January 28, 2010

Dear friends, supporters and community members,

ALA is proud to announce the release of Vision 2015- a Strategic Plan for progress.

Faced with the challenge of honoring Janet Witkin's lifetime of work and serving a rapidly increasing population of resource-deficient seniors, the Board of ALA launched its first ever strategic planning process. Vision 2015 is an aggressive plan to broaden ALA's impact with more affordable housing alternatives and life-enriching services for our clients.

Vision 2015 illustrates how the organization will thoughtfully grow ALA's core mission by incorporating best practices from the field of senior housing and services. Vision 2015 describes the action steps necessary for expansion and offers visual representations of projected goal achievement. Highlights of the 5-year plan include:

• Expanding our housing and enrichment services capacity to serve 15,000 clients annually;
• Developing and rehabilitating affordable housing that is "universally designed" and "sustainable" for future generations and collaborating with housing developers and owners to form "ALA-Partnership Communities";
• Collaborating with leading gerontologists, including UCLA's Center on Aging, to implement evidence-based programming that improves the quality of life for all our clients; and
• Leveraging technology to link clients to roommates, housing and enrichment services, including a web-based, up-to-date, housing database for seniors.

On behalf of ALA and the Board of Directors, I extend our thanks to the many stakeholders, partner agencies and residents who volunteered their time to offer ideas for enhancing ALA's services. ALA offers a special thanks to the staff at Gensler's Santa Monica office, specifically, Matt Gammel and Anne Alexander who poured countless hours of creative energy into the publishing of this document. I would also like to highlight our new director of programs, Rachel Caraviello, who conducted the lion's share of research and work to compile Vision 2015. The ALA team looks forward to providing continuity of service for clients during this challenging but vital transition.

Please join us in our excitement and download a copy of Vision 2015 from ALA's website!

Best wishes in the New Year,

David S. Grunwald
President and CEO