CARING COUNCIL SERVES AS MODEL

Cape Girardeau's Community Caring Council caught the attention of state officials looking for better ways to help children and families.

Missouri's Department of Social Services developed a prototype project to coordinate efforts of community agencies that mirrors what the Caring Council was already doing.

But, thanks to the state initiative, Cape Girardeau's council received state money to hire a full-time coordinator and also has access to additional money to start new programs.

The council, founded by Rep. Mary Kasten, has been in place four years, focusing on coordination and cooperation between human service agencies in the county.

Shirley Ramsey was hired in October to direct the council. Before that, the council has been directed through volunteer efforts.

The annual Community Caring Conference, scheduled Friday at the Show Me Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., includes information about the expanded caring community program.

Keynote speaker for the conference is Ronny B. Lancaster of Atlanta, Ga. He is serving as vice president for health and social policy at Morehouse School of Medicine.

Before joining Morehouse, Lancaster served at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C. as executive assistant and senior policy adviser to Secretary Louis W. Sullivan.

The Community Caring Council has as goal helping families become self-reliant, resourceful and responsible.

"We hope to zero in on family and child, find out what their needs are help them become self-reliant," Ramsey said. "The whole goal is helping kids and families. You don't do one without the other.

"About a year ago, the state was trying to reorganize children's services to do things more effectively, save money and provide more flexibility to local communities," Ramsey said.

State officials discovered a program at Walbridge School in St. Louis that focuses on school and community.

"The community wrapped around the children providing for their needs," Ramsey said. "The department of social services liked what they saw and decided to develop community prototypes along those lines."

Initially state officials planned to start prototype programs in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia.

But Kasten stepped in and explained that Cape Girardeau already had many elements of the prototype in place. So Cape Girardeau was selected as a prototype site also.

"For example, we already had the inter-agency staffing team," Ramsey said. Representatives of 13 agencies meet on a regular basis to discuss how best to serve families in trouble. Each representative has the authority to authorize services.

"Now with money, if none of these agencies can fill the need, the money will kick in and we can develop something," Ramsey said.

Ramsey said a big part of the community link is through schools. The Cape Girardeau public schools this year received a $40,000 grant from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to coordinate with the Community Caring Council.

"The goals are the same for both programs," Ramsey said. "And we are working very closely."

The three goals are to help keep children at home by providing more community-based care, assist children in staying in school, and reduce the number of children committed to or place in the juvenile justice system.

"We can work to get help for a pregnant teenager and that child after it is born so the teenager can stay in school. We hope to do some preventive things also," she said.

"The schools need to know what's going on in the city. We have lots of resources in Cape Girardeau, but many people don't know about it."

In addition, helping families and children work through problems can save tax dollars.

Residential care for a child costs about $60,000 a year. "If we could identify the problems and do something before it gets to that point we could save thousands of dollars," Ramsey said.

The next task is to involve more business leaders in the program, she said. As part of Friday's Community Caring Conference, a breakfast meeting is slated to introduce business leaders to the program and to solicit their ideas and "expand the caring network."

Kasten said, "To accomplish this task, the entire community needs to be united, involved, cooperative and coordinated in its efforts."

The breakfast is planned at 8 a.m. at the Show Me Center.