Hello everyone and happy Spring! I hope this month’s blog finds you healthy. The last several months have been busy, as we’ve worked to finalize the strategic plan. I’m thrilled to share with you that on March 14th, the Aspire Board of Directors unanimously approved the agency’s next three-year strategic plan. The plan is a result of months of discussion, input from stakeholders, and a deep assessment of the agency’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Our work on the plan also led us to further develop and strengthen the agency’s mission, vision, and guiding principles.

Mission: Aspire Living & Learning serves neurodiverse children and adults who are discovering their passions, unlocking potential, and thriving.

Vision: Communities are stronger when people realize their passions, potential, and power.

Our mission and vision statements tell the world, and reinforce for us, our purpose and shared ambition for the future. Our guiding principles are the building blocks of our agency’s culture. They are the foundation of Aspire’s shared vision and are grounded in our person-centered approach to service. The principles of Employer of Choice, Provider of Choice, Adaptability, and Communication are woven into the fabric of our agency.

The most important element of our culture as a serving agency is our person-centered approach. These words describe how we define our relationships with each other and all external stakeholders, as well as how we we serve those who come to us for help and support. Simply put, a person-centered approach is a process of engaging with others from a place of service; from a place of acting according to their needs without assuming that we know what they need. To be truly successful regarding a person-centered approach we, individually and collectively, have to suspend our biases and ackowledge our differences. We all have different needs, desires, and perspectives. Our common ground is our differences. Aspire believes that our diversity – our differences – can and should bring us together. To acknowledge these differences and to maintain awareness of them as we journey through our relationships with one another – this is the how we ultimately serve each other.

At Aspire Living & Learning, we strive every day to serve one another through the acknowledgement that we are all different, diverse. Let’s continue on this journey, always asking “what can I learn from you?” not “what can I teach you?” Let’s share our differences with each other and present them as “learning gifts.” Let’s put the person in front of us at the center of what we focus on in our relationship with them and learn – always learn – from them, about them. It will make us stronger as people and it will make us stronger as a serving organization.

With deep admiration for who you are,

Lou

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Unveiling Our Purpose and Shared Ambition for the Future