With a clear mission and growing impact, Touchstone Foundation is embarking on strategic planning to deepen access, expand the mental health talent pipeline, and ensure our programs continue to meet the evolving needs of youth.

Anna Kennedy
January 2026

As we welcome 2026, we launch a new Strategic Plan with a renewed focus on youth mental wellness. Our plan reaffirms our commitment to elevating the mental wellness of youth and young people in Lancaster County, with our vision that all youth experience mental wellness.

The Board and staff have, together with consulting support from the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations (PANO), completed a rigorous review of our mission, vision, values, goals, and programs. We began 2025 by evaluating the programs, thinking big, considering strategic partnerships, and starting small with social impact. We created a theory of change for each program and goal area and then created a new theory of change with measurable outcomes and impacts for each program.

View our 2026-2028 Strategic Plan Here.

Goals

1. Increase Access by removing financial and systemic barriers, creating awareness about mental health needs, and connecting youth to positive networks and purpose.
2. Development of Mentorship Opportunities for young people and early-career mental health professionals by training volunteer mentors and connecting young people to mentorship.
3. Build the Talent Pipeline by supporting student mental health career exploration, retaining licensed mental health professionals serving youth, and training early career mental health professionals.

The chart below shows the connection between our goals and programs. Our Access Assistance and Rise Above programs focus on the Increase Access goal, while our Symposium, Scholarships, and Clinical Fellowships focus on the Talent Pipeline goal. As we seek to develop mentorship opportunities for young people and early-career mental health professionals, we envision mentorship at the hub of our work and a key focus in the coming years.

We invite you to engage with us, share your feedback and suggestions for deepening our work to improve youth mental wellness in Lancaster County. Here are some upcoming opportunities.

• January 29, Rise Above Feedback Session, for students, families, facilitators, and interested community members: RSVP here.
• Volunteer with us- Learn more here.
• Follow us on social media!