Greetings!

While the pandemic continues to affect all of our lives, here at New Horizons, we refuse to let it put a dent in our spirits and plans. We recently completed a 5-year Strategic Plan, as well as a more “boots on the ground” 1-year Operational Plan, we’ve begun reviewing ways to enhance our campus site, and we continue to focus on growing and strengthening our community partnerships, all with the goal of helping to develop a bigger and brighter future for our Members. Individual choice, community integration, and implementation of best practices remain a primary focus at all levels of the organization.  And while we’ve been able to slowly bring back many of our Members to in-person services, we’re still not where we want and need to be, but our crackerjack team is deeply invested in continuing to make great progress in this area.

Thanks to our admin team, as of July 1, we launched a new data management system, which will provide us with real-time information to review, sort and report on the outcomes of our programs and services. This herculean effort has been a labor of love, and I’m very proud that we’ve built something that will help inform programming for years to come.

In other news, I’m delighted to announce that Governor Newsom recently approved the State Budget for fiscal year 2023, and it includes a number of items that directly benefit the disability community, including accelerating the implementation of the rate study—which ultimately allows us to raise wages for our staff and enhance our service delivery options; elimination of half-day billing (which was implemented in the recession of ’07-’08 and never removed); as well as adding new funding to the Regional Centers so that they may hire additional staff to reduce their caseloads.

Finally, a big thanks to the many individuals and businesses that lent their support to our 2022 Gala. It was a smashing success, and the money raised will help us to support new growth opportunities, including revamping our training hubs, launching our new College to Career and More program, and developing a new culinary academy, which will train our Members on the basics of food handling, food preparation, as well as hands-on cooking skills.

The world is everchanging, and so are we. The thing that doesn’t change is our gratitude for your support, guidance and belief in us. Thank you. Two simple words, but they come from our collective hearts.

All my best,
John