Home / News & Events / Full ArticleNov 28, 2001Caring Communities Meets Governor’s MandatesSt. Louis – Today, with the support of Gov. Bob Holden, the leadership of the Caring Communities Initiative announced the development of a system that allows for a statewide, uniform accounting of successes in improving the well being of Missouri’s children and families.“I am pleased and encouraged by the efforts of FACT to implement this new system of performance accountability,” said Gov. Bob Holden. “This reporting system will encourage community partnerships to be more innovative and effective, while also communicating to citizens the positive return of taxpayer dollars.” Based on the directive in the Governor’s Executive Order 01-07, issued in April of this year, each Caring Community will use a standardized format to report to the governor, the legislature, and the public annually. The annual reports will provide a succinct picture of a community’s progress toward results, their success in generating additional resources, and their ability to identify and overcome barriers to effective service delivery. To track statewide progress, eight participating state agencies will produce an annual report card for each Partnership. These report cards will provide the information that the Partnership needs to develop future community plans. It will supply data they need to identify their most pressing community problems, set priorities, select evidence-based strategies that will impact their priorities, and track long-term outcomes. Caring Communities is a statewide effort created to increase the accountability of state agencies and communities for improving the lives of children and families. It works to change the way that decisions are made about what services are provided, how they are financed, and where they are delivered. The Family and Community Trust (FACT) Board of Directors, composed of the directors of eight state agencies and nine private sector members, directs this reform effort and serves as the bridge between state agencies and communities. Twenty-one Caring Communities Partnerships across the effort at the community level. Their overarching goals are to address the poor performance of children in school, the problems that disrupt and separate families, as well as threats to children growing up healthy and safe. It has been difficult in the past to measure statewide successes under the systems reform effort without an uniform system to track and report results. Charlie O’Reilly, co-chair of FACT, said the initiative has come a long way in the past seven years, and is now further enhanced by having met the requirements of the Governor’s Executive Order. “Implementation of Caring Communities is an evolving process – one that demands constant evaluation and retooling,” said O’Reilly. “We appreciate the support and guidance that the governor and his staff have given this initiative and look forward to applying all that we have learned in the past year, and to achieving better results for Missouri’s children and families.” State agencies which serve on the Family and Community Trust Board are: Social Services The 21 Caring Communities Partnerships throughout Missouri include: Area Resources for Community and Human Services | The Family And Tel: (573) 526.3581 |
