1 January 18

Contents
Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 3
Our Vision ................................................................................................................................. 4
Our Mission .............................................................................................................................. 5
Our Values ................................................................................................................................ 6
Looking back ............................................................................................................................. 7
Looking forward ....................................................................................................................... 8
How we developed our strategy .............................................................................................. 9
Our Strategic Themes ............................................................................................................... 9
1. Put feedback from users and the community at the heart of what we do............................. 10
2. Provide Relevant Services based on need .............................................................................. 11
3. Develop a stronger deaf community ...................................................................................... 12
4. Increase the Sustainability of our organisation. .......................................................................... 13
5. Campaign for better public services ............................................................................................ 14

2 January 18
Introduction
Cambridgeshire Deaf Association has a proud history. Since the early
20th Century we have been here to transform the lives of deaf people.

We have grown into the charity we are now through the efforts of
our Deaf and hearing volunteers and committed staff who put the
welfare of our users and members in the centre of all we do.

I am very proud to be able to introduce our new strategy which builds

on all the work we have done already and shows our community and
partners the direction we are taking the charity in the next three years
and how we are planning on getting there.

There remains many threats and challenges to overcome to reduce

inequalities and discrimination and promote inclusion but every
success story that we have is a step forward.

I hope you enjoy reading our new three-year strategic plan.

By Dr Janie Anderson
Chairperson

3 January 18
 Our Vision
This is what we want the future to be like

We want improved health,

wellbeing and equality for deaf
people

4 January 18
 Our Mission
This is our role in making our vision a reality

We will focus on improving the

wellbeing of deaf people. We do this by
informing, encouraging, supporting,
campaigning and caring.

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Our Values
These are the principles that will guide our organisation

6 January 18

Looking back
CDA has been the go-to organisation for deaf
people for a century in our area. The last few
years has seen a period of change for CDA as
we have undergone growth to meet the needs
of the community in changing times.
We have transformed into a respected and
admired advocacy organisation that has
invested significantly in staff and training. Our
casework has gained a reputation for being
efficient and confidential and supports more
people in need. We also support more young
people than ever before.
We have developed strong partnerships with
other leading organisations to educate the
community on wellbeing and escaping
domestic violence.
We have grown our own care and support
service which has revolutionized the way care
is delivered to deaf people in our area and
provided employment, skills and experience to
dozens of deaf people, many previously
unemployed.
We’ve increased the number of people
learning sign language locally to hundreds
every year and spread our teaching into three
towns and cities and invested in developing
new tutors and new ways to share the
beautiful language with disadvantaged people.
We’ve moved deaf people to the mainstream
with a growing following on social media –
bigger than any other sensory charity in our
area. In the process becoming a leader in
creating video content in British Sign
Language. Hundreds of thousands of people
have seen our videos and we have worked
with the BBC to bring local news to the deaf
community.
We’ve campaigned for change in healthcare
leading to changes that dramatically improve
access for deaf people in local hospitals and
our ideas to improve access spread to every
corner of the country.
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We’ve strengthened the resilience of the deaf
community through consistent investment in
its development. Our community worker
meets over 200 people who attend our
expanded time-table of regular drop ins and
events that provide friendship, information
and support. We’ve successfully increased
sports and arts participation.
We have dramatically grown our income from
£120,000 in 2014 to a projected £450,00 in 2019.
This includes increases in fundraising and
business activities.
We have put volunteering at the top of our
agenda with a growing team of volunteers
befriending the most vulnerable deaf people
in our community and changing lives.
Our building, once a unwelcoming and dated
space has been transformed into a revenue
generating, modern building with excellent
office facilities. It is in use every day
generating income for the association and
more people than ever visit to learn sign
language or get support.
CDA used to be very Cambridge-centric but
we now have modern bases in Huntingdon,
Peterborough and a base in Fenland too so we
can better meet the needs of the community
and be a true local charity.
Our membership scheme has been revitalized
with 76 people joining to support CDA.
We’ve invested in technology and new
systems so that our staff can work efficiently
for the benefit of our clients. We use
technology to bring together organisations
and individuals from around the county on
projects that benefit deaf people.
We changed our brand image to a more
vibrant, recognizable and distinctive scheme
and have twice modernized our website.

Looking forward
There has been no let-up in demand for
our services. Referrals are still increasing
and 2018 will be the biggest year for
referrals so far.
Our care service, CDA Life is delivering
more hours than ever as the realization
that deaf people need specialist care and
support in BSL is taking root. With an older
population, demand for care will increase.
More young people are coming forward
for support with a growing crisis for deaf
young people in education and future
prospects.
Societal changes point to a disintegration
of community structures that are vital for
the well-being of deaf people.
Deaf people who have not been taught
sign language to a proficient level, are not
involved in deaf communities and have no
useful hearing seek our services more and
more and their needs for support grow.
The scandal of health and deaf people
shows no signs of abating. Deaf people are
more reluctant to visit their GPs and more
likely to be ill.
The UK’s system of benefits, education,
law and health reaches new levels of
complexity each year requiring skills and
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expertise in BSL to ensure deaf people
have full access to their rights.
The deaf community in Cambridgeshire is
active but needs more support to remain
vibrant and connected given the distances
involved in travel to different venues and
declining mobility of older people. An
expanded range of activities, such as more
trips and holidays have been repeatedly
called for.
Deaf parents of hearing children struggle
to support their children through school as
teachers deny communication support.
As demand for CDA grows, its need for
funding increases. We must find new ways
to raise income, from our building, from
the community and from using our
services.
At the time of writing, CDA has 60 staff
and volunteers. Of that 35 are in paid
employment and 28 members (80%) of
those are deaf. We also provide unique
volunteering opportunities to a further 11
deaf people. We want people to be proud
to work and volunteer for us.
Our income is set to grow further as our
care and support business grows and we
become more active in fundraising. This
means our business infrastructure and
procedures need to be robust and
efficient.
How we
developed our
strategy
We held feedback meetings with our members. Consulted with members and trustees and
used data we collect about our work to develop our new strategy.

The feedback meetings were held with members in October and November 2018.

Our strategic themes aim to continue CDA’s development into a truly locally led, sustainable
charity that is efficient, modern and responsive.

Our Strategic Themes

1. Put feedback from users and the community at the heart of what we do.
2. Provide Relevant Services based on need
3. Develop a stronger deaf community
4. Increase the Sustainability of our organisation.
5. Campaign for better public services

9 January 18
 1. Put feedback from users
and the community at the
heart of what we do.

We will:

• Continue to take regular feedback from our service users, the community
and staff and shape the way we work by it. We’ll do this through regular
feedback meetings and engagement with our staff and volunteers.

• We’ll take notice of the national picture for deaf people by participating
more in national deaf organisations such as BDA or UKCoD and be a
conduit for important national campaigns into the local deaf community

• Continue to be an organisation that is close to the community it

supports.

• We will know we’re successful if we hold meetings with members every

year and implement their feedback and improve. That members take
roles in national organisations and we are increasing the numbers of
people engaged with CDA

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 2. Provide Relevant Services
based on need

We will:

• We will be efficient at implementing projects and we will invest in our

services so we can translate the needs of community into effective
projects and raise the money for them.

• Be active in supporting deaf young people find their place in the world

• Ensure our Independent Advocates, Caseworkers and Support Workers

will be active in working with deaf people to maximise their
independence and lead active lives through our important Support,
Advocacy and Care Services.

• We will know we’re successful if our funders continue to fund our work
and our projects are well used, our clients report improvements in their
wellbeing and local public services take-action to improve their provision

11 January 18
 3. Develop a stronger deaf
community

We will:

• Work to connect people together through expanding our community

services, sports and social events and through getting our own minibus
and increasing events in Cambridge.

• Continue to develop our media capacity so that we can continue to

connect people to our services via our BSL videos and improve ways we
can communicate in other ways, including our newsletter

• Increase our use of social media to connect people to the work we do

• We will know we’re successful if we uncrease in community attendance

at events and sports, maintain our provision of video and newsletters and
grow our audience across new social media

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4. Increase the Sustainability of
our organisation.

We will:

• Connect with companies and people with our business to make an

operating profit and use those funds for our charitable aims

• Increase the scope of volunteering at CDA so we can engage more

volunteers from both the deaf and hearing communities to give their
time and provide more volunteering opportunities for deaf people to
gain skills and experience.

• Increase our efficiency across everything we do.

• Encourage people to become donors and grow all types of fundraising

activity

• We will know if we have been successful if we are in a strong fundraising

position and we have a base of regular givers and income streams

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 5. Campaign for better public
services

We will

• We will work with local government, health and public service

providers to improve their services

• We will work to connect deaf people with those in power

• We will know we’re successful if access to public services for deaf

people improves.

14 January 18