As we are all painfully aware, the last couple years have been marked with uncertainty and chaos.  However, our posture is not to react to events, but to create our future. While we have been blessed to thrive during these challenging times, we are more resolute than ever to engage in the core behaviors that every truly great organization displays – fanatic discipline, empirical creativity, and productive paranoia.  The mortar that holds these behaviors together, however, is a culture of organizational health comprised of servant leaders and ideal team players who unapologetically carry out our mission.    

Now, more than ever, the stewardship responsibility of this organization demands that we must be more than a “good” organization.  Rather, we are called to be a “great” organization on behalf of those we are privileged to serve. As John Kotter put it, “Transformation is a process, not an event.”  So many high-water marks have been achieved in 2021 along our transformative process toward greatness.

• Served 6,446 children and their families. 
• Maintained Great Place to Work (GPTW)®️ certification for a second consecutive year.  Canopy is one of only five organizations in Mississippi with the Great Place to Work® certification.
• Grounded in employee feedback, added inclusive language to Canopy’s second core value – Relationships matter and our differences make us stronger.
• Rallied to save community-based mental healthcare for children through Mississippi Youth Programs Around the Clock.  
• Launched and integrated the LINK Solution into the CARENet to better enable this solution to refer and receive referrals from the rest of Canopy’s continuum of care.
• Entered into the ZeroSuicide network and developed a consulting team and core group to drive this initiative across the organization.

Early in 2021, we made the decision to delay our strategic planning process due to the uncertainty of the ongoing pandemic.  In the fall of 2021, we reignited the process by inviting four national consulting firms to consider presenting proposals to work with Canopy.  We are thrilled to partner with world-class thought leaders to re-imagine the role Canopy can play in the lives of children and families in Mississippi and beyond.  Thank you to so many of you who have been part of this planning process! 

As we look over the horizon, there is so much yet to be accomplished. While we are on the one hand patient with the narrative of Canopy’s process of transformation from being a “good to great” organization, we are also flexibly responsive to the exciting, rapid cycle change demands all around us. 

Today, we are filled with deep gratitude as we celebrate our 110th birthday and we have never been more hopeful as we look forward to partnering with you to shape our next century of transforming lives!

John D. Damon, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer

Lisa Bemis
President, Board of Directors