Focusing on the Basics While Seeking New Opportunities
Angela Blanchard, President and CEO
 
In these challenging times—both in the nonprofit world and outside it—it’s important we stay focused on the basics. By that, I mean our core values and mission, and maintaining what we have. At the same time, we need to be forward-looking. We must look for opportunities to partner with other organizations by sharing our assets and infrastructure.

At Neighborhood Centers, we’ve spent more than a century creating a strong foundation. Our programs are firmly grounded in our mission: to bring resources, education and connection to underserved neighborhoods so that individuals and communities can live up to their full potential.

We have accomplished so much because we have loyal supporters who are committed to that core mission. They, too, want a better world for all our neighbors. It’s especially important in times like these for us to reach out to our supporters. We want to learn how they’re doing—and we want to let them know what we’re doing. Transparency has always been a crucial part of our mutual trust.

At Neighborhood Centers, that transparency and trust comes in large part from our accountability. Our ongoing program evaluation ensures that we pay close attention to what works and what doesn’t. In that way, our valuable resources go where we can show concrete results.

As we evaluate resource allocation and invest in our mission, we have to be careful with new investment so that when times are good again the core programs have been preserved through the tough times. Still, we do continue to face new challenges in our neighborhoods that we cannot and must not ignore.

We believe that the most effective way to address these new challenges, given the resources we have, is to think and act creatively. While we at Neighborhood Centers have always sought opportunities for partnership with others in the nonprofit and for-profit worlds, we believe that approach is even more important now. By sharing our assets and infrastructure, we can leverage our valuable resources and forge new relationships.

In fact, there’s reason to see a silver lining in the clouds. Some of the most creative solutions result from times of stress when people are forced to think and act in new ways. Together, we can agree to perceive this difficult period as a time of great opportunity—a time we can later look back on and say, “We rose to the occasion and forged new paths.” After all, that’s something we in the Houston region have done many times before. And you know something? The truth is, we’re pretty good at it.