Community Profile
Cape Girardeau Community Caring Council
Description of Partnership:
Structure of Partnership
The Community Caring Council was founded in 1989 by State Representative Mary C. Kasten in an effort to encourage social service agencies and others to work better together to serve children and families. From the beginning, the Council decided to be a working organization and set up a structure of committees to address issues of concern in the community. The Council has a board of directors that is elected from the council membership and the community. The board of directors is the governing board for the Council and the programs/initiatives that it oversees.
When the Caring Communities initiative began in Cape Girardeau, the Community Caring Council authorized the development of a board of diverse community members to do the day-to-day work of planning, implementing and governing Caring Communities. The Caring Communities Resource Board has successfully brought the community together to make changes in systems that years ago, no one would have thought possible.
Geographic Scope/Demographics
The Community Caring Council reaches all segments of the county of Cape Girardeau, although the largest concentration of programs/services takes place in the city of Cape Girardeau. Cape Girardeau is the most populous county in the southeast segment of the State of Missouri. According to the 2000 census, there were 68,693 persons residing in the county, which represents an 11.2% increase from the 1990 census. Cape Girardeau is the largest community in the county with approximately 35,000 residents.
Mission Statement/Vision
The mission of the Community Caring Council is to better serve the needs of the total community by empowering families and individuals to become more self-reliant, responsible and resourceful.
Core Results:
For fiscal year 2002, the Cape Girardeau Community Caring Council’s plan includes strategies around each of the six core results. This was decided upon by the planning committee as well as the neighborhood advisory councils (site councils) when they looked at data regarding their neighborhood. The biggest concentration of strategies remains to be centered on the core result of ‘children succeeding in school.’
Budget/Leveraging Information:
The Cape Girardeau Community Caring Council, leverages $4 for every Caring Communities dollar received. Caring Communities flexible funding represents 26% of the community partnership budget. These leveraged funds come from local investments, in-kind donations, and other state/federal funding.
Community Partners:
Currently, the Community Caring Council has more than 275 members, representing more than 98 agencies, organizations and individuals. There is a strong belief that a healthy community must have several components that work hand in hand for the betterment of all citizens. Cape Girardeau certainly has all of these components including a strong educational, health, economic, faith and social service system.
Successes:
Being accountable for achieving results
The Cape Girardeau Community Caring Council and Caring Communities prides itself on the results that have been achieved in the community. For example, last year in Cape Girardeau County:
1) there were fewer violent deaths (ages 15-19);
2) fewer teenagers had babies;
3) more youth graduated;
4) there were fewer child deaths (ages 1-14);
5) fewer children were living in poverty;
6) more children had health insurance;
7) fewer youth committed violent or property crimes;
8) school attendance continued to increase, and
9) fewer children were suspended out of school.
The unemployment rate also continued to stay below 3%, with per capita personal income increasing by $9,000 since 1990.
Bringing services closer to where families live and children attend school
One of the most basic concepts of the Caring Communities initiative in Cape Girardeau lies with bringing services to families versus finding a way to get the families to the services. This has been accomplished in a variety of unique ways, thanks to the partnership of many agencies and organizations. Caring Communities is embedded in neighborhoods where there is typically no access to services.
Services that have been brought closer to where families live and children attend school include mental health services, family case management, family activities and parenting education, social work services, health education and services, community asset mapping, tutoring programs and many more.
Active community involvement in decisions that affect their well-being
The Community Caring Council is a designated community partnership with more than 275 members representing 98 agencies, organizations and individuals, and provides a public forum on a monthly basis for addressing community issues.
Neighborhood Advisory Councils (NAC’s) are established at each Caring Communities site and have representatives of the school, business partners, parents and citizens of the neighborhood. The work of strategic planning starts at this most grass-roots level.
Using dollars more flexibly and effectively to meet community needs Community needs are identified at the grassroots level with community residents giving a voice to the focus of the partnership for the future. Local and state data are reviewed and discussed to further support the core results chosen as priorities. The Cape Girardeau Community Caring Council, leverages $4 for every Caring Communities dollar received. Caring Communities flexible funding represents 26% of the community partnership budget. These leveraged funds come from local investments, in-kind donations, and other state/federal funding.
