FROM GOOD TO GREAT!
This strategic plan seeks to position SCRA to be a premier destination membership organization for community psychology students and professionals. It focuses on strengthening the internal capacities of the organization to support the valuable work of our members and partners across the domains of research, education, practice and policy. Ultimately, this plan aims to further SCRA’s progress toward its vision, namely:
The Society for Community Research and Action will have a strong, global impact on enhancing well-being and promoting social justice for all people by fostering collaboration where there is division and empowerment where there is oppression.
The major area of focus in this plan is on the strategic priorities and associated set of recommendations.
Figure 1. SCRA Strategic Framework
This figure illustrates the frame of the strategic plan. SCRA and its members contribute directly to the mission and vision of the organization through four (4) domains of activity (research, education, practice and policy). The impact of these four domains rests on the presence of a set of critical process factors[1] and five (5) strategic priorities. The values of SCRA are foundational to the strategic framework and inform the way we go about our work. As capacities are improved across the five strategic priority areas, SCRA is better able to support the activities (research, education, practice, and policy) of our members and partners. This, in turn, elevates SCRA’s global impact.
A strategic priority is an area of focus determined to be essential to meeting the strategic direction of an organization. Historically, SCRA has not had a clear, explicit set of strategic priorities. The strategic plan presents five (5) strategic priority areas:
These strategic priorities are inextricably linked and interdependent. The viability of one depends on the viability of all the others. As such, the recommendations for one priority area are made in consideration of the other priority areas and their associated recommendations. Among the five priority areas, Operations (Priority 1) and Finance (Priority 2) are foundational. Priorities 1 & 2 directly impact the ability of SCRA to grow, engage and provide value to its members (Priority 3), to help develop and strengthen educational programs (Priority 4), and to raise the visibility of community psychology (Priority 5).
Where Do We Want To Be In 3-Years and How Do We Get There?
Through an iterative process of soliciting SCRA member and leadership input, reviewing past meeting minutes, reports and strategic planning documents, and team-based discussions, the Strategic Planning Team developed the five strategic priorities, as well as a set of goals, objectives, and recommendations for each of the five areas. The set of recommendations was then distilled through a three-step rating process to pare down and prioritize the strategies. During the 2016 Mid-Winter Meeting, the SCRA Executive Committee reviewed, deliberated, and refined the set of strategic recommendations. Twelve strategies were approved for implementation starting in 2016, and five additional strategies are scheduled to be re-visited during the 2017 Mid-Winter Meeting (MWM). This plan will focus on the 12 strategies that will be implemented during 2016-2017. Implementation of the strategic plan will be coordinated with relevant SCRA activities and constituencies as much as feasible. Goals and objectives for each strategic priority, as well as the 12 strategies that correspond to these priorities are presented below.
Goal: SCRA is culturally, structurally and functionally organized for optimal performance
Objective 1.1: Empower leadership of SCRA to ensure organizational effectiveness and sustainability.
Objective 1.2: Increase Accountability
Objective 1.3: Enhance Institutional Memory and Continuity and Leadership
Goal: Increase focus on revenue to continue the important work of SCRA and that of its members
Objective 2.1. Increase revenue through vigorous membership recruitment and retention.
Objective 2.2. Increase revenue through profitable SCRA Conference
Objective 2.3. Develop long-term plan for revenue growth with a budget to accompany that plan.
Goal: A growing, vibrant membership actively benefitting from belonging to SCRA
Objective 3.1. Enhance organizational capacity to improve membership growth, engagement and value
Objective 3.2. Increase the number of members
Objective 3.3. Engage more members in SCRA activities
Objective 3.4. Build the value of belonging to SCRA
Goal: Community psychology educational programs are robust and growing in number
Objective 4.1. Establish a system of data collection, management and analysis that supports education in community psychology
Objective 4.2. Increase the number of undergraduate and graduate students who learn about and engage with the field of community psychology via higher education opportunities.
Objective 4.3. Strengthen existing undergraduate and graduate programs
Objective 4.4. Foster/support efforts to create new programs
Goal: SCRA and community psychology are widely known
Objective 5.1. Improve external communication (branding, information dissemination)
Objective 5.2. Strengthen collaborations with APA and other professional organizations
Strategy 1: Operations - Consolidate and make more efficient EC decision-making and related communication processes. (Presidential Stream and Executive Director)
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Strategy 2: Finances - Create a long-term (3-5 year) revenue plan focused on low effort, high impact strategies.
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Strategy 3: Membership - Improve tracking and monitoring of membership, member engagement, and the value members get from belonging to SCRA. (Membership Engagement and Professional Development Committee, Members at Large)
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Strategy 4: Education (Member Data) - Develop processes and capacities to collect data from membership on a regular basis, and to assess key indicators of CP education. (Council on Education)
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Strategy 5: Education - Council of Education to develop a detailed plan for increasing the number of students who learn about and engage in CP via undergraduate, masters, and doctoral education. (Council on Education)
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Strategy 6: Education (Scholarship & Doctoral Training) - Strengthen, support, and promote scholarship and related training. Take into account advancing and promoting doctoral training. (Research Council)
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Strategy 7: Visibility (TCP) - Re-design TCP to better meet the interests and needs of SCRA members and the field. (TCP Editors, Outreach Specialist)
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Strategy 8: Visibility (Identity) - Develop an integrative identity for community psychology that takes into account the range of programs and disciplines in which the field is taught and practiced, and scholarship is produced.
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Strategy 9: Visibility (Collaborations) - Develop strong collaborative actions with other like-minded organizations to further the strategic priorities of SCRA
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Strategy 10: Visibility (Website)- Enhance the visibility and accessibility of the SCRA website for internal and external communications. (Visibility and Engagement Committee; Outreach Specialist)
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SCRA Strategic Plan 2016-2018