Strategic Plan

In 2017, the City Auditor’s Office retained the services of JVR Shelter Strategies (JVR), a management consulting firm specializing in large open-intake municipal animal shelters including City of Irvine and County of Orange, to review the operations of LBACS in response to growing concern regarding the management of LBACS to determine what operation efforts might be enhanced in order to bring about desired outcomes for shelter animals. The review was conducted over two phases. Phase One focused on LBACS operations and PhaseTwo focused on staffing and resources. Nearly 200 recommendations were made based on these reviews.

In 2018, Mayor Robert Garcia convened the Mayor’s Animal Care Visioning Task Force represented by various stakeholders including animal rescue organizations, shelter volunteers, and animal advocates. This 20-member task force would help establish a mission and vision for LBACS. The task force met monthly in a public forum to discuss what kind of shelter LBACS would become and would be led by the recommendations made by the audit as well as their collective expertise and input from the public and staff. 

In 2019, In addition to JVR, the Adisa Group, specializing in organizational strategy, managing systemic change, action planning, leadership development, and more. The team from Adisa assigned to LBACS was made up of well-respected animal welfare professionals with track records of success in bringing about systemic change in shelters to improve and save lives, was retained to facilitate the development of a strategic plan. That development included reviewing the CAO’s audit, working closely with newly appointed LBACS manager, and engaging with the public for feedback about the organization and aspirations of the community for LBACS. A public meeting was held on March 3, 2019 that invited the community to give feedback on the kind of shelter they would like LBACS to become. Feedback was welcomed for weeks to follow in preparation for two strategic planning workshops that were held separately in May 2019. One day-long work shop was held with the task force, and a two-day workshop was held with LBACS staff.

The task force and staff selected members from each group to sort, categorize, and articulate the enormous amount of feedback created through these processes. This working group met weekly and reported regularly to the task force in a public forum to share the progress being made on the development of the strategic plan, to ensure the plan remained relevant and on track for final approval. In addition, staff were also engaged in providing feedback about the development of the plan.

The group identified five strategic goal areas including:

• Healthy, animal welfare-centric operation, 
• Community outreach and engagement
• Fiscal stewardship and sustainability
• Lifesaving and thriving programs
• Staff development and culture

Each of these areas represent sets of goals and action plans that will achieve the results needed to accomplish the plan. Each area is equally important to the other and in some cases, interdependent on the success of the other. Much of the plan relies heavily on changing the way work is done and how we engage our community.

The final rough draft of the plan was reviewed by the task force in a public meeting on July 6, 2020 and was approved in another public meeting by the task force on September 11, 2020. The draft of the plan was presented to the rescue community in October 2020.

We want to hear from you. Please review the strategic plan and complete the following survey. You may also email us at ACSStrategicPlan@longbeach.gov

*PLEASE NOTE - Two additional public meetings are scheduled to be held via Zoom: 

February 13^th 2021 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Join Zoom Meeting 
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Meeting ID: 880 7284 2761 
Passcode: 1234 
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February 17^th 2021 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Staycee Dains is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. 

Join Zoom Meeting 
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Meeting ID: 891 8710 5548 
Passcode: 1234 
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        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) 
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        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) 
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Passcode: 1234 
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcAzCOk9gO