Did you know that Thanksgiving week is also National Family Week?
Recognizing that Families are an essential part of
Ohio’s cultural, social, spiritual and economic fabric
and that
Families with children are raising our future
and that
Families play an important role across the lifespan
and that
Strong Families mean strong communities
and that
Families are strong when they live in communities
that connect them to social networks, services
and economic opportunities,
Ohio, as proclaimed by Governor Kasich, is joining other states in celebrating
National Family Week during the week of Thanksgiving.
As one of the organizations in Marion County that helps connect families to networks, services and opportunities, United Way of Marion County spends a lot of time trying to improve the ways in which we do it.
For example, we know that one of the most important ingredients in creating strong families is adequate income. So, United Way funds a number of quality programs in Marion County to increase income, and they partner well. However, we have never consciously and formally aligned all of those programs before to complement one another and reach for a shared goal.
That’s how the Marion Community Pipeline Initiative was born. Most in the non-profit business have limited resources and want to spend them on people who are really trying to change their lives. We have identified two sources, which by their very nature, serve that target group – Marion Matters, who helps people in poverty as they create their own plan for stability of a 16-session course, and Rushmore Academy, a community school helping at-risk students graduate from high school. In both cases, people have made a conscious effort to change their circumstances and had to work hard to graduate from these programs. However, once they graduate, they lose a lot of the support they’ve had up to that point. If they are willing to continue the hard work, they become candidates for the Pipeline.
As a community, we’ve identified the many barriers they may face as they continue their journey toward independence, such as adequate housing, transportation and childcare. Our Pipeline Committee has collaborated and worked hard this year to find or develop the resources needed to address those and other barriers. We are also working closely with a software company to update our current system so that we can share information and track progress as a group.
Our goal is to create a streamlined process to help Pipeline participants become and remain drug and crisis free so they become good options for an employer. We expect to begin in January, taking 15 people through the Pipeline in 2014. Nucor and Frontier have agreed to guarantee interviews for any appropriate positions once they exit the Pipeline.
We count a success when our Pipeline participant is:
- Drug free
- Able to manage everyday crises successfully
- Living in stable, safe and affordable housing
- Using stable, safe and affordable transportation
- Using stable, safe and affordable childcare
- A patient with a primary care physician
- Employed in a job with adequate income
- A customer with a primary financial institution and has some savings
We all know it won’t be easy, but we all also know it can be done. More than that, it needs to be done if we are serious about strengthening our families and our community.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Steve Brown
Board Member, United Way
Chief Financial Officer, Marion General Hospital
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