OUR TEAM'S WORK: STRATEGIC PLANNING

Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Council

The Colorado Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Council, appointed by the Governor as the State Advisory Group pursuant to the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, is charged under the Act to advise and make recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature on juvenile justice issues. To support their work, in the fall of 2023, the Office of Adult and Juvenile Justice Assistance retained Confluence to facilitate the annual retreat of the JJDP, to guide their three year strategic planning process and support the creation of the JJDP’s strategic plan. During the JJDP’s retreat, Confluence’s team guided the members through a robust set of discussions over several days to assess the recent years’ work of the Council, to explore and align on the role of the JJDP within the broader juvenile justice ecosystem, and to identify the Council’s unique value-add or opportunities to drive system improvements that lead to improved outcomes for affected youth. In addition to the strategic planning process, Confluence is facilitating and supporting the work of the Diversion Subcommittee of the JJDP and the formation of new subcommittees aligned with the mission, vision and priorities identified during the strategic planning process.

Family Foundation

With their Executive Director and Board undergoing succession planning at a time coinciding with the need for a new strategic plan, a well known family foundation engaged Abramson to lead their strategic planning effort beginning with robust staff and stakeholder engagement. Through a series of surveys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews, Abramson gathered information from internal staff, grant recipients, community partners and key leaders to help shape the drafting of the foundation’s five year strategic plan.

Confidential Client: Association of Governments

As a professional association representing dozens of government organizations sought to balance the interest of members with diverse constituencies and interests, they retained Abramson to design, manage and run their strategic planning retreat. With some members feeling marginalized or dissatisfied with decision making processes, Abramson designed sessions that enabled candid sharing of perspectives, consensus building discussions focused on shared values or priorities and opportunities to align on decision making processes going forward. The result of the retreat was a more fully developed approach to the members’ collaboration, new protocols for decision making and the establishment of a working group to investigate and make recommendations for organizational structural changes.

Confidential Client: Industry Trade Association

Facing a rapidly evolving market place, a leading cannabis trade association hired Abramson and his team to facilitate a multi-day strategic planning process. The group had been operating under priorities and protocols first established during the nascent days of their industry. As regulatory environments at the state and municipal levels evolved, the industry was also dealing with increased competition along with public scrutiny. The strategic planning session led to a new set of legislative priorities for the group, a strategic communications plan, an updated membership recruitment plan and a robust set of operating rules, norms and standards informed by the strategic priorities of the group.

Strategic Planning

Department of Local Affairs

At the request of the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) Executive Director, Confluence has been leading a multi-faceted strategic plan development process for the agency. Confluence designed a process that reflected the Director’s vision for the Department and for the input of staff. The strategic planning process included supporting the Director in establishing priorities that advance the mission and WIGs for DOLA. Interviews were conducted with Division and Office leaders to better understand staff perspective on the history, current and future needs of each program across the Department. Two leadership retreats were held to workshop different priorities and to collaboratively develop strategies to advance each. Confluence’s team joined all-staff meetings for each staff to lead multi-hour sessions on the strategic planning process, identify program level tactics and assess the needs of staff and programs. Following extensive staff input, Confluence led the drafting of DOLA’s three-year strategic plan and is now working to finalize the plan with DOLA leadership which includes division-level engagement to ensure leaders are prepared to implement department and division level actions aligned with the plan.

Division of Criminal Justice

As a new Director took over DCJ and began his strategic planning, DCJ contracted Confluence to engage internal and external stakeholders and to provide expert consultation on the implications of the input on staffing, strategic planning and operations. Confluence first designed and managed an online survey for staff to establish a baseline of staff perspectives. The team then designed and led a series of focus groups informed by the surveys to gather additional input from staff. Individual interviews were conducted with each office manager in DCJ to gather their candid input and reflections on staff input as well as the Director’s vision. In parallel with the internal stakeholder engagement, Confluence designed and managed an online survey of external partners and stakeholders to solicit input of their experiences with and needs of the Division. Reports summarizing all stakeholder input were created and further discussions with DCJ’s Director directly informed the strategic plan.

County Leadership Retreat & Planning

As the Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) was undertaking its fiscal and long range planning process, Confluence President Berrick Abramson was brought in to provide guidance leading up to the two-day workshop comprised of Arapahoe County department heads, budgeting office leads and elected officials. Abramson developed an effective meeting agenda that met the goals of the planning committee, created a voting process for the Leadership Workshop to help the group come to consensus on funding needs, and provided overall meeting facilitation.

Building on the success and relationships built during this work, Arapahoe County subsequently contracted with Abramson to form and facilitate a series of meetings of the Long Range Planning Committee (“LRPC”). The LRPC, a group of 30+ diverse members of the Arapahoe County community, was convened to provide counsel to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) relating to potential voter supported funding of various needs. Over a series of meetings, the LRPC learned about the County’s needs for funding to support the building of a new courthouse, jail and justice center, and of needs relating to transportation and roads and funding needs for open space. The LRPC members were provided information about different funding strategies and mechanisms (e.g. property taxes, bonds, sales tax etc.) that could be utilized for each funding need, learned about recent public opinion relating to each and engaged in a series of group discussions to surface the implications of various approaches.

STAKEHOLDERS ENGAGED

WORK GROUPS/TASK FORCES MANAGED

MEETINGS PLANNED & FACILITATED

REGULATORY & POLICY CHANGES INFORMED

Confluence PSG partners with government and private sector leaders to support policy and system change.