Training Guides
for the Head Start Learning Community:
Community Partnerships:
Working Together
Module 2
| Contents | Preface
| Introduction
| Module 1
| Module 2
| Module 3
| Module 4 | |
Elements of Success
Handout 1: Kids Place: A Community Partnership Model1
Instructions
Many communities are succeeding in improving services for children and families through collaborative efforts. Read about Kids Place and identify the elements that contributed to its success.
- OVERVIEW
Kids Place is a unique facility in rural Scott County, Indiana, that houses the county public health department; the Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC); Head Start; and New Hope Services, a private nonprofit family support agency. Establishing Kids Place was truly a grassroots collaborative effort, and it is a tremendous example of the possibilities of community action--a comprehensive, coordinated family services center that works to involve the broader service community in better meeting the needs of young children and their families.In rural areas, families are often physically isolated from each other and services are spread out over a wide geographic area. Kids Place addresses these issues by combining services into one location, offering home visits, and providing transportation to the center and child-care facilities so that parents can more easily participate in center activities.
Kids Place operates out of a 12,500 square-foot building designed and built to suit its needs. Visitors are greeted with ample parking, a comfortable reception area with a sofa and pleasant atmosphere, and a waiting room with toys that allows for positive interaction from the moment of arrival.
- HISTORY
In 1986, health, education, and social service providers met with parents to discuss the problems of young families and how to give children a better start in life. They decided the county needed a high-profile, attractive, centrally located family services center. All agreed that everyone in the county had to support the concept financially and philosophically. Two years of community awareness activities and fund-raising made it possible for Kids Place to open in 1988. - COMMUNITY AND PARTICIPANTS
Scott County, Indiana, is a rural community 30 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky. It has a population of 22,000, with multiple high-risk factors including a 9.8 percent unemployment rate, a 20 percent teen pregnancy rate, a 62 percent high-school dropout rate, and a high percentage of families receiving government assistance.Kids Place is open to everyone in the county. Participants learn about the program by word-of-mouth, Kids Place outreach efforts, and referrals from other service agencies.
- MISSION
Kids Place works to provide comprehensive, coordinated family services and to involve the wider community in meeting service needs. - PROGRAM IN ACTION
Programs at Kids Place are dedicated to meeting families' needs in the most flexible and individual way possible. Services are provided not only at the center but also in homes, jails, schools, homeless shelters--wherever children and families are located.
Staff give top priority to developing trust with families. Families learn that staff think of them as individuals, not just case files. The comprehensiveness of services and the non-deficit approach are illustrated by the program participants who have become staff and by other staff who have used center services for their own needs. Staff members are extremely sensitive to the needs of the community because they are a part of the community.
Kids Place is linked with 32 public and private organizations. It exchanges referrals with these programs on a continuing basis. Some linkages are formal; for example, Kids Place has a contract with the Division of Family and Child Services to provide parent education programs. Other linkages are informal; for example, staff work with schools to meet the needs of participating children and families. The partners within Kids Place constantly communicate with each other, and sometimes, they also share staff.
- GOVERNANCE
New Hope Services administers Kids Place and has a 13-member board of directors that includes representatives from the county, businesses, and the community; at least 25 percent of the directors are parents. Kids Place does not have a separate board but does use advisory committees. These committees, made up of staff and parents, do much of the day-to-day decision-making, such as setting policies on behavior management or rates for day-care. In addition, program administrators from the various agencies meet as needed to discuss common concerns and future directions. - EVALUATION
Kids Place prepares monthly statistical reports that indicate which services are being used by which families. The reports are studied quarterly to understand trends, track the progress of families, and assess whether goals stated in the annual strategic plan are being achieved. To keep services relevant, Kids Place annually surveys parents and staff. Their responses are reviewed and incorporated into the planning process. In addition, all staff participate in exit interviews when they resign. - REPLICATION
New Hope Services works with other communities to replicate Kids Place. Each replication is planned, implemented, and finally administered by New Hope Services with the local community's involvement and support. Replicated sites are similar to Kids Place, but each site has adapted the program to meet its community's unique needs.
1Adapted from the National Resource Center for Family Support and Programs and the Family Resource Coalition, The Basics of Family Support: A Guide for State Planners (Chicago, Ill.: National Resource Center for Family Support and Programs, Family Resource Coalition, 1994).
Copyright © 1999 Head Start Publications Management Center. All rights reserved.
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