Also, I was thinking about this and another piece that might come into play relates to the partnerships with animal welfare groups that are in place to provide veterinary care for guests or clients. Some of these groups might themselves have a spay/neuter requirement to receive financial support to cover the cost of more expensive veterinary expenses, specifically. I think it's probably less of an issue to access basic things like vaccinations and flea/tick prevention, etc as those are generally more widely available. But also certainly that will depend on location and whatever veterinary resources are nearby. If animal groups are not willing to compromise on any of their requirements within any official partnerships, shelters might be at their mercy as the non-negotiables for basic veterinary care. If that's the case, the basics like vaccines and flea prevention might not be accessible if a pet is not spayed/neutered or an owner refuses to agree to that in the future. This is all assuming, of course, that the shelter does not have funding or options for veterinary care and would be reliant on limited services through other nonprofits or municipal groups that might have lengthy requirements for access.

Thanks for posting! If we don't get much traction here, of course we can discuss during the upcoming meeting! I am tagging just a few collaborative members that come to mind in the hopes they might have some feedback for you! @jesse.casement @mayra @Christine @Mary Cahill

Recording Meeting Notes

My Dog Is My Home has been working to update the format of the Theory of Change. The new version is available here, and the initial post in this thread has also been updated to access this updated version.

Hello all, The Session #2 Meeting Notes are now available. I apologize for the delay in this posting. Due to technical issues, the session recording is unfortunately not available from this session. Please review the attached notes and provide feedback regarding the proposed short-term and long-term goals, as well as the suggested working groups (also, please specify your interest in participation in at least one working group) by October 16th. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns by posting on the forum or emailing collaborative@mydogismyhome.org

Thank you all for your contributions and feedback! The Theory of Change - Draft 2 helps to more clearly lay out our "big picture" goals from which we can identify our specific priorities and specific areas of focus moving forward. This will allow us to finalize our Common Agenda document and develop our working groups. Some questions to consider include: Do you feel that the needs, challenges, and summary statement for each stakeholder group accurately reflect the current situation? Which short-term/long-term goals do you feel are most important and should be given priority within the Collaborative? Which short-term/long-term goals do you and your organization believe to be the most realistically achievable? Are there any short-term/long-term goals that you feel are missing, inaccurate, or poorly articulated? Are there any "drivers of change" that you feel are missing, inaccurate, or poorly articulated? Also, what ideas do you have regarding the grouping of these goals and their associated "drivers of change" in order to form working groups moving forward? We envision that it is within these working groups that members will develop logic-model style planning, including elements such as specific objectives and measurable indicators of progress. It was also identified during the feedback from the previous version that we should consider including a separate "Needs Statement" for this document. We are eager to receive feedback from you all in order to present the most comprehensive view possible. Please respond to this thread directly so all members can benefit from your thoughts or questions, and it's a great platform for brainstorming and developing a dialogue. As always, feel free to reach out to collaborative@mydogismyhome.org with any questions or concerns about the content or the Collaborative itself.