BLUEPRINT TRANSFORMATION
Overview & Update on Our Transformation Journey
January 2024
The process of transformation takes time, patience, and dedication – like going from seed to bounty in farming and gardening. And, the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger is in the midst of its own transformation much like that.
It began with a big question about the future of our collective impact entity since the multi-year plan concludes in the fall of 2024. The Governing Council decided that the Blueprint should evolve as a connector, convenor, and facilitator in the food space and become more community-centered. It’s time to further center diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging – and enhance community engagement and participation – in our collaborative efforts to address hunger across Colorado communities.
With Point (b)e Strategies as our strategic planning partner, we’re reimagining our collective goals and strategies alongside community during this yearlong journey. And the most important part of this work is you — our community, our statewide network of partners. You have helped inform the Blueprint’s strategic planning and transformation.
After diving into the network’s input and having many internal conversations, we’re ready to share our new framework for the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger!
While the Blueprint’s vision will remain the same, we’ll have a more intentional focus on activating our statewide network to collectively achieve food sovereignty for everyone living in Colorado. Watch this video message from Dolores Ramirez, our Executive Director of Vision, to find out more about where we’re headed – including our big goals and commitments.
So, what’s next? We’re now in the fifth phase, nearing the end of our year-long transformation journey that commenced in March 2023. Our team is currently working with our strategic planning partner, Point (b)e Strategies, to craft a solid operations plan that will commence later this year.
I’m excited to see the Blueprint transform into a true community hub – a place of connection, collaboration, and positive change. We look forward to sharing more updates in the coming weeks!
Dolores Ramirez
Executive Director of Vision
Timeline for Transformation
The Blueprint officially announced its intention to transform in February 2024 and began the strategic planning process, alongside Point b(e) Strategies, in March 2023. Its future will be known before the multi-year plan officially concludes in the fall of 2024.
We selected Point b(e) Strategies as our strategic planning partner since their team brings years of experience in empowering social change agents through strategic planning. They helped us design the project and timeline for transformation.
During the 12-month timeline, there are six key phases:
The Why of Transformation
It’s critical for the Blueprint to evolve into its future as a connector in the food space. This is done by deeply centering diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging through a larger focus on community-driven goals and solutions. To do this, we must begin the process of reimagining what our goals and strategies in concert with community.
The process through which the Blueprint was created was thorough, iterative, and purposeful. However, as the Blueprint continues to activate and make progress on its mission, it has become clear that social and racial equity, as well as community voice, need to be even more firmly centered in the Blueprint’s efforts. The Blueprint has focused on infusing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging into its efforts by intentionally shoring up resources and activating strategies to advance the work.
Although the Blueprint has been successful in some areas, we fully acknowledge that much work is still needed to truly fulfill our vision of a Colorado where everyone who lives here can access the food they choose, where they want it, when they need it.
How We Got Here & Where We Hope to Go
It started with a big question about the future of the Blueprint since our initial, five-year funding investment concludes in October 2024. In May 2022, the Blueprint’s Governing Council – made up entirely of our partners and collaborators – met to discuss the collective impact organization’s future direction. They considered three paths forward:
1) Sunsetting the organization permanently in 2024;
2) Continuing to implement the Blueprint goals as they were written while offloading the work to outside entities; and
3) Transforming the organization by revamping the Blueprint goals based on new knowledge of what had been successful and purposefully recentering equity.
With overwhelming support, they collectively decided that the Blueprint should evolve as a connector, convenor, and facilitator in the food space and become more community-centered.
The Blueprint team and Governing Council are committed to continuing the ongoing, collaborative, consensus-building work and process that have been its hallmark since its inception in 2016. They are aligned around this important transformation — and have already accomplished an internal realignment of the Blueprint team, beginning in 2022, to accomplish this work.
Our first step in reimagining the Blueprint’s goals and priorities was to identify a partner to help guide us through a yearlong strategic planning journey that’s co-led by community. After reviewing several strong applicants from our request for proposals, we selected Point b(e) Strategies to partner with us through this intensive, community-centered process beginning in March 2023. Their team brings years of experience in empowering social change agents through strategic planning.
While no one should presuppose the outcomes of the strategic planning process, the Blueprint team fully anticipates we will continue to play the connector, convener, and facilitator role in support of all our partners in community leadership, policy, advocacy, service, and production in the food space. As we consider our future role, we’ll ensure that we’re focusing on issue areas and solutions in those areas that community members and stakeholders have identified as areas where the Blueprint can add value.
We look forward to creating space for community voice and participation throughout the Blueprint’s transformation. You will help us co-create goals and strategies for our guiding principles of innovation, system transformation, and impact — and move us even closer to achieving the Blueprint’s vision to end hunger across Colorado.