Message from the EKO Board of Directors
Empowered Kids Ontario-Enfants Avenir Ontario (EKO)'s recently completed FY 2021-24 EKO Strategic Plan charted a path for investment, clinical program innovation, and reimagined outreach efforts. Working together as an association and with partners, we made incredible gains—expanding our membership, engagement, and impact on the children's healthcare system.
Having reached this new plateau, the EKO Board of Directors set out to craft a strategic plan, clarifying the association's direction and leaning in on the value proposition audit conducted in the Spring of 2024. The value proposition affirmed that EKO is in the enviable position of having strengths across diverse areas of its operations and told us our strategic challenge is to make careful, well-informed decisions on where to focus to grow with the maximum return on the association's investment.
How can we leverage these remarkable assets to accelerate progress and maximize impact for our members, who provide developmental healthcare that is foundational to lifelong health and well-being to Ontario kids with disabilities and developmental needs?
We have put forward a bold new strategic plan.
Our aspirations are ambitious. This seven-year course will allow EKO to significantly influence the way Ontarians understand, value, and invest in developmental healthcare. At its heart, the plan is a call to accelerate access to care for kids with disabilities and developmental needs and their families.
Tina Langlois Chair
Jennifer Churchill President & CEO
Our Strategic Plan 2025-2032
EKO is known for promoting community, knowledge transfer, and innovation.
Now we are writing the next chapter in our association's history. Our new strategic plan is the foundation for the current and next generation of EKO members whose delivery of developmental healthcare means kids with disabilities and developmental needs and their families live their best lives.
The plan embeds the core disciplines — advocacy and representation, thought leadership, knowledge exchange and agents of change — that define EKO's approach to providing value to members and advancing developmental healthcare.
EKO's 2025-2032 Strategic Plan is rooted in three interconnected priorities—Evolve, Activate, and Elevate. We embrace principles that are the foundation for what we believe the children's healthcare system should be, and strategies to help us advance children's health in Ontario.
Because meaningful change takes time, EKO has set a 20-year vision and a seven-year strategic plan. We share a vision with our members. As an association, our role is to provide community, engagement, learning, and services that help our members realize their respective goals.
Vision
Children and youth with disabilities and developmental needs are living their best lives
Mission
EKO members have the resources necessary to meet the needs of their communities
North Star
Elevating and supporting our members by promoting investments, policies, programs, and knowledge-transfer based on the best research and thought leadership available
Our Principles
- Investment in children and families improves not only child health but also population health, health equity, education outcomes, workforce productivity, and cost-effectiveness in public spending.
- The foundations of lifelong health are established early in the life course. Studies show clearly that major causes of adult morbidity and mortality and aging have their roots in childhood.
- We champion evidence-based approaches with a focus on health equity.
- Data tells us something we didn't know before. Solid data contributes to smart decisions.
Our Interconnected Priorities 2025-2032
Evolve EKO and our members as leaders in developmental healthcare. Activate and support EKO members. Elevate and champion developmental healthcare, which is the foundation of lifelong health.
While health care systems face significant challenges, we have many opportunities to build a healthier future for Ontario's kids with disabilities and developmental needs, their families, and their communities.
EKO is proud to support Ontario's developmental healthcare professionals as they provide clinical care that can change the trajectory of a child's life, and lead innovative efforts to advance children's well-being.