Community Profile
Marion County
Families and Communities Together
February 14, 2002
Dear Mr. O’Reilly and Ms. Martin:
Families and Communities Together (FACT) of Marion County hopes you find the enclosed reports in good order. The three February reports are based on the three remaining strategies that FACT is continuing as part of our plan for the next year: Health Educator, Ambassadors and GateKeepers.
FACT of Marion County joined Caring Communities as a full partner in 1996. The Marion County Partnership is governed by a 15-member board, which includes a six-member executive committee. The board is made up of a mix of people from the community at large and various service providers, with the majority of members being non-service providers. An Advisory Council made up of interested individuals from local agencies and groups also participates with FACT.
Marion County is located in the northeast corner of the state of Missouri. It is bordered to the east by the state of Illinois. The total population of the county is approximately 27,682 residents. The majority of residents live in Hannibal (pop. 17,735). Other towns include Palmyra (pop. 3,371), which serves as the county seat, a corner of Monroe City (pop. 420), and the unincorporated village of Philadelphia.
FACT is a community effort to develop or build upon existing collaborative efforts, to improve local systems and to maximize the use of resources to better to meet the needs of children and families. Ultimately, the goal is systems-level change, not merely more or different services.
FACT originally began implementing strategies at three designated sites: Eugene Field Elementary School in Hannibal, the Hannibal Middle School and the Palmyra School District. With input from those sites, FACT began developing strategies around all six Core Results during the first two years as a partnership. In its most recent plan update, FACT scaled back its strategies to focus on three that center around the Core Result of Children Succeeding in School. They are the Health Educator, Gatekeepers and Ambassadors. These strategies address concerns about absenteeism or discipline/behavior problems through different strategies. FACT will be reevaluating its plan further in the coming weeks to improve its results-based outcomes and to sharpen the focus of the strategies.
FACT’s budget for 2002 totals $551,545. Of that local investment totals $29,276, in-kind donations total $140,839, participant fees total $25 and other, state and federal funding totals $127,993. Caring Communities Flexible Funding totals $253,412. FACT has leveraged almost $1.18 for every $1 it receives from Caring Communities. The partnership hopes to increase local support thus improving the leverage ratio.
FACT of Marion County would not have been able to accomplish what it has without the assistance of its collaborative partners, who include representatives of state agencies, community residents, and other area agencies and groups such as the University Extension Office, the Juvenile Office of the 10th Judicial Circuit, Hannibal-LaGrange College, and grantors, such as The Pillsbury Foundation and the Tracy Family Foundation.
FACT of Marion County has successfully changed “business as usual” through several of its strategies. Some examples are:
- The Ambassadors program. Schools have changed the manner in
which they address absenteeism and discipline referrals by working closely
with the parents to address the underlying issues causing the school-related
problems.
- The Dental Clinic changed the way dental services were offered. The clinic
began out of a concern for an underserved group of people and is now in its
second year. It’s funded by Medicaid dollars, administered by the Marion
County Health Department and serviced by two area dentists, Dr. Tom Lemons and
Dr. E.W. Harder, who volunteer their time.
- The Health Educator changed the way schools addressed absenteeism because of
medical issues. The idea for a Health Educator originated because of days lost
due to head lice problems in the school. The Health Educator works one-on-one
with referred families to address underlying issues that caused the
health-related absenteeism.
A key challenge faced by FACT has been in the area of community and neighborhood development. It has proven a challenge to engage the community and gain broad base community involvement in FACT’s work. This may be in part because of a lack of sustained groundwork to pull together diverse people from the community.
Also results-based and accountability issues have proven a difficult concept for some to grasp, and thus to apply to strategies. Added to that, it has been difficult to get beyond seeing FACT as a grant-maker or funding source. FACT’s initial plan was not results-based, but there had been no indication that such was required.
Overriding it all is the fact that these types of changes are not easy to understand or undertake without some familiarity of the state system and local school systems and how they work. There are a limited number of people in a small community with this knowledge, and there are an even smaller number of people in that group interested in applying their knowledge and to seek effect collaborative and systems change.
Sincerely,
Earl Mangrum, Coordinator, FACT of Marion County
Ann Pierceall, Assistant Coordinator, FACT of Marion County
