A letter to the community from PPL President & CEO and PPL Board Chair:
Dear Friends,
2020 marks 48 years for PPL.
48 years of learning and adapting our efforts to meet the needs of the community. In all that time, our vision, passion, and dedication have never wavered. We have stayed the course to ensure that hope, assets, self-reliance, and pride are not just buzz words but are lived and breathed every day.
48 years is something to celebrate. We know that our approach works. Today we are a leading housing and career training organization in the Twin Cities, a go-to partner that creates lasting results.
Close to 3,500 individuals live with PPL every night, a growth of more than 27% over the past five years. Our job readiness programs, serving primarily immigrants and people of color, have grown by close to 25%.
The increasing housing shortage and rapidly transforming workforce have reinforced our conviction that our strategic focus on housing and employment is right for our community and right for these times.
Today, PPL is recommitting to this Strategic Direction for the next three years. The direction we shaped in 2016 still inspires and drives us. Our vision now is to deepen and expand this work, to sharpen our focus on equity and engagement as ways of doing business, to commit to the importance of place, and to expand our impact on systems and policy.
Now is the time to drive our vision for vibrant, thriving communities that will have a multi-generational impact on previously underinvested and underemployed communities.
Building on our two core pillars, Housing Stability & Career Readiness, PPL will take this work to scale over the next three years. We commit to:
- Increase our production of affordable housing, and think creatively about how to build and deliver quality housing.
- Continue to meet the demand for our employment training, expanding our groundbreaking work around youth employment and career pathways.
- Push forward on our own cultural competency and racial equity learning.
- Partner and collaborate in the community, especially with groups and causes working effectively with people of color, who comprise the vast majority of PPL participants and residents.
- Deepen our public policy engagement by raising the voices of our organization and participants in advocacy.
- Continue our commitment to long-term financial stability and high-performing staff.
These plans come alive because of the people, programs, and partnerships – the heart of PPL. Each of you has played a unique role on this 48 year journey. I hope you will take a moment to reflect on our collective impact and know how deeply grateful we are for the support you have provided.
Thank you for all you have done, and your unwavering support and belief in the vision PPL has set.
With gratitude,
Paul Williams Damu McCoy
PPL President & CEO PPL Board Chair
Read PPL's complete 2020 - 2022 Strategic Direction
