Alliance CEO shares insight into changing expectations for human service organizations
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This is the premise of the Alliance for Children and Families’ National Family Week program. It’s indicative of an increasing trend supported by both the public and private sector toward blending the expertise of nonprofit human service organizations with services and programs that assist families in attaining economic self-sufficiency. Through his interactions with lawmakers, foundations, other national human service organizations, and Alliance members, Alliance President and CEO Peter Goldberg has frequently promoted this trend. To help Alliance and United Neighborhood Centers of America (UNCA) members and their boards of directors begin to think about what this trend will mean for them, the Alliance for Children & Families Magazine asked Goldberg to share his perspective in more detail. He offers insight into the history leading up to this new expectation for human service organizations, provides examples of current economic self-sufficiency programs, and explains indications that foundations are supporting the concept. |
“Children do better when their families are strong, and families do better when they live in communities that help them succeed.”
What are the signs that the blending of human services and economic self-sufficiency is an important trend?
One of the most important signs is that the general public and the public sector are laying out some new expectations for human services and human services delivery. These expectations involve marrying what we have traditionally done to help people work through their personal and family issues with services that will help these people accomplish a level of economic self-sufficiency that will, theoretically, stabilize their lives.
It doesn’t mean the expectation is that everyone we serve will be completely self-sufficient. But what I have observed is that the general public and the public sector are asking us to be cognizant of, and embrace, the notion that we ought to help people become less dependent upon public sector support if at all possible. This is a perfectly reasonable expectation to have of us.
What do you think led to this change in expectations?
I believe the real pivotal point was welfare reform during the Bill Clinton presidential administration. As we all know, the reform put the emphasis on tying welfare together with work. That major change symbolized this growing public call to think about how we can provide support to impoverished, disadvantaged, and disabled people in new and different ways.
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Peter Goldberg, president and CEO, Alliance for Children and Families
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The call has been there for some time now, and it is only growing, so human service organizations have definitely taken notice and are beginning to think about how they contribute to the financial well-being or economic self-sufficiency—whichever terminology they wish to use—for the clients they serve.
What are some examples of current economic self-sufficiency programs?
There are a number of different examples, but the one that is top-of-mind is the program operated by Ways to Work, the Alliance’s sister organization.
The Ways to Work program is sometimes characterized as a car loan program, but it is much more than that. It is really a way to help individuals, mostly single mothers, succeed in the home and the workplace simultaneously. The evaluation Ways to Work completed last year found that a majority of people who borrow from Ways to Work achieve higher take-home pay—and increased economic self-sufficiency—because they have a car to get to work and take care of family responsibilities.
Alliance member agencies operate local Ways to Work programs specifically because their human service capabilities help to stabilize the borrower’s situation so there is a better chance for success with the loan.
There are so many different pathways and mechanisms by which human service organizations can contribute to the financial well-being of the people and communities they serve. Currently, many human service organizations can, and do, provide financial literacy programs, credit counseling, workforce development programs, and support for entrepreneurship.
I would also point to the affiliation established in 2006 between UNCA and Families International (the parent organization of the Alliance, Ways to Work, and UNCA). UNCA brings a great perspective to our work and overarching responsibilities. In fact, our coming together was grounded, in large part, in the Alliance’s recognition that our organization needed to do more, learn more, and be more engaged with the UNCA organizations working on neighborhood development through programming that contributes to economic self-sufficiency.
What can Alliance and UNCA members do to not only learn more about this trend, but also position their organizations to take advantage of opportunities?
This issue is more than just tactical. It is more than just finding a program. It is more than just acquiring a new revenue stream.
It is more elevated because it has to do with how we might define our core competencies, our core strategies, and even our mission in the future.
At the elementary level, it is a program or a funding stream. But there’s a much bigger conceptual opportunity and responsibility to look at. So to the extent that Alliance and UNCA member agencies recognize and come to the same conviction that I am delivering here, this will drive discussions at the executive and board level about the strategic direction of organizations.
On this top level, there will be discussions about different, more strategic, more purposeful ways to accomplish this change in the future, as well as how to frame organizations in a way so that the public and the private sector view the organization as very relevant to that whole movement.
What indications have you witnessed that foundations are supporting this concept?
There are a number of foundations and investors that are supporting Ways to Work—$16 million was raised for its expansion in 2008—which are, in effect, supporting the blending of human services with economic self-sufficiency.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s emphasis on family economic success is probably one of the most clear statements of support for this concept. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s underwriting of National Family Week has included a clear articulation that the program is best served to articulate the relationship of children and strong families on the one hand, and strong communities and neighborhoods in which they reside on the other.
Bank of America, through many of its philanthropic activities, such as the Neighborhood Excellence Initiative and its support of Ways to Work, is another example of an organization supporting this concept. Finally, the United Way has clearly provided strong indications that it is very interested in blending human services with economic self-sufficiency.
Do the current economic conditions push this concept forward, or put it on the back burner?
The significant rise in foreclosures is indicative of how we might blend economic self-sufficiency and human services. The Alliance has teamed up with UNCA; our other sister company, FEI Behavioral Health; and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling to create a business plan to provide a suite of services embracing both credit repair and emotional health services for families in foreclosure.
Alliance and UNCA member agencies have the ability to help address the emotional issues that must be going on in families facing foreclosure. The opportunities for us to work with credit counseling agencies here are really powerful.
Due to the economic stress, we’re likely to see some significant changes in the landscape of nonprofit organizations as we think about the needs of the children, families, and communities we serve. Notions around this blending concept will probably create opportunities for very traditional nonprofit human service organizations to think about their relationships and partnering opportunities with organizations that are much more rooted in workforce development and economic self-sufficiency programming.
