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Strategic Planning

Read: OEM Strategic Plan 2023 - 2025

The OEM Strategic Plan 2023 - 2025 outlines the specific activities OEM will employ in the 2023 – 2025 plan year to deliver its goals and objectives. This strategic plan intends to provide a clear path forward and fully leverage a whole community approach to establish a renewed vision, mission, and set of values that reflect both our team and the people we serve.



Supporting Agency Plans:


Overview

The Oregon Department of Emergency Management Strategic Plan is a shared vision for delivering the department’s mission, vision and core values.

Mission

Achieving the goals set forth in this Strategic Plan is dependent on the involvement of an empowered and informed whole community. In developing this document, we hope to achieve our mission to lead collaborative statewide efforts, inclusive of all partners and the communities we serve, to ensure the capability to get help in an emergency and to protect, mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies or disasters regardless of cause. 

Vision

Our vision is an established, equitable culture of preparedness that empowers Oregon’s whole community to thrive in times of crisis.  

Values

We embrace five core values:

  1. Advocacy - We value the perspectives of our team, our partners and those we serve, and support their efforts to advance our shared interests.
  2. Collaboration - We value sincere, communicative and supportive partnerships that encourage trust and make us better than we are on our own. 
  3. Innovation - We value ideas that challenge current practices while we seek out and leverage new opportunities to improve our ability to serve.
  4. Leadership - We value opportunities to lead our emergency management and 9-1-1 communities with integrity, respect, courage and accountability, and to foster the development of leaders within our organization.
  5. Service – We value our partners and others we serve and strive to deliver excellence in all that we do.

Strategic Planning Engagement


Director Erin McMahon was appointed to lead the Oregon Department of Emergency Management (OEM) on Aug. 18, 2023, and was confirmed by the Senate on Sept. 29, 2023. Immediately following her appointment, Director McMahon led an agency-wide assessment to review the operational effectiveness of OEM, both as an organization and as a team, to document areas of growth and improvement that could be integrated into future strategic planning and further inform leadership decisions regarding resources and changes made across the organization to best support the Governor’s direction to lead the agency’s transition into an independent department for the state. In a letter dated Sept. 12, 2023, Governor Kotek​ stated:

 

“You arrive at a time of transition for the agency and for emergency management in Oregon. OEM has increased in size and independence since 2021. It is called to respond with increasing frequency to heat, severe storms, wildfires, and floods. The agency must now mature its systems and culture to meet the needs of Oregonians in this moment. And it must maintain readiness even while it grows and transforms. While not an easy task, I am confident in your leadership, ability, and experience to guide the agency through this time of growth and transition.”

​

The initial climate survey​​ yielded 33 findings across seven lines of effort: 

  1. Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA)
  2. Personnel Management
  3. Training and Leadership
  4. Business Plans and Procedures
  5. Data and Systems Management
  6. Internal and External Communications
  7. Fiscal Management 

​Further analysis revealed two additional lines of effort: Operational Effectiveness and Service Delivery Model. ​​ ​​​​​

OEM conducted a listening session for each line of effort where all staff were invited to participate and offer individual and departmental perspectives on opportunities for improvement. At the conclusion, feedback was reviewed and assembled into a Summary and Recommendations document containing the overarching goals, objectives and recommended actions for each line of effort which would become the foundation for the Strategic Plan Framework.

Summary and Recommendations Documents:

On March 27, 2024, OEM hosted its first ever Strategic Planning Town Hall. The purpose of this live event was to guide participants through the OEM strategic planning journey and promote an opportunity for the whole community to provide feedback on the draft framework for the agency’s 2023 to 2025 strategic plan. 


Meeting Resources:


The Path Forward 

OEM will continue to engage internal and external partners as we measure the success of the strategic plan and look to the 2025 – 2027 strategic plan and beyond. We look forward to involving our whole community as we shape the future of emergency management in Oregon. 


Point of Contact 


Bobbi McAllister
OEM Strategic Planner