ARK-VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY INC

1. Provide Live-saving behavior programs.
2. Help more animals, keeping our Length-of-Stay low and Live-Release-Rate high.
3. Improve Staff Retention & Wellness.
4. Utilize Supportive & Efficient Communication

Live-saving behavior programs:
More dog enrichment and training.
More hands on animal training for staff.
Reinventing our use of Cat Pawsitive.
Spending more time interacting with animals.
Implement Bite Quarantine enrichment.

Helping more animals, keeping our Length-of-Stay low and Live-Release-Rate high:
Increase our transfer-ins and develop new relationships with partner organizations.
Continued all-team support for marketing harder to adopt animals.
Increase videos of animals and start a TikTok page.
Engaging our volunteers in new and creative ways and recruiting new volunteers that can do new things for the organization.
Continue to improve animal desirability by addressing and correcting behavior and/or medical issues via individually focused training, enrichment, medical intervention/medical diagnostics.

Staff Retention & Wellness:
Live our culture.
Increase team building opportunities
Recognizing the early symptoms of compassion fatigue in ourselves and others.
Continue to set the next person up for success.
Work/life balance and the ability to leave work at work.
Celebrate one another’s successes, big or small.

Supportive & Efficient Communication:
More concise communication.
Collaborative thinking and supporting innovation.
Support, mentor, and uplift each other, volunteers and fosters.
When faced with conflict, focus on the situation or the problem rather than the individual(s) involved and bigger picture thinking.
Recognizing healthy boundaries and respecting each other's boundaries.

With 8 staff members, 8 board members, and 60 volunteers, Ark-Valley Humane Society operates an animal shelter and community assistance programs. AVHS has been sheltering animals for over 25 years and is supported by mill levy taxes and dedicated donors to provide a secure base. AVHS has partnered with local veterinarians to provide spay/neuter assistance services and collaborates with neighboring community shelters for animal transfers and professional development.

Through expansion of our services, spay/neuter, and education efforts, AVHS operates an animal shelter serving Chaffee County, Colorado. In-county shelter intake has been declining since 2011. We are now able to reach out to surrounding shelters in need of transferring animals for adoption. On-going goals include reduction of births of unwanted litters and increase community retention of animals. Further we've been able to expand our programs to include a pet food pantry, behavior training, and emergency boarding.