USG 2.0 Strategic Plan

Goal: USG will develop and implement a culture that values diversity, equity, and inclusion as foundational to our work and that of our partners to achieve mission excellence. 

• Facilitate buy-in and identify/define USG’s core DEI values 
• Plan and develop an official DEI action plan 
• Collaborate and implement DEI via the action plan

Goal: USG will develop an unparalleled innovative framework for a fiscal model that is diversified, scalable, and sustainable and that builds on the value of USG’s expertise and services for all partners.

• Change USG’s business model to address culture, and not just finances.
• Seek authorization for program offerings at USG by non-USM institutions.
• Target requests for State/County appropriations to reflect a new emphasis on return on investment. 
• Define and study the return on investment (ROI) made – and to be made – from  an investment in USG by the State and Montgomery County. 

Goal: USG will collaborate to create equity-centered, evidence-informed, life-long learning pathways across Montgomery County that offer learners preeminent education and meet the future workforce needs.  Key features include comprehensive academic planning across a  pathway from Pre-K to J(obs) and beyond, a career-ready focus, employer inclusion, support services  to meet every learner where they are, and collaboration with all of our academic partners.

• Create and implement an Academic Pathways to Workforce framework.
• Create and implement a partnering framework for academic partners.
• Create and implement a partnering framework for regional employers.
• Develop a marketing and communication strategy to create awareness of pathways and USG for various audiences.

Goal: USG will create a dynamic, comprehensive, pathway-focused framework for systematic academic planning and programming that is continuously informed by evidence to equitably meet the needs of the workforce and of current and future learners.

• Foster a shift in culture at USG that establishes USG as an academic ‘Hub of Innovation.’ 
• Identify and designate USG and partner staff to collaborate on and create an academic planning framework and process.
• Implement the process to develop the academic plan.

Infrastructure and Operations Goal: USG will develop, support and implement resilient infrastructure, facilities, services and  operational practices that fosters long term planning; sustains renewal and growth; adjusts to meet regulatory compliances; and enhances safety and security through collaboration, efficiency, knowledge management, and analytics to support the transformation to USG 2.0.

• Evolve and strengthen USG’s organizational structure and culture across operational units.
• Update the Facilities Master Plan to assist in planning for the resilient, sustainable, and flexible use of current and future physical resources.
• Develop USG’s current technology architecture by empowering IT staff and learning technology professionals to focus on mission-aligned strategic IT initiatives.

Goal: USG will build a collaborative, equity-centered learner experience at USG centered on career competencies, experiential learning, and cutting edge mentorship.

• Invest in strengthening and expanding an ACES type framework which provides comprehensive and progressive career readiness support for pathway students.
• Fully develop and execute a collaborative student support model which is centered on career readiness competencies.
• Develop an infrastructure which creates and sustains meaningful partnerships with the regional business community and which is built upon investment  by the local workforce.
• Develop an infrastructure with commitments from partner institutions which enables USG to track, collect, assess, and report both short-and long-term success metrics and outcomes for USG.

Goal: USG will establish long term data excellence and thought leadership as the heartbeat of the  educational ecosystem for innovating pathways and leading comprehensive planning for learners of the future.

• Engage education and community partners in developing metrics/key performance measures (KPIs)  that will be used to track progress on the USG 2.0 Strategic Plan goals.
• Conduct an internal inventory of all data sources to assess what is currently collected and how the data can be curated to forward USG 2.0 Strategic Plan and its goals.
• Establish priorities for collecting and sharing common actionable data that  is aligned with specific objectives/outcomes.
• New/additional human and fiscal resources must be designated to developing and maintaining a data infrastructure focused on providing real-time and longitudinal information.

Goal: USG will lead a system-changing approach to shared economic prosperity, equity, and ecological sustainability through learner/student success that meets future workforce needs, and through conscientious decision making that impacts the distribution of wealth in the county and the region.

• Pursue specific funding to support Community Wealth-Building initiatives.
• Develop programming to support entrepreneurship collaborations that integrate academic planning, entrepreneurs-in-residence, community-based business, and underserved county localities.
• Leverage the resources, data and programs of our many partnerships (academic, business, government) to amplify, expand, and grow our community wealth-building activities.