Community Profile
“A Community Partnership of the Caring Communities Initiative”
Butler County Community Resource Council
Community Profile
February 15, 2002
Dear FACT Board Member,
Attached are three reports from the Butler County Community Resource Council.
The Butler County Community Resource Council was formed in 1992. The organization is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation. The governing body is a 16 person volunteer board of directors. Over 500 individuals and 75 organizations are members of the Community Resource Council. The four officers and three at-large members are elected by the entire membership. The presidents of three site councils and six core result committees also serve on the board. The site council presidents and core committee chairs are elected by the members of each committee/council.
The majority of the work of the organization is done by the six county wide core result committees. Each of the core committees has twenty to thirty members. Some of the core committees are broken down into sub-committees related to specific benchmarks. For example, the Children and Families Safe Committee has sub-committees working on domestic violence and on juvenile crime.
The geographic scope of the organization is Butler County. Butler County has a population of 40,867. The principal city is Poplar Bluff with a population of 16,651. In 1999, the average annual wage was $22,495, well below the state average. Twenty nine percent of our children live in poverty. The population is 92% Caucasian, 5% African-American and less than 3% other minorities.
The vision of the Butler County Community Resource Council is that all citizens receive a hand up instead of a hand out. The mission of the organization is to promote coordination between agencies, organizations, churches, businesses and schools in order to improve outcomes for children and families through the creation of a seamless, gapless, accessible service delivery system.
The community selected priorities for improvement through an extensive process of community meetings, surveys and focus groups beginning in late 1998. The first community plan went into effect in 1999. Benchmarks related to each core result have been selected. The latest community plan included over 70 research-based strategies. Priority benchmarks include the reduction of juvenile crime, the increase in percentage of students who graduate high school, the reduction of teen pregnancy and the increase in licensed daycare slots staffed by certified personnel. As the enclosed reports demonstrate, the community has been very successful in meeting its objectives.
In fiscal year 2002, $329,384 of Caring Communities funds is resulting in a total leveraging by the partnership of $1,356,740. This includes $167,463 in local cash, $154,971 in in-kind contributions, $46,660 by the school system and $658,262 in other state and federal funds. This is a leveraging factor of 4 to 1.
The results detailed in the attached reports have truly been achieved through coordinated community collaboration. Numerous organizations deserve thanks and credit. These include the Poplar Bluff R-I School District, Twin Rivers R-X School District, Neelyville R-IV School District, Southeast Regional Office of the Department of Mental Health, Butler County Division of Family Services, Poplar Bluff Public Housing Authority, Poplar Bluff Boys & Girls Club, Operation Off-Street, Butler County Health Center, Ozark Foothills Regional Planning Commission, Institute for Community Health Education, Missouri Mentoring Program, University of MO Extension Office, Project REACH, Poplar Bluff Area Adult Education & Literacy Program, South Central Missouri Community Action Agency, Missouri Career Center of Poplar Bluff, Butler County Juvenile Office, Southeast Missouri Community Treatment Center, Haven House Domestic Abuse Shelter, United Gospel Rescue Mission, Butler County Circuit Courts and the Butler County Commissioners.
In Butler County a truly successful community partnership has been established. The partnership feels confident in its ability to attract and redirect funds to improve county level outcomes as long as a basic infrastructure of a small coordinating staff can be maintained. This basic infrastructure can be maintained for $218,000 in state funds. Although there are the usual obstacles associated with multi-agency collaboration the chief challenge truly is the funding of infrastructure.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Sutton, Jr.
Executive Director
