Forth recently completed a major strategic plan update, and I’m eager to share the results. 

First, though, a bit about our process. We generally update our long-term strategic plan annually, but we had not done a major overhaul since 2016. A lot has happened since then – including significant acceleration in the electric vehicle market, a national racial justice reckoning, a growing recognition of the climate emergency, and a global pandemic, all of which are ongoing. 

Through hours of interviews, facilitation, and teamwork the Forth team developed a clear roadmap and sharp focus for the years to come.

This plan is already strengthening our work in a number of ways:

Greater Clarity. During the planning stage, we spent a lot of time considering what we care about, what we can do in our lifetime, what we choose to focus on right now and how we go about that work. In our new strategy these are defined as vision, mission, strategy, and approach. 

• We have a vision of a world where clean and equitable transportation systems move everyone and everything. We recognize this is a life-long undertaking, but it serves as a guiding principle.  

• Our mission is to contribute to that vision by electrifying transportation. 

• Our strategy is to increase equitable access to electric cars and charging. We will also aid development in emerging areas to accelerate  progress and impact. 

• Our approach is to bring people together to work in partnership to build lasting and transformative solutions. 

Greater Alignment. As Forth has grown from a one-person organization to over 30, it’s more important than ever that we are in sync. Having a clear and compelling plan serves as a compass, guiding our communications, budgets, teams and our daily work. 

Greater clarity and alignment helps us build more effective partnerships with other organizations and advocates.

Centering Equity. Forth has been working to more clearly center racial equity in our work for several years. As we have traveled this path and our understanding of the issues has evolved, our desire to ensure our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion has become central to our strategy. 

Our new plan is based around the concept of targeted universalism. At its simplest, this means that in order to ensure all drivers have access to electric cars and charging, we will direct our focus on those who face the greatest challenges and barriers to access.

We will continue to roll out more detail on our plans and projects to internalize and implement our new strategy. We expect to update and adapt it in accordance with the rapidly changing industry and policy landscape. We look forward to working with our current and future members, partners, legislators and communities to continue this progress toward an equitable and electric future. We hope you’ll join us.