by Zach Hobbs, ANCA Interim Deputy Director
Within their governing bylaws, most nonprofit organizations mandate an annual meeting, and ANCA is no different. But to ANCA, our annual meeting is more than a requirement. We view it as a critical opportunity to connect in meaningful ways with our community, to find out more about what matters to our constituents, and to uplift collaborations that help us all serve the needs of our communities in the year ahead and for years to come.
Zach Hobbs invites meeting attendees to provide insight for ANCA’s next strategic plan.
On July 26, 80 individuals gathered in community at Fort Ticonderoga for ANCA’s 2024 annual meeting. Robust networking over coffee and pastries gave way to a meaningful conversation regarding ANCA’s recent successes, identified challenges, and vision for the future.
This year, we sought to make our meeting not just about the successes of our team, but also a strategic look ahead and celebration of partners alongside whom we’re proud to meet both the moment and the future. Amidst a review of a wide range of ANCA projects — from assisting businesses with grant applications to organics recycling, supporting municipalities to become Clean Energy Communities to building welcoming and belonging through work with BIPOC students — we reviewed some key performance indicators developed as part of our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, which was written and released in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and our progress toward meeting them.
Having met or exceeded most of our metric goals — and very frankly, discarded others which no longer effectively served our mission or our partners as economic and social conditions changed so drastically since 2020 — we took the opportunity to launch a new strategic planning process, designed to generate stakeholder insights, updated goals and measurements, and funding priorities as we approach ANCA’s 75th birthday in 2028.
Speaking of strategy and community members, we resumed a past practice of recognition as part of this year’s annual meeting. This intentional centering and celebration of people, places and things beyond ANCA is in alignment with our evolving strategy to support and empower an entire ecosystem.
Leading up to the meeting, we placed a public call for nominations for recognition based on a set of possible criteria which included, among others:
Emmett Smith of Northern Power & Light receives a certificate of recognition.
inclusive economic development, challenging of exclusionary norms, inspiring others to engagement, and being an unsung hero of the region. Eligible nominations included not only people, but also organizations, communities, committees, artifacts, events and more.
A total of 23 individuals, organizations, communities, events and artifacts were nominated by ANCA staff, board, and our broader community. Our staff ultimately selected three that we were proud to recognize as our first round of superstar partners at this year’s meeting. We are honored to support their efforts and count them as partners in the challenging but critical work of building an economy that works for all across our beloved North Country region:
- Camp Dudley & Dave Langston, Development Director for Camp Dudley and Camp Kiniya, “Dave has been an ardent supporter of ADI’s Emerging Stewards programs working closely with ADI staff to provide unique and powerful outdoor and educational opportunities to BIPOC communities and students. Dave has worked with the Alternative Spring Break Program in partnership with SUNY Potsdam for over three years, he also has hosted our Claiming Space program and his willingness to go the extra mile for these programs and think outside of the box and his flexibility has been incredible. He leads his team with an amazing grace, sense of humor and is truly dedicated to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.”
- Northern Power & Light, “A locally owned company providing benefits to local communities. Everything about this company exemplifies what ANCA stands for: uplifting regionally and statewide our most home-grown power source; meeting communities individually to plan for programs that will help lower costs and emissions; sponsoring events which make our region more engaging and inclusive; and simply being great friends and colleagues to all.”
TACC staff were honored at the meeting.
- Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce, “Matt, Erin and the team are leading Ticonderoga through one of the 2-3 most significant renaissances in the entire region through dogged work, immense passion, and good humor. They’ve supported several businesses through successful transitions, empowered numerous entrepreneurs, and cheered on one of the most remarkable networks of development agencies in one place in the region. (And if you haven’t been there for Halloween, it’s best seen to be believed!)”
Over the course of the next year, ANCA will continue to elevate good work being done to strengthen and diversify our region’s economy and engage stakeholders in collaboratively building our next strategic plan. We are committed to ensuring that our new plan meets the real needs of businesses and communities across the North Country. Please join us.
Photos from ANCA’s 2024 Annual Meeting at Fort Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga, N.Y.