Letter from the CEO: Establishing our 'North'

​A company’s “North” is its guiding principle. Like the North Star for which it’s named, it’s a goal that remains fixed in place despite what changes and moves around it. Northwest Center already had a strong mission: to promote the growth, development, and independence of people with disabilities through programs of therapy, education, and work opportunity. Now we’ve built on that mission by establishing our own North:
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• 100% of children have equitable access to education
• The employment rate for people with disabilities is equal to the employment rate for the general population 

It’s an audacious goal, and by its very definition is not something we’re likely to achieve in 2020, or on our 60th anniversary, or even by our 75th. But it is the ultimate, fixed North that we work toward at Northwest Center, no matter what moves or changes around us.  
 
We are making great strides in the journey. Our Kids team launched the IMPACT™ program in 2018 with the goal of making inclusive early learning available to 6,000 more kids in King County in three years. They reached that goal before the program was even a year old, and are now well on their way to doubling that number as we progress into 2020.
 
Our Early Intervention, Early Learning, and Employment Services teams once again served a record number of kids and adults with disabilities in the past year. And with new, innovative approaches in place like the restructuring of our Employment Services into a scalable, geography-based “pod” structure, we’re poised to make inclusion part of even more workplaces and lives across the country in the coming years.
 
Our North goes hand-in-hand with the Strategic Plan we adopted two years ago. We’re continuing to build OneNWC by enhancing our workplace culture with more professional development opportunities, more sharing of our success stories, and more opportunities to connect across divisions.
 
Every step we take is designed to achieve significant, ongoing growth as an organization while ensuring a positive experience for our employees and our customers. Every step we take is toward our North. Because until all of us are included, none of us reach our potential. 
 
Onward & Upward,
Gene Boes
​President and CEO