By Susan Dreyfus

President and CEO, Alliance for Strong Families and Communities

The nonprofit human services sector will continue to contribute to the vitality of our nation through our singular commitment to advancing equity and building our country’s greatest asset: its people.

Our sector has distinction through the unique way we engage the people we serve; the creative ways we provide our programs and services; our leadership; our innovative spirit and deep partnerships; and our paramount responsibility to principled-based advocacy whether for the individual, the family, the community, the state, or the nation.

We face unprecedented opportunities and challenges. Building new operating models, seizing the power of data and technology, continuously adapting our unique skills, competencies, and capacities in an ever-changing environment is requiring our sector to view itself and be viewed not as stand-alone forces for good, but rather crucial contributors to collective systems for change.

It is why the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, a century-old national organization, is leaning forward once again into seismic change that we believe will “10x” our mission and give our network distinction, greater excellence, and systems level influence. An exciting time to be sure! We have established a visioning and planning process called the Alliance of the Future, which is led by FSG Consulting. It has deeply engaged our members, board, and external partners from across sectors.

We are rolling out our findings and planning at the 2016 Alliance National Conference. I look forward to engaging with my colleagues and presenting at the Independent Sector Conference in November on the rapid pace of change, the way the human-serving sector is pivoting and changing, and how the Alliance is as well.

Because, if it is not the human services sector to take on the social challenges vexing our children, families, and communities, who will it be?