Last fall, PROTEC17 began a process to create a new Strategic Plan for 2026-2028 that will guide us over the next three years. As part of that process, thousands of members gave their feedback via a membership-wide survey, Chapter meetings, focus groups, emails, one-on-ones, and more. The Regional Executive Committee (REC) also participated in an exercise to provide additional input for the new plan, as did the PROTEC17 Executive Board.
Since then, the Strategic Planning Committee has been combing through all of this input to form new priorities, goals, and objectives for our union. Several themes emerged during this process, and three priorities rose to the surface. They are: Defend careers in public service; Strengthen our political policy and activism work, and; Foster connection and belonging.
Many members expressed their pride in the work that we did in our last strategic plan, and wanted to continue to build on this momentum. It is important to note that within all of these priorities, the committee will continually be looking through a racial justice lens to create goals and objectives under each priority.
A draft plan was brought to the REC in October and was adopted by the delegate body. The planning committee will now move forward with developing the details of the plan, with measurable goals and outcomes.
Our organization’s first strategic plan was created back in 2019, shortly after the arrival of Executive Director Karen Estevenin. As part of that process, thousands of members gave their feedback and with all of that input, PROTEC17 developed a mission statement, a vision statement, and three high-level priorities that guided our goals and objectives from 2020-2022. These morphed and changed as we moved through the early years of COVID-19 pandemic.
In the 2023-2025 Strategic Plan, we focused on three main priorities: creating a strong union identity and culture; building our political power and community connections; and strengthening member leadership programs and opportunities. Big projects like our first ever ‘Solidarity Summit,’ our ‘Proud to Be PROTEC17’ video and campaign, and the expansion of our member-led political group – the PROTEC17 Workers’ Roundtable (PWR) – came out of this plan.
For 2026-2028, the committee is looking forward to creating and achieving new objectives under each of our new priorities. As always, if you have additional ideas, information, or feedback on our priorities as we strive to reach our newest goals, you can reach out to .