8.0 PDP’s Future Sustainability

A sustainable organization is one whose characteristics and actions are designed to lead to a desirable future state for all stakeholders. Organizations that actively manage and respond to a wide range of sustainability indicators are better equipped to create value for its stakeholders over the long term. Maintaining a sustainable organization is a long-lasting, shared commitment by all staff, which requires each staff member to embrace the organization’s mission and vision for its future wellbeing. Achieving a sustainable organization that serves the public interest is at its core a never-ending commitment.

PDP’s long-term sustainability is built on these premises and interlocked with its fundamental beliefs and underlying values that have steadily matured over the past 46 years and made it a valued resource for current and future stakeholders. PDP’s long-term sustainability is firmly grounded in a profound understanding of the importance of enhancing workforce development—specifically as it relates to the public and not-for-profit sectors that it has successfully serviced. Its sustainability and continued success are also a product of an inherent understanding of applying the essential principles of adult learning theory to its work. PDP’s future is applicably linked to its fundamental beliefs that:

• supporting evidence-based education and training adds a useful, substantial benefit to the development, management, and delivery of government services.
• practicing the principles of adult learning theory produces best practices in organization development and effective classroom-to-job learning experiences, which are an essential aspect of workforce development.
• assisting public agencies and those who work in or for the public service to perform more effectively and efficiently makes a significant difference in their ability to provide much-needed services to their respective constituents.

Furthermore, PDP firmly believes that its sustainability is directly linked to producing welldesigned and effectual training, which is clearly tied to supporting the education and training needs of those who work in or for the public service.

Steadily following these guiding principles throughout its history, PDP has progressively built a strong and sustainable model for the immediate present and its pending future through activities that:

• underscore PDP’s support of the University’s public and community engagement service mission.
• respond to emerging workforce development needs.
• provide crucial continuing professional education for the public and not-for-profit workforce.
• demonstrate the significant connection of effectively transforming policy to practice.
• design state-of-the-art programs that advance skill-development, knowledge gain, and learning.
• formulate research and practice opportunities for faculty and students.
• promote and encourage staff development and learning opportunities for its employees.

A major factor in support of PDP’s future sustainability is PDP’s accreditation by IACET to offer CEUs for its programs. This is a value-added dividend that PDP can offer to its customers. This further reinforces that PDP has emerged as a leading learning organization in being able to grant CEUs for professional certification for its training audience.

To maintain its sustainability, PDP will firmly pursue the expansion of its program offerings in areas such as; instructor-led training, web-based training and webinars, self-paced training, mobile learning, and blended learning.

As PDP examines new opportunities to support workforce development, which will remain its central concentration, certain factors will influence the design of future programs. Selecting the most suitable format and delivery methodologies to meet the needs of its highly diversified training audience remains critical. This may range from weeklong, formalized training programs to on-demand, mobile learning, including training manuals, help systems, and performance supports that allow trainees to access critical information needed on demand, and a variety of relevant distance learning alternatives.

PDP anticipates further expanding its portfolio through ongoing collaboration with the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, the School of Social Welfare, the School of Public Health, and other University centers. These efforts will focus on intensifying its eLearning training platform, expanding media production work, offering leadership development programs for the public workforce, expanding its workforce impact evaluations, and pursuing collaborative grants and contracts that address the needs of continuing professional education for the public sector.

PDP will undertake these initiatives while continuing its commitment to first meet its primary mission of serving the public and not-for-profit workforce in NYS.