Blog

In my first eight months as the President/CEO of Columbia Association (CA), I have had the pleasure of speaking with dozens of you throughout the community. I have fielded a lot of feedback about the organization and this community at large, input that I bring back to our dedicated team and work to incorporate it into how we serve you. Whether you walk the pathways, play a weekly round of pickleball or pine for summer at the pools, at the end of the day, CA is here to help all of us achieve our fullest potential. 

In addition to your thoughts on specific programs and services, I’ve heard over and over again how the community values CA as a constant in their lives. For more than 55 years, CA has been there for you, and that will never change. In fact, one of my primary goals is to make everyone more aware of the many ways CA shows up for you every day.

Intention is important, but strategy and planning are equally imperative for us to continue fulfilling our mission each and every day. When you have such a unique organization serving in such a wide variety of ways, a shared roadmap gives us the opportunity to make the biggest impact possible.

In that spirit, I’m pleased to announce the CA Board has finalized the next budget, setting our financial course for the upcoming fiscal year. This budget includes:

• Maintaining a consistent annual charge rate and cap, minimizing the impact on residents 

• Expanding inclusive opportunities to encourage affordability of and accessibility to our facilities and programs 

• Reopening a renovated Columbia Art Center with a new maker space 

• Increasing levels of tree planting, reforestation and invasive plant removal 

• Funding an economic impact study and membership study to ensure that CA is making data-driven decisions that bring positive gains to our community 

• Diversifying programming at the Downtown Columbia Lakefront and across all of Columbia

Along with the budget, the Board has also approved a five-year strategic plan for the organization.  The strategic plan is the result of more than a year of work, involving outside consultants, the ten villages, community partners, the Board and CA team members. The result provides CA with a valuable framework of strategic focus areas and areas of emphasis to help guide where we will continue to direct our efforts and resources. I welcome you to check out the strategic plan on our website (click here).

In many ways, both the budget and the strategic plan represent our ongoing commitment to serving this diverse community with purpose and direction. While the ways we show up for this community may shift over time to respond to your needs, our team, our spaces and our programs represent an important source of consistency. CA remains steadfast and our team continues to be committed to working with intention, guided by the collective values we all share.

 

Shawn MacInnes

CA President/CEO