STATE AGENCIES CONVENE IN CAPE TODAY

Some 20 agencies will tour school and family-service agencies today to see how activities of the Community Caring Council and its member agencies touch the lives of Cape Girardeau children and families.

Community Caring Council Director Shirley Ramsey said today's meeting marks the first time a monthly meeting for Community Partnerships agencies has met outside of St. Louis and Jefferson City, Mo.

The state's 21 partnerships attend monthly meetings planned by the Family Investment Trust of St. Louis to share information about programs and discuss issues surrounding family and youth programs.

"It's a great opportunity for us to share what we've learned and also to learn from what other agencies are doing," said Ramsey.

More than 100 participants were expected to attend the meeting, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Drury Lodge. Tours of the city's three Caring Communities sites at Blanchard, Jefferson and Franklin elementary schools, and the Family Resource Center and Educare programs are planned.

The Community Caring Council will sponsor the event, which will include a panel discussion led by representatives from the Missouri Mentoring Project, Project HOPE, and the Early Childhood Care and Education project, three of the programs administered by the council.

"We serve as the administrative agent for the projects, and our collaborate partners are the ones who actually work to provide the services and programs," said Ramsey. "We've been able to bring into Cape Girardeau a number of grants and programs that probably wouldn't have happened if we hadn't been here."

The Community Caring Council was created 11 years ago after state Rep. Mary Kasten called on representatives of the various social service agencies in the county to form a coalition that would promote coordination and collaboration between social service providers, the business community, churches and schools to help families and individuals become self-reliant, responsible and resourceful.

Today, the council is made up of more than 98 agencies, organizations and individuals.

Ramsey said the council pools funds and seeks grants that will help it to meet six main objectives: Parents working; children and families safe; children and families healthy; children ready to enter school; children succeeding in school; and youth ready to enter productive adulthood.

In 1996, the Community Caring Council became one of the first designated Community Partnerships in the state to implement the Caring Communities initiative, which brings local communities, schools and state agencies together to provide better services for children and families.

Other programs funded through Community Caring Council include: Inter-Agency Staffing Team; Welfare to Work Collaborative Plan, which includes Jump Start on Jobs; Missouri Mentoring Partnership; Proud Parents, a program for non-custodial parents; Early Childhood Care and Education, a program to train in-home child-care providers; Healthy Children Education Initiative and Project Hope Faith-Based Mentoring Program. Also, Educare and PACT juvenile delinquency prevention program are both affiliated with the Caring Council.