Program areas at Northwest Valley Connect
Since 2014 Northwest Valley Connect has assisted low-income seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities who do not have access to, or cannot afford, transportation. Serving the cities of Peoria, El Mirage, Sun City, Sun City West, Surprise and Youngtown, our mission is to provide mobility options empowering the people we serve to take care of their healthcare needs, maintain independence, and participate more fully in community life. More than 60 percent of NVCs clients have an annual income less than $30,000 and 80 percent of our clients are over the age of 65. Over the past year, the new administration has guided NVC and its board of directors through a comprehensive organizational assessment, making appropriate modifications to increase ridership and better meet the transportation needs in our community. Through the assessment, we gleaned invaluable insights into our strengths, challenges, and areas for improvement. After conducting a series of one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders and a thorough examination of our programs, people, finances and systems, we have put key strategies in place for enhancing our sustainability and impact, while being more scrupulous in how we set, measure and meet our goals. Significant progress was made in the last year in several areas, including re-building the administrative and service delivery teams, resuming rider enrollments, enhancing our organizational capacity, and attracting new funding from Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, BHHS Legacy Foundation, Vitalyst Health Foundation and APS. Additionally, we have embarked on initiatives to strengthen our volunteer program and improve our operational processes such as call center management and accounting practices.