2025–2030 Strategic Plan
A five-year roadmap for strengthening The Southside Alliance, advocating for neighborhood priorities, building organizational capacity, and expanding our positive impact in Huntington.
2025
Facilitated by Terri Cutright and Paula Martinelli of Terri Reed Cutright & Associates.
Turning priorities into a plan for action.
In April 2025, members of The Southside Alliance Board of Directors participated in a facilitated strategic planning retreat to identify the organization's priorities for the next five years.
The process examined what The Alliance wanted to preserve, achieve, avoid, and eliminate. From those conversations, three central goals of equal importance emerged and became the foundation of the 2025–2030 work plan.
Three goals guide the work.
The Strategic Plan organizes The Alliance's work around three connected priorities that strengthen both the neighborhood and the organization serving it.
Property Advocacy
Advocate for neighborhood stability, responsible property stewardship, and policies that support the long-term strength of the Southside.
- Support single-family homeownership.
- Address neglected and problem properties.
- Encourage reinvestment in Southside homes.
- Build relationships with lenders and public partners.
- Support block-by-block improvement strategies.
Organizational Growth & Capacity Building
Strengthen The Alliance itself so it has the people, resources, leadership, and systems necessary to carry out its mission.
- Expand and diversify Board membership.
- Grow household membership.
- Develop business membership.
- Better communicate membership benefits.
- Seek public and private grant funding.
- Build capacity through executive staffing.
Expanding Program Influence
Strengthen The Alliance's community presence while helping tell a positive, inclusive, and collaborative story about the Southside and Huntington.
- Build stronger community partnerships.
- Strengthen relationships with neighborhood organizations.
- Increase civic engagement and visibility.
- Use storytelling to highlight positive community progress.
- Develop meaningful programs and community events.
Property advocacy.
Stable, cared-for properties are fundamental to neighborhood character, quality of life, and long-term investment.
Support Single-Family Homeownership
Advocate for policies and programs that encourage owner-occupied single-family homes and neighborhood stability.
Address Problem Properties
Identify neglected or deteriorating structures and work through appropriate channels to encourage improvement and responsible property stewardship.
Encourage Reinvestment
Explore partnerships with financial institutions and other organizations that could help encourage investment in Southside properties.
Work Block by Block
Use focused neighborhood improvement strategies that can create visible impact in targeted areas and potentially be replicated elsewhere.
Building an organization prepared for the future.
At the time of the 2025 planning retreat, The Southside Alliance operated without paid staff. The Board identified additional organizational capacity as an important component of achieving the Strategic Plan.
The plan called for expanding Board membership, growing household and business membership, defining membership benefits, pursuing public and private grants, and adding executive staffing to support implementation.
These investments in organizational capacity are intended to help The Alliance move from relying almost entirely on volunteer Board activity toward a stronger and more sustainable operating structure.
The Alliance hires its first Executive Director.
One of the Strategic Plan's major capacity-building priorities was the addition of executive staffing to strengthen day-to-day operations and help advance the organization's work.
In 2026, The Southside Alliance achieved that milestone by hiring Brittany Trippett as its first Executive Director.
The addition of executive leadership represents an important step in building the organizational capacity envisioned in the Strategic Plan and supporting the Board and committees as they work toward the Alliance's 2025–2030 goals.
Expanding influence through connection.
The Strategic Plan recognizes that The Alliance can have greater impact by building relationships, improving communication, and becoming increasingly visible and accessible throughout the community.
Partnerships
Build relationships with neighborhood associations, nonprofits, public agencies, businesses, institutions, and other organizations working toward shared community goals.
Storytelling
Highlight positive stories about Huntington, neighborhood improvements, community resilience, local investment, and the people helping move the city forward.
Community Engagement
Develop programs, outreach opportunities, events, and communication strategies that help make The Alliance more inclusive, approachable, and connected.
Preserve. Achieve. Avoid. Eliminate.
During the planning retreat, Board members used a Goals Grid exercise to think broadly about the future of the organization and identify what should change and what should remain.
What do we want to add?
New opportunities, stronger relationships, increased capacity, improved programs, and greater neighborhood impact.
What do we want to keep?
The neighborhood's character, quality of life, parks, property values, partnerships, and sense of place.
What should we prevent?
Mission creep, loss of focus, misinformation, unnecessary controversy, and deterioration of neighborhood character.
What needs to improve?
Inactivity, negative perceptions, neglected properties, and barriers to meaningful community participation.
A strategic plan helps turn neighborhood priorities into sustained action.
The 2025–2030 Strategic Plan helps The Alliance stay focused on property advocacy, preservation, organizational strength, community partnerships, and the long-term vitality of Huntington's Southside.
The plan guides the work, not limits it.
The Strategic Plan's work plans are intended to serve as a guide that can evolve as priorities, timelines, partnerships, funding, and community needs change between 2025 and 2030.
Help shape the Southside's next chapter.
The Strategic Plan becomes meaningful through the involvement of members, volunteers, community partners, businesses, and residents who care about the future of the Southside.