomorrow offers a value proposition for the League, which drives key questions: Why Join? Why Volunteer? The reasons are clear:

• Our mission – empower voters and defending democracy – is of vital importance. We work to ensure that our region and state has a healthy, thriving democracy.
• We engage members to make a difference in our communities, the region and the state on key issues like early voting and redistricting.
• We promote opportunities to build relationships and connections with civic-minded individuals and organizations.
• We offer a supportive environment to learn and practice organizational and advocacy skills.

Toward Tomorrow lays out four critical goals with supporting objectives and strategies that will enliven the vision and enable the value proposition:

1. Transform Diversity, Equity and Inclusion principles into LWVGH practices. Through this goal, LWVGH will emphasize embedding DEI principles in activities and diversifying League membership and Leadership.
2. Build LWVGH membership to encompass a regional identify, supported by an empowered and enhanced Membership and Engagement Committee leading this work.
3. Expand LWVGH activities to build a regional presence. LWVGH can significantly increase its presence in the thirteen towns through regional advocacy events and expansion of our successful Voter Services.
4. Develop and put in place a robust infrastructure to support regional expansion and growth of all LWVGH internal and external activity. Implementation of the plan depends on the development of a robust committee structure and continued improvement/streamlining of internal operations.

In fact, success of Toward Tomorrow will rest with the evolution of strong committees, which is why the League’s continued operation, especially as it relates to the Strategic Plan, relies on the revival of our long tradition of engaging our members as active and involved volunteers. Toward Tomorrow cannot happen without your help.

For a copy of the plan and/or to inquire how you can join the powerful work of implementation contact Debbie Ducoff-Barone at deborah.ducoff-barone [at] gmail.com.