Boulder County Human Services Strategic Plan

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

Boulder County, like many counties, is committed to delivering high-quality human services. With a multiracial and socioeconomically diverse population, Boulder County faces significant social service needs. In order to address these needs, the county has implemented a collaborative human service strategic plan, which provides far greater visibility into countywide human service efforts and outcomes, in addition to much higher-impact services to those in need. At the request of the Board of County Commissioners, a steering committee was appointed to begin the systems planning process in 2007. Leadership from the nonprofit sector, Boulder County, the cities of Boulder, Longmont, Lafayette, the local United Way and two community foundations were selected to work with a consulting team to engage the community in this work. Developing a strategic plan for human services in Boulder County began as a community-based approached that included multiple venues for community input, including an intensive two-day community-wide planning process and six months of public meeting to identify core strategies. The result is the Boulder County Human Services strategic plan entitled, “Building Caring Livable Communities.” It has been formally adopted by the elected and appointed bodies represented by the steering committee. The success of the Boulder County Human Services Strategic Plan was that it provided an opportunity to plan across a broad sector of human service issues regionally and across jurisdictions.