Collaboration is used in both for-profit and non-profit industries, guaranteeing clients receive the best services available. Collaborative efforts are vital to providing services that are timelier and more cost effective for all involved.
Today’s social service agencies are using creative approaches to ensure the best use of their budgets, and collaboration is the answer. Since it isn’t efficient to serve numerous clients with several separate, independently run programs, collaboration leads to a decrease in duplicative efforts.
Several examples of collaboration are taking place throughout our community; here are a few highlights from agencies working together:
• Proctor Home Care and Community Workshop and Training Center collaborate on a program that allows clients with disabilities to ask a nurse questions related to health concerns and to learn about health issues such as vision, coping with colds, healthy eating habits, and more.
• The Heart of Illinois Homeless Continuum of Care is a collaboration that spans four local counties and includes many United Way agencies. Through shelters, housing, case management, and life skill classes, the continuum helps families and individuals live successfully on their own.
• Tri-County (Peoria) Urban League partners with Carver Center and Counseling and Family Services to provide girls the opportunity to learn about computers, the Internet, digital photography, and Web page design through the summer program, Power Girls.
• Prairie State Legal Services collaborates with several United Way agencies, including Counseling and Family Services, Center for Prevention of Abuse, Friendship House, and TCRC to provide legal assistance for such issues as child support, custody, housing, domestic violence, and public benefit applications.
• Other collaborations include the Boy Scouts, which collaborate with Habitat for Humanity as scouts help build homes for families in need; Friendship House collaborates with several agencies to provide Hispanic outreach services; the Center for Prevention of Abuse’s Safe to Live project is a collaboration of more than 18 local organizations; the Mental Health Association works with several agencies and schools to provide mental health screenings, education, and awareness programs; and Children’s Home, along with the YMCA, Common Place, and Planned Parenthood, operate the Teen REACH program.
These are just a few of the collaborations taking place throughout central Illinois, and agencies are continuously finding new ways to deliver services while serving more clients with diminishing resources. By working together, agencies are creating ways to increase their efficiency, save dollars in their operational budgets, and enhance client services. IBI