Summary: The Oberkotter Foundation’s new strategic plan aims to enhance access to quality pediatric audiology and Listening and Spoken Language services for children who are deaf or hard of hearing by advancing science and innovation.
Key Takeaways:
- The foundation’s plan focuses on funding and supporting innovative initiatives to transform pediatric hearing healthcare and bridge care gaps.
- Five goals include advancing scientific and technological innovations, raising awareness, increasing access to services, expanding support networks, and exercising national leadership.
- The foundation has updated its visual identity with a new logo and redesigned website to reflect its future-facing vision and leadership in the industry.
The Oberkotter Foundation released its strategic plan to increase access to quality pediatric audiology and Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) services for children who are deaf or hard of hearing and address the barriers to care. At the heart of the foundation’s plan is a focus on advancing science and innovation to create a more inclusive and supportive future for children with hearing loss.
Oberkotter Foundation’s Hearing Care Initiative
Based on the foundation’s history of supporting families, today’s evidence-based research happening in the field, and first-hand accounts from both families and professionals, the Board of Trustees and executive leadership team recognized a critical need, the foundation says. The Oberkotter Foundation’s plan aims to fund and support innovative initiatives that will transform pediatric hearing healthcare, bridging the gaps in care so that children with hearing loss have the opportunity to develop age-appropriate listening, talking, and literacy skills.
“The Oberkotter Foundation’s strategic plan charts a path forward that will push the boundaries of what is possible through science and innovation,” says Teresa H. Caraway, PhD, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT, chief executive officer of the Oberkotter Foundation. “As the Foundation reflects on our legacy of support for families of children with hearing loss, it’s critical we position the organization to create scalable, sustainable changes and further advance our mission. We are committed to unlocking more opportunities for children with hearing loss and their families.”
Goals of the Hearing Care Plan
The strategic plan, as initiated and approved by the Board of Trustees, includes five visionary goals that will guide priorities for the foundation over the next three years:
- Advance science and innovation to improve audiological, Listening and Spoken Language (LSL), and literacy outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Raise broad awareness of newborn hearing screening, the importance of hearing to brain development, and that babies who are deaf or hard of hearing are learning to listen and talk.
- Increase nationwide access to hearing technology, coordinated pediatric audiology and Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) services, and family support.
- Expand the knowledge, skills, and connections among families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing and the professionals who support them.
- Exercise national leadership as an exemplary foundation.
“Not only as a Trustee for Oberkotter Foundation but also as a mother of a child with hearing loss, I can say that the Foundation fulfills an unequivocal need to advance pediatric hearing healthcare,” says Lydia Denworth, trustee. “The plan not only furthers the Foundation’s mission but deepens our impact so that new opportunities can exist for children with hearing loss as they learn to listen, talk, read, and reach their full potential.”
In addition to releasing the strategic plan, the Oberkotter Foundation has updated its visual identity, introducing a new logo and redesigned website. The visual identity embodies the future-facing vision and aligns with the Foundation’s position as an innovative leader in the industry.
“The updated visual identity for the Foundation represents a unified step toward reinforcing the core values of our mission and a promise to advance our work with clarity, purpose, and collaboration,” says Caraway.
Photo: Dreamstime
