Hello Neighbor Strategic Plan
2026-2030
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MISSION
We empower refugees and immigrants through community connections, ensuring their journey from arrival to belonging is guided by dignity, cultural sensitivity, and support.
VISION
A world where our newest neighbors are empowered to rebuild their lives and achieve their dreams.
Our VALUES
REFUGEE-FIRST MINDSET
We believe that all of our work should start with the best interests of the refugees that we serve as voiced by them.
CROSS-CULTURAL SENSITIVITY
We believe in having a thoughtful approach toward the refugee families we support. We know the best answers come from really listening to the needs of the community and that trauma-informed care impacts programmatic support.
DIGNIFIED STORYTELLING
We believe in protecting the privacy and dignity of refugeefamilies by sharing their stories in a respectful way. We strive to be mindful of and sensitive to the journeys and trauma these stories may represent.
CULTIVATING COMMUNITY
We believe the most important aspect of our program is thehuman connection and trust that comes from mentor/mentee relationships. Listening and connecting over shared experiences helps to foster a community that transcends cultures.
INCLUSIVE SUPPORT
We believe in welcoming and standing beside all refugees and immigrants— regardless of race, religion, age, national origin, citizenship status or sexual orientation—and honoring their experiences and voices with a spirit of acceptance and belonging.
Our Strategic Planning Process
This strategic plan was not created behind closed doors. It was built through a year-long, organization-wide listening and analysis process designed to ensure our direction reflects the real needs, realities, and opportunities facing Hello Neighbor and the communities we serve.
We engaged an independent, nationally respected strategic planning consultant who worked alongside our leadership, staff, and Board of Directors over the course of twelve months. During that time, we held more than 20 structured working sessions with staff and board members, including leadership retreats, department-level workshops, and governance reviews.
In parallel, we conducted over 50 one-on-one interviews and focused conversations with a broad cross-section of stakeholders, including funders, clients, community partners, frontline staff, volunteers, government partners, and peer organizations. These conversations surfaced not just what is working, but where the system is strained, where demand is growing, and where Hello Neighbor is uniquely positioned to lead.
This process was grounded in both qualitative and quantitative data. We analyzed our growth since our last strategic plan in 2019, including client outcomes across programs, how services are being utilized, financial and funding trends, staffing growth and our commitment to hiring people with lived migration experience, fundraising and development planning, and changes in external and federal policy. We paired the data with reflections on our community’s lived experience: from the arrival journey of our newest neighbors to how our volunteers and partners show up and add value. We also integrated insights on revenue opportunities, mission alignment, and the future outlook shared by our staff and partners.
The result is a plan that is both ambitious and realistic: rooted in evidence, shaped by lived experience, and aligned with the scale and complexity of the work ahead. It reflects not just where we want to go, but what it will truly take to get there.
This is a strategy built by, and for, the Hello Neighbor community.
In Solidarity,
Sloane Davidson
Founder & CEO
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Organizational Overview
Hello Neighbor was founded in 2017 by Pittsburgh native and mom, Sloane Davidson, who recognized the challenges her newly arrived Syrian neighbors faced as they began their lives in Pittsburgh. We launched with our Family Mentoring program, pairing refugee families with local Pittsburghers to help them navigate essential systems—healthcare, education, employment, housing, and transportation—while building a trusted community of support.
In 2019, we expanded into specialized programs designed to meet the distinct needs of the populations we serve, with a particular focus on women and children. Our work connects us with hundreds of dedicated volunteers and dozens of partner organizations across Allegheny County, Westmoreland County, Washington County, and growing, each contributing expertise, resources, and community leadership. In 2021, we received our first federal contract to directly resettle refugees through a partnership with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).
Since our founding, Hello Neighbor has served more than 4,000 refugees, immigrants, SIVs, and asylum seekers through a wide range of programs. Today, an average of 1,000 clients from over 65 countries are enrolled in our programs each month. We have a proven track record of strengthening refugee self-reliance and helping make Pittsburgh a more welcoming, vibrant city. Most importantly, we have earned deep trust within the communities we serve, supported by a diverse team of full- and part-time staff, partners, and more than 250 volunteers who make our work possible.
Strategic Plan Our Five Pillars
We commit to those we serve to help them build lives and communities they love, recognizing that our region is stronger when refugees and immigrants achieve their dreams and rebuild their lives with dignity.
- Implement mission-driven operations that honor the journey from arrival to belonging, and center immigrant and refugee experiences and voices.
- Advance regional prosperity through workforce development initiatives that embrace refugee-led perspectives.
- Measure success by refugee and immigrant achievement of their own defined goals and dreams.
We remain committed to being a role model agency, shining brightly on the strengths of us working together for a place where all feel safe, welcome and productive.
- Build flexible volunteer programs with expanded responsibility for volunteer captains and teams.
- Continue and expand intentional faith-based community partnerships through collaborations with congregations that honor diverse spiritual traditions.
- Strengthen and expand partnerships with nonprofits, universities, cultural identity groups, businesses, housing agencies, landlords, healthcare providers that prioritize cross-cultural sensitivity, workforce development, and pathways from arrival to belonging.
We commit to achieving a financial sustainability that enables excellence in our support of immigrants and refugees while fostering the wellbeing of our staff and strengthening our role as effective, dependable partners.
- Diversify foundation and institutional funding through existing relationships, coalition partnerships, and new national sources interested in pluralistic societies and refugee empowerment.
- Expand and deepen individual donor engagement through enhanced monthly giving programs and develop mission-aligned revenue streams.
- Pursue strategic government funding opportunities (state, county, federal) that align with our refugee-first mindset and inclusive support values.
- Enhance comprehensive financial stability board frameworks including an investment policy and financial tools.
- Codify and strengthen comprehensive risk assessment, including operational, compliance, strategic, programmatic, and reputational risks.
We commit to thoughtful and deliberate advocacy for those we serve and those with whom we partner, grounded in dignified storytelling and the protection of refugee privacy and experiences.
- Amplify refugee voices through strategic communication that leverages organizational strength while protecting dignity and privacy through respectful storytelling practices
- Advance systemic change through coalition advocacy, policy work, and strategic engagement that centers refugee-voiced interests
- Expand reach and visibility of mission through increased publication and appearances in external media.
We commit to investment and support of our team by providing a workplace characterized by equity and accessible growth opportunities and cross-cultural sensitivity so they can best serve our clients.
- Foster staff wellbeing through cross-cultural learning, clear and compassionate leadership, healthy boundaries and trauma-informed care to provide a foundation for exceptional service to our clients.
- Maintain accessible professional development systems with clear role definitions, excellent communication, and advancement opportunities that honor diverse backgrounds.
- Leverage the combined power of volunteers and staff in service of refugee empowerment, ensuring all workplace relationships reflect our values of inclusive support.
Hello Neighbor
6587 Hamilton Ave, Suite #1E
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Hello Neighbor is a 501(c)(3) | EIN: 82-3695047