PREPARED BY: Planning and Strategic Initiatives

DATE: 2026-02-05

SUBJECT: 2022-2025 Strategic Plan - Final Progress Report

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit’s 2022–2025 Refreshed Strategic Plan provided direction during a period of transition from pandemic response toward sustainable public health practice. With the conclusion of the plan period, this report provides the Board of Health with a consolidated summary of progress achieved across the life of the plan and highlights key areas of advancement.

DISCUSSION

Over the course of the 2022–2025 Strategic Plan, the WECHU made meaningful progress toward the priorities and objectives set out in the plan, despite ongoing pressures related to pandemic response and recovery. This included strengthening partnerships with municipal, education, and community partners to support more coordinated approaches to public health, as well as advancing more intentional engagement with priority populations through the Priority Population Engagement Framework and advisory committees.

Internally, efforts focused on strengthening organizational capacity and equity-informed practice through leadership development, continuous quality improvement, and initiatives to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion, including the completion of the WECHU’s first staff census. Work to strengthen evidence-informed planning and decision-making also progressed through the introduction and refinement of structured processes to assess program requirements, needs, and impacts, alongside an assessment of the disproportionate health impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its mitigation measures.

Collectively, this work supported the organization’s transition from pandemic response toward more sustainable public health practice and provided a strong foundation for implementation of the WECHU’s 2026–2030 Strategic Plan.