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This
information has been compiled by United Way
of Summit County and is considered to be an
ever-evolving document.
Please contact Donae Ceja Eckert at
deckert@uwsummit.org
to provide additions, updates and corrections
to this information.
Updated
May 15, 2012 |
Collaborative Efforts
In Summit County
As financial resources become increasingly scarce in the
nonprofit sector, while at the same time local needs become
greater, one way organizations can build service capacity is
through collaboration. Summit County is well known in
northeast Ohio for its collaborative spirit. Recently, Donae
Eckert, United Way’s Senior Vice President for Community
Impact, illustrated the range and breadth of county
collaborations by compiling a summary of existing local
efforts for our Board of Directors.
United Way is a huge supporter of collaboration as the best
way to stretch our donors’ generosity and make the greatest
positive community impact. We have been at the forefront of
many of these efforts and will continue to advocate for more
and stronger collaboration.
We will update this listing regularly. If you have updates
or additions to the list, please contact Donae
at
deckert@uwsummit.org.
If you would like to learn more or would like to find ways
to participate in one or more of these collaborations, Donae
would be pleased to help you make the right contact for your
interests.
EDUCATION
– FTF is a comprehensive "system plan" for early
childhood development covering the areas of early
childcare and education, health, behavioral health,
family support and special needs and early intervention.
The plan strives to address systems gaps and identify
improvements needed to ensure the greatest opportunity
for our children, and then to broaden existing efforts
by expanding their scope or extending their focus. More
than 50 people helped draft the plan which includes 14
desired specific outcomes; several UW affiliated
agencies were involved. It is anticipated that funders
will begin to use these indicators to make funding
decisions on early childhood programs.
FTF Advisory Chair: Tonya Block, Summit County Public
Health
www.summitcountyfirstthingsfirst.com
Summit County Cradle-to-Career
Alliance (formerly the P-16 Alliance)
– The alliance is
coordinated by the Summit Education Initiative (SEI) and
is co-chaired by Akron Public Schools Superintendent
David James, and Akron-Summit Library Director David
Jennings. The strategies and goals of the alliance will
likely be re-evaluated and refined under the leadership
of Derran Wimer, new executive director of SEI. The
purpose has been to identify points along the
educational continuum where the school districts or
community organizations could better support children
and their families. First Things First (above),
intersects with the work of the Cradle-to-Career
Alliance at the early end of the continuum.
Alliance Coordinator: Derran Wimer, Executive
Director, Summit Education Initiative
www.seisummit.org
Summit Lake
Family Opportunity Center Collaborative
–
This collaboration aims to bring comprehensive learning
opportunities and increase self-sufficiency in one of
Akron’s most economically challenged neighborhoods. The
focus of the Center’s work will be Adult Education and
Job Readiness along with Early Childhood Learning and
Development. The long term goal is to increase economic
opportunities for all residents. Sparked by winning a $4
million highly competitive HUD grant to build the
physical structure, Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority
(AMHA) initially partnered with Akron Public Schools (APS)
to build the initial vision of the Opportunity Center.
The Center will include 2 kindergarten classrooms and 4
Head Start classes as well as classrooms for adults and
a computer center. More than a dozen partner agencies
will provide programming in the Center.
Project Agency Coordinator: Chris Yuhasz, Community
Relations Director, AMHA
INCOME
/ POVERTY / BASIC NEEDS
(BOPSCC)
– is an approach that helps employers, community
organizations, social-service agencies, and individuals
address poverty in a comprehensive way. People from all
economic classes come together to improve job retention
rates, build resources, improve outcomes, and support
those who are moving out of poverty. At the request of
funders, the eight organizations using components of the
Bridges model have formed a collaborative with United
Way as fiscal sponsor. To date, more than 200 people in
poverty have graduated from the Getting Ahead 14-week
program, and 1,200+ economically stable people have been
through the workshop to train them on working with
people in poverty. The collaborative is currently
working on implementing the evaluative component of the
program.
Coordinator: Hannah Nitz, Open M
www.bridgesoutofpoverty.com
and
www.summitbridges.org
Summit County Reentry Network (SCRN)
- This collaborative assists adult felony ex-offenders
with reentry to society and the workforce after
incarceration. United Way teamed with Akron Community
Foundation and the County’s Executive Office to provide
funding to hire a Summit County Reentry Coordinator in
September 2010. Network members include many city and
county officials, probation and parole, business and
faith community representatives, and several funders.
The program seeks to aid the approximately 1,500 felony
offenders who annually return to Summit County. After
completing their sentences and returning home,
ex-offenders are faced with 404 collateral sanctions
that make it very difficult for them to be workers,
family members and contributing citizens. One projected
outcome of the Office of Reentry is a fifty percent
reduction in recidivism rates through an offering of a
holistic array of services and resources.
Coordinator: Terry Tribe Johnson, Summit County
Reentry Coordinator
www.uwsummit.org/CommunityInvestment/reentryprogram.htm
-
Summit County Continuum of Care (CoC)
- Long standing coalition of agencies involved in
providing or funding various forms of emergency,
transitional, permanent, and supportive housing
programs. The goal is to identify and fill gaps in the
sheltering system, to prevent duplication of service and
to accumulate data required to access HUD and other
sources of funding. Many UW affiliates participate. CoC
operates Project Homeless Connect and the Project
Homeless Connect 5K Race/Walk. There has also been
discussion about drafting a Ten Year Plan to End
Homelessness by adopting strategies that have worked in
other communities.
CoC Chair : Sue Pierson, Info Line & Helen Tomic,
Akron Planning Department.
www.ci.akron.oh.us/planning/common/reports/continuumcare.htm
-
Food Pantry Capacity Fund
– The United Way of Summit
County, Akron Community Foundation and a dozen other
funders have pooled resources to be available to replace
equipment related to food storage for agencies that are
partners of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.
Approximately $80,000 in equipment has been purchased
and distributed. Remaining funds will be used pending
finalization of a gap analysis by the Foodbank, or for
the occasional emergency situation.
John Petures, President & CEO, Akron Community
Foundation
www.akroncommunityfdn.org
HEALTH
–
ABIA is a collaborative effort of the three Summit
County hospitals, UA, NEOMED and the Knight Foundation.
While a large majority of the available funding will be
focused on economic development surrounding bio-med, a
portion is reserved for community health and wellness.
ABIA is at the beginning stages of planning for an
Accountable Care Community (ACC) which will be a
collective effort to create a healthier community and
lessen the burden of disease in the Akron region. ABIA
and 7 collaborators have received a $500,000 Community
Transformation Grant from the CDC to build capacity for
the ACC. United Way will act as a lead agency for
building the supporting community and cultural networks
and for providing leadership in the area of
socio-economic environmental issues. The ACC will have
intersection with the Summit 2020 project, Access to
Care and the Minority Health Roundtable (all existing
collaboratives with their own targeted goals).
Dr. Janine Janosky, Vice President, ABIA’s Center for
Clerical and Community Health Improvement
www.abiakron.org
Minority Health Roundtable
– The Mission of the Roundtable is to improve the health
of minority populations in Summit County through
collaborations, advocacy, community awareness and
education. Over 40 organizations participate ranging
from the three hospitals to grassroots and faith-based
agencies.
Chair: LaTonya Lewis
www.minorityhealthroundtable.org
Prism Health, LLC
– a formal collaboration of four of the leading
behavioral health treatment providers in the county:
Child Guidance & Family Solutions, Community Health
Center, Community Support Services and Portage Path
Behavioral Health. Originally conceived to mitigate
shrinking funding, the four partners are moving further
to capture savings through purchasing power, minimize
paperwork requirements, streamline the intake process,
reduce redundancies, and share resources and
information; a single help call center and one-stop shop
are planned.
Contact: Elaine Harlin, Child Guidance & Family
Solutions
www.prism-health.com
Northeast Ohio Regional Indicators
and Objectives (NEORIO)
– this relatively new effort
seeks to improve quality of life for Northeast Ohio
communities across 16 counties as indicated by positive
movements in specific measures of health, social, and
economic conditions. To-date, 20 measurable indicators
have been identified. The effort has been designed and
coordinated by the Center for Community Solutions in
Cleveland.
Local Contact: Rich Marountas, Summit County Public
Health
www.communitysolutions.com/NEORIO.aspx
for health indicators and maps
Summit County Dental Task Force
– the task force has been meeting since 2000 with a
mission to assure that all people in Summit County have
access to dental care. Oral Health care remains the most
important unmet health need for children and low-income
adults in the county. The collation includes private
dentists as well as the three hospitals, the dental
clinics at Akron Community Health District and Akron
Community Health Resources, several universities and
United Way. Their recent report to the community
included four specific recommendations.
Task Force Chair: Gene Nixon, Health Commissioner,
Summit County Public Health
Safe Kids Summit County
– this coalition, based at Children’s Hospital, is
comprised of a number of county-wide
organizations concerned with the health and safety of
youth. Safe Kids promotes and implements strategies to
prevent childhood injuries through community awareness,
education and public policy changes; develops and
evaluates community projects designed to prevent
unintentional injuries and serves as a county-wide
information resource center on childhood injury
prevention programs. They also provide low cost safety
equipment (bike helmets, car seats, life jackets, etc)
Coordinator: Lisa Pardis, Akron Children’s Hospital
www.akronchildrens.org/cms/safe_kids/
Domestic Violence Coalition
– The coalition’s mission is to act as a catalyst to
protect, support and treat victims;
to restrain and treat perpetrators; and to implement
effective educational and prevention programs to reduce
domestic violence in our community. Participating
organizations include the Battered Women’s Shelter, Rape
Crisis Center, Victims Assistance Program, Summa’s DOVE,
OpenM, NAMI, the prosecutor’s office, domestic court,
judges and the Akron Police.
Coalition Chair: Terri Heckman, Battered Women’s
Shelter
CROSSES
MULTIPLE PRIORITIES
- Initiated as Summit 2010 by the Office of the County
Executive, the original intent was to strengthen
collaboration between the major public systems, and the
effectiveness of services they finance or deliver.
Original
partners included agencies such as Department of Job &
Family Services, SCB, ADM Board, DD Board, AMHA, Metro
Transit, the Juvenile Court, health departments (now
consolidated) and the Area Agency on Aging. The plan
called for
10 major goals with 25 measureable indicators. Summit
2020 has refined the effort into five broad initiatives:
early
childhood, supporting older adults, economic stability &
prosperity, health & health disparities and government
efficiency & effectiveness.
Contact: Donna Skoda, Director of Policy and
Planning, Summit County Public Health
Neighborhood Leadership Institute
of Summit County (NLISC)
-
is a collaborative effort developed
by United Way
of Summit County
and fourteen community partners to increase grassroots
leadership engagement. Its mission is to train and
empower local residents and community leaders to promote
positive changes in Summit County neighborhoods and
communities.
Coordinator Devoe E. Johnson,
United Way of Summit County
www.uwsummit.org/NLI/NLI.htm
Families & Children First Council (FCFC)
– The mission of FCFC is to improve access to and
delivery of education, health, and social services for
children and families in Summit County with emphasis on
the safety of children,
prevention and early intervention and to integrate these
services so that families have an understanding and
knowledge to access the help they need.
FCFC Director: Tonya Block, Summit County Public
Health
www.fcfcsummit.org
Summit County Fatherhood Initiative
(aka FAME Fathers)
– the mission is to improve the well-being of children
by
increasing the proportion of children growing up with
involved, responsible, and committed fathers. Goals
include
everything from fathers gaining access to their
children, cleaning up child support and custody legal
issues, to finding jobs for fathers. Training and
placement of participants in green energy jobs has been
a very successful program, and also intersects with work
done for ex-offenders reentering the community.
Participating organizations are primarily grassroots and
faith-based, but they use nationally recognized
programming.
Contact: Pastor Eugene Norris, Charisma Community
Connections, lead agency and fiscal agent
www.famefathers.org
Youth Emancipation Task Force
&
Summit Permanency Collaborative
- The objective of the Permanency Collaborative is to
reduce the number of special needs children in permanent
custody of Summit County Children Services that age-out
of foster care. "Special needs" includes any child over
12 and sibling groups who are difficult to place. The
goal is to find permanent families for children
currently in custody but even more importantly, to
change the process to vastly reduce the number of
children who enter foster care. The Emancipation Task
Force aims to support those that do age-out. The two
groups have recently combined efforts. Both are
comprised of individuals representing child-serving
agencies
sharing the common goal that no child will age-out of
foster care without permanent connections.
Contact:
Karla Day, Summit County Children Services
www.summitkids.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=9lH0YhpssmY%3D&tabid=72
and
http://permanency.org
Summit Food Policy Coalition
– Convened by the OSU Extension, Crown Point Ecology
Center and the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy,
the coalition works to improve healthy food access for
all Summit County residents and spur economic
opportunities for existing and beginning farmers in the
Akron foodshed. Focus areas include policy, advocacy for
healthy food access, entrepreneurial and market
development and education. Current projects include the
Summit Urban Farming Initiative which provides small
grants to farmers to start or grow their business and
the Corner Store project, an OSU-funded project to
encourage fresh fruits and vegetables in corner stores,
a mapping of county food deserts, and a Food Charter
with model language on the right to healthy food access
for all area residents.
Coordinator: Jerry Egan
www.cvcountryside.org/food/SummitFoodPolicyCoalition.php
Rise Sister Rise
– this relatively new collaboration between the Ohio
Department of Mental Health, WomensWork and Mental
Health America will soon start "community dialogues"
focusing on the experiences of trauma and resiliency in
African American girls. Summit County was one of four
pilot communities to launch this project.
Fiscal Sponsor: Angela Cooper, Executive Director,
Mental Health America
www.risesisterrise.org
OTHER FOCUS
AREAS
– a place-based collaborative to return to a
"traditional urban neighborhood" focused on a 50-block
footprint in the center of Akron. The strategy is to
leverage the synergy of established institutions of
education, medicine, technology and culture and to build
a sense of place between these strong anchors. UPA key
partners include UA, Knight Foundation, the City of
Akron, the hospital systems and Akron Public Schools.
Executive Director: Eric Anthony Johnson, UPA
www.upakron.com/university-park-alliance
Akron Area Arts Alliance (AAAA)
– is committed to being the leading advocacy
organization for arts and culture in Greater Akron,
representing the collaborative voice of the non-profit
community.
Executive Director: Jessie Raynor
www.akronareaarts.org
Summit Animal Coalition
– a loose collaboration of animal welfare and pet rescue
agencies that have very successfully partnered to work
through huge animal rescue and hoarding cases. The
coalition consists of about a dozen
organizations include the Humane Society, One of a Kind
Pets and County Animal Control.
Contact: Karen Hackenberry, Humane Society of Summit
County
RESOURCES FOR
COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS
– provides consulting services, seminars, events and a
resource center through the new merger of the Business
Volunteers Unlimited and the Center for Nonprofit
Excellence. The Center’s mission is to promote
"excellence" within nonprofit organizations...to help
nonprofit organizations achieve their missions through
effective management.
Contact: Theresa Proenza, Vice President BVU/CNE
Summit Foundations Coalition
– Foundations making grants in Summit County meet
bi-monthly to discuss funding
opportunities. Meetings normally have a theme, with one
to several organizations making presentations.
Organizations are usually invited by way of a supportive
funder making the agenda request.
Contact: Christine Mayer, The GAR Foundation
UA Learning Institute
– One of the key goals of the Institute is to match and
place community service projects within the curriculum
of classes. For example, engineering students
retrofitted toys purchased off the shelf to adapt to
children with disabilities. Many nonprofit agencies have
benefited from this work over the last 18 months. In
addition, philanthropic "learning" opportunities are
also being incorporating into some classrooms.
Contact: Dr. Theresa Beyerle, University of Akron
www.uakon.edu/itl
Leadership Akron’s LeaderSource
– a system designed to enable users (initially LA
Alumni) to connect with one another and with community
opportunities that align with their individual interests
and expertise. LeaderSource will widen the pool of
qualified and interested prospects available for board,
consulting, and specific volunteer opportunities for
nonprofits and community initiatives.
Contact: Mark Scheffler, Leadership Akron
Akronist.com and Akron Digital Media
Center (ADMC)
- free training of citizen journalists through the
media center; www.Akronist.com
allows for posting of content; many
organizations have used the training to create their own
videos and commercials; expect a full launch and
re-promotion of the website in the 2nd half of 2011.
More than 250 individuals have been trained with much
content created.
Contact: Chris Miller, Akron Community Foundation
Akron Neighborhood Trust
– will use the Community
Learning Centers (CLCs) and trained facilitators to
engage neighborhoods around community issues, needs,
solutions.
Contact: Crystal Jones, Akron Neighborhood Trust
Civic Commons
– this is a regional community engagement project
that provides for on-line curated, conversations to
encourage civic engagement and civil interaction. The
"Curator of Conversation" is Dan Malthroup, formerly of
ideastream/NPR.
Contact: Mike Shafarenko, Civic Commons
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