Vision 2020: Our Strategic Plan
Annual program participation at the Hitchcock Center has nearly doubled in the last 10 years. This means our classrooms are in near-constant use, and, for lack of space, we must turn away an increasing number of requests for programs.
To keep pace with rising demands and maintain excellence in our field, our strategic plan outlines goals and objectives in three areas: programs, facilities, and resources.
- We will respond to demands for service by expanding our capacity to provide quality, effective programs to a wider geographic region with an outstanding new facility more than twice the size of our current building. This new Center is designed as a “Living Building”—one of fewer than ten in the world—constructed to the highest standard of ecological design and sustainability and itself a teaching tool.
- With a larger, fully functional facility, we will double the number of visitors to the Center, to more than 2,000 individuals by 2017, the projected first full year in the new building.
- Increased spaces and staffing will drive an increase in annual program participation by 40%, to 11,400 by FY 2020.
Goals at a glance:
- Increase annual program participation from 8,500 to 11,500 children, youth, and adults
- More than triple the number of Center visitors, from 750 to 2,600 people each year
- Increase public hours by 75% to include weekends and evenings, from 35 hours per week to 60 hours per week
- Enhance our student intern programs to serve 12 aspiring young people seeking careers in environmental education
- Augment programs to underserved communities
- Offer new summer training institutes for teachers
- Expand K-12 school field trips by 25%, from 100 to 125 per year
- Host new conferences, symposia and building tours focused on ecological design, community resilience, and sustainable development
- Strengthen programs centered on the child-nature connection through new partnerships with parent groups, health care providers, and community organizations
- Develop more in-depth naturalist and citizen science programs, giving people the skills, aptitudes, and motivation to serve as effective change agents
View our Vision 2020: 7-Year Strategic Plan for more information.
