Sharing the Vision

Community partners work together to raise people out of poverty

Sometimes, you have to be careful what you wish for.

Nineteen-year-old Eric Nichols of Eminence wished for a job working outdoors, and within a few months he found himself camping in the woods of Minnesota fighting fire. 

He calls it lucky.

But Cathy Hicks, a workforce development coordinator with South Central Missouri Community Action Agency (SCMCAA), calls it a “unique and wonderful partnership.”

Always looking for worksites for her clients to gain experience that will lead to full-time jobs, Hicks forged a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service office in Doniphan.

The forestry office had recently lost staff through budget cuts and welcomed the chance to gain subsidized help through the Workforce Investment Act that SCMCAA
administers in Shannon County.

Hicks placed three workers, including Nichols, with the agency, and soon an uncommon opportunity arose for them to gain valuable training at a fire school in Jefferson City. As part
of the partnership, the Forest Service paid for the training and the week’s wages, while SCMCAA paid for lodging and bought special boots for the three to wear.

During the training, the participants learned how to fight fire and handle other emergency situations. At the end of the week, they earned positive evaluations and were rewarded with “red
cards,” which enabled them to join a registry and be called out as emergency firefighters.

“That opened the door for them,” Hicks says. “They have benefited so much. It gave them opportunity they would not have had.”

In August, Nichols and the two other local trainees were sent to Minnesota, where they spent 14 days with an emergency crew fighting a 38,000-acre fire.

The red card also made Nichols eligible to work for the Missouri Department of Conservation, where he now marks boundary lines and designates trees for cutting. He’s hopeful that will
lead to a permanent job as a forester.

Nichols got his wish – he now works outdoors 90 percent of the time.

He credits Hicks and the partnership. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.”

The partnership was a win-win-win for all parties involved. It meant training and jobs for the clients, extra help for the Forest Service when it was most needed and a community success
story for SCMCAA.

Theresa Wooldridge, support services specialist for the Forest Service, says her agency was eager to partner with the community action agency in order to improve job opportunities for local residents. “The ones I have worked with, I feel that when they start, they’re looking for something to better their lives.”

The partnership with the U.S. Forest Service is one of many partnerships that community action agencies have built throughout Missouri. Organizations with different missions but shared
visions are combining strengths to improve communities and help people climb out of poverty.

Some partnerships focus on employment and training, while others help people achieve selfsufficiency through home ownership, dependable transportation, quality education and reduced home energy costs. Several are described in the following pages.

Partnership for Transportation

Like a team of horses pulling a wagon, a group of stakeholders in Stone County gathered a few years ago to find solutions to the lack of transportation for low-income citizens. The Ozarks Area Community Action Corporation (OACAC) had determined that the transportation problem was a major barrier to employment in this southwest Missouri county.

OACAC pulled together a group of community leaders from government, business and other social service agencies and formed the Stone County Transportation Coalition. The group brainstormed numerous ideas until arriving at one solution.

“We had 60-plus solutions from ride sharing to pooling to volunteer driving to a flexible, fixed route,” recalls Scott Kosky, southwest regional director of Older Adults Transportation Service
(OATS), a chief partner in the coalition.

With careful research and planning, the coalition finally decided upon bus transportation, which began rolling in November 2003. By 2006, ridership had doubled to 1,200 rides a month. Buses drive the 40-mile route, stopping at major employers, shopping centers and grocery stores.

One key to its success is route flexibility. Stops have been added as the need arises, including the newest stop at a GED class site. Riders appreciate paying only $1 a ride, notes Connie DeWitt, OACAC’s representative in the coalition.

OATS buses are used with funding from a federal grant and local businesses.

Kosky says the coalition of many partners was a critical factor in obtaining the competitive grant. “If I would have asked for money just as OATS, I wouldn’t have had that kind of backing, and the funding definitely would have been more difficult to obtain.”

Partners involved in the project also helped determine the route and stops based on needs. Stone County donated signs, as well as space for secure overnight parking for the vehicles.

Kosky credits OACAC with initiating the project. “They provided the leadership initially to identify the problem and get interested parties in the same room together to look for a solution. That, in my mind, is critical. They knew on a very local basis who needed to be in the room talking. … I think this is a prime example of when you do a partnership right, there are great strides you can make in the community.”

DeWitt says OACAC could not have accomplished the project without partners. “It took the vision of the whole group of stakeholders.”

It seemed like the ideal partnership. North East Community Action Corporation (NECAC) had homes with cold floors and drafty windows. Sheet Metal Workers Local 36 had apprentices needing to practice their skills.

So, in 2001 the two organizations came together with coordination from then-Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell, the Missouri Association for Community Action and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The result has been positive for both organizations, says Carla Potts, NECAC’s deputy director for housing development.

Since the project started, 32 homes in Randolph County have been weatherized by adding insulation and installing more solid windows. The increased energy efficiency has helped reduce utility bills for low-income homeowners.

The extra hands lent by the apprentices enable NECAC to weatherize more homes than the agency’s crew can complete alone. Instead of spending two days on one home, the crew, with the help of the apprentices, can complete two homes in one day, Potts says.

NECAC first conducts an energy audit of each house, revealing work needed to make the house more energy efficient. Three times a year, 8-12 apprentices come from the Sheet Metal Workers’ training center in Fulton.

Russ Unger, the union’s apprenticeship coordinator, says his workers gain not only practical experience, but greater human insight. “Once they see the people we’re helping, mostly elderly and low-income, it starts meaning something to them. It makes them better apprentices and better people, I believe. It’s really a win-win situation.”

The innovative program, the first of its kind in Missouri, was highlighted in October by the National Community Action Foundation. Plans are underway to expand similar partnerships throughout Missouri.

Buying a home is the largest purchase most people make, so it’s smart for homebuyers to gain as much knowledge as possible to make the best decisions.

When the Missouri Valley Community Action Agency (MVCAA) joined forces with State Farm Insurance to provide a homebuyer education program, the partnership strengthened the support available to first-time homebuyers.

MVCAA organizes the Homebuyer Academy, a 10-week class that teaches money management and homeownership to prospective homebuyers. The class covers various issues, including budgeting, goal-setting, credit repair, truth-in-lending, home inspections and energy conservation.

The State Farm Insurance office in Marshall lends its support with insurance education materials, including home inventory books to help homeowners protect assets. The company also has provided an expert to speak on how to prevent losses in homes through the use of smoke alarms, surge protectors, water leak detectors and other steps.

“We felt that, whether the people came here for insurance or not, it was a good program,” says Sandy Weber, office manager of the State Farm office. “If you can train people in the very beginning when purchasing or renting a home, the information will stay with them.”

The local community action/State Farm partnership also was expanded this year to assist another community action agency through a mentoring program. State Farm funded training for MVCAA’s Section 8 manager Rhonda Wickham to become a nationally certified homebuyer education trainer. She began working with United Services Community Action Agency in Kansas City to help that agency develop a homebuyer education program.

It’s one of five such partnerships in the country comprising a pilot program for community action peer-to-peer mentoring. The homebuyer education program is a high-impact activity that teaches valuable money management skills to low-income people, whether they become homeowners or not, says Ann Graff, MVCAA executive director. State Farm support is critical to its success, she says. “It’s important, because it fills a gap for us. There were no other funding sources for this kind of thing. It’s just a perfect match.”

Community action and numerous partners have stepped up efforts to reinforce the “village” that works together to ensure that all children thrive. With a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2006, community action, Head Start, educational organizations and other parties are collaborating to strengthen communities and enhance the delivery of services to low-income children and families.

One of the first such partnerships is in St. Louis County, where the YWCA Head Start teamed up in 2006 with the Community Action Agency of St. Louis County (CAASTLC) to strengthen services to clients of both agencies. Community action staff are learning more about the educational benefits of Head Start and how to help their clients access the program for their pre-school children.

“Our client base is essentially the same,” says Georgie Donahue, CAASTLC’s program administration director. “The partnership allows us to give more comprehensive services to our families. They have childcare and education for families, and we can add energy assistance and life skills classes.”

CAASTLC has conducted energy conservation workshops for Head Start families to help them save money on their utility bills. The agency also is training Head Start staff on taking energy assistance applications and has conducted poverty simulations to help the staff better understand the needs of low-income families.

Head Start staff members return from the poverty simulations with a new understanding of poverty, says Betty Robinson, the YWCA’s chief program officer and Head Start Director.

“Many people have not lived in poverty firsthand. To live it for a day is life changing,” she says. “I think it’s made them more pro-active. What they’ve now figured out is that when the system doesn’t work, you need to go further. They’re becoming more involved in initiatives throughout the community.”

To help integrate the two programs, a Head Start Policy Council member, who is a Head Start parent, now sits on CAASTLC’s Board of Directors.

With greater expansion of partnerships among agencies, Robinson says, low-income families can be more effectively and efficiently served.

“What we want to do is connect the dots, instead of trying to have the families figure it out,” she says.

In southeast Missouri, the Delta Area Economic Opportunity Corporation (DAEOC) partners with schools in its six-county area to encourage youth to stay in school and plan for their futures.

Making the Grade is a six-week program aimed at students in grades 6 through 8. DAEOC staff visit the schools and talk to students, using a curriculum that involves activities to spark interest in careers.

“We want them to start thinking about their future and how important it is to make the grade,” says Paula Kinchen, a CSBG contract specialist for DAEOC. “It gets them thinking about what the next step is.”

Back-to-school fairs sponsored annually by DAEOC also help children of low-income families obtain the supplies they need to be successful in school.

As a middle-school teacher at Gideon High School, Sandra Rudeseal says the partnership with DAEOC provides a greater sense of hope for the children in the impoverished district, where 68 percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunches.

“This is the place where the goal is to do whatever it takes to do what is best for kids,” Rudeseal says. She serves on the DAEOC board and attended the 2006 MACA conference, along with a school district administrator. She says they were inspired by Dr. Donna Beegle’s message that people living in poverty are no different than the rest of us; they just have fewer opportunities. She reminded those working with people in poverty to “base our help on the assumption that people living in poverty can, like everyone else, achieve big dreams and strive for excellence, if only we meet them where they are and link them into support networks.”

Rudeseal says they were challenged by Dr. Beegle’s remarks “and encouraged to see the compassion and dedication of the community action family. We came home determined to bring an awareness of the services available to our community and to work with DAEOC to grow this partnership into the reality of touching lives.”

Kinchen notes that community action and education form a natural partnership, investing in the future of children and families. “It shows if we partner together what we can do to help families.”

Successful partnerships demonstrate that a shared vision creates a strong foundation for positive community action.

This is a simple but powerful metaphor that describes the energy and dedication of the  Missouri Community Action Network, a statewide group willing to take it to the next degree.

I am especially pleased and proud to report 2006 has been a year when MACA members, staff and partners have applied that one extra degree and produced the steam we needed to power the train to strengthen the Network and produce positive changes. The state association, the 19 Community Action Agencies, the 1600 plus individual MACA members, established partners and new Associate members have Shared a Vision that has been More Than a Partnership. It has been a vision in both the head and the heart and provided the one extra degree.