SOFIFRAN adopts an ambitious strategic plan

A year ago, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, through its Resilient Communities Fund, awarded a grant to SOFIFRAN. The pandemic and the uncertainty that came with it had led to the creation of this fund, meant to limit the impact of COVID-19 on the community sector, and the Welland-based organization seized the opportunity to better equip itself to meet the needs around it.

Staff and the board of directors were trained so they could carry out their work more effectively, programs were digitized and, above all, a consultation was held to learn what community members think of the organization and what services they would like to receive.

Taking the pulse of its target clientele was part of a broader reflection meant to give SOFIFRAN a strategic plan running through to 2025. That plan was not only completed recently, it has just come into effect.

The long-standing challenges identified are the lack of financial and human resources, which limits the support offered to a growing immigrant population. The immediate challenges are the ones created by the pandemic, and they are financial and operational.

In the community, the problems tied to the lockdowns are mainly job losses and intimate partner and family violence. SOFIFRAN also sees the questions surrounding racial discrimination as a current issue directly connected to its mandate.

Today’s circumstances, and what can already be seen of the years ahead, also bring certain opportunities, namely digital transformation, closer collaboration with partners, staff development and training, as well as the possibilities offered by diversity and inclusion, provided that cultural identity is promoted.

SOFIFRAN’s strategic plan responds to these findings along two main lines: bringing digital tools further into its activities, and stronger organizational operations, in other words growing its staff and its effectiveness.

The strategic plan also rests on three priority pillars, economic, social and cultural, so it can meet the needs of the people it serves.

The economic pillar deals above all with the employability of francophone immigrants. The social pillar is mainly about welcoming and settling immigrants. As for the pillar devoted to arts and culture, it is about growing into one’s own identity.

SOFIFRAN has also drawn up a list of specific actions to take, paired with performance indicators, to reach its objectives. Over the coming weeks, the organization will get to work making this plan a reality.