a brief description of two political, social, and/or technological factors in human services and explain how those factors influence the operations of a contemporary human services or social services agency in your area. Provide an example of a human serv

The Lifeline Initiative The Lifeline Initiative Program Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] MIKE LARSON: One of the things that is unique to Kalamazoo is I would say philanthropy. This is a community that cares about each other and is wil\ ling to give of their resources to help their neighbor in need.

JUAN OLIVAREZ: I think the uniqueness of Kalamazoo in terms of its people is a basic people helping people attitude. And you see it everywhere in the\ neighborhoods, in- through organizations. I think this whole idea that people help people has been in this community for a long, long time and well rooted.\ NARRATOR: Kalamazoo Michigan, just a short train ride away from the bustle of Chicago and Detroit, boasts big city benefits with a small town feel.

Settled in the 1830’s, the area has grown from its humble agricultural beginnings to a city that houses two major educational institutions, facilities tha\ t are leading the way in health care, and a vibrant arts and cultural scene.

However, what seems to set it apart from most mid-western cities is its \ intricate system of human services organizations, and a citywide commitment to helping those less fortunate.

MIKE LARSON: We're fortunate to have Fortune 500 companies here in our community, a major university here. But we also have tremendous need. Wh\ en you think of over 30 percent of the population is at the poverty level. That creates some unique challenges for our community like ours. And we're—we're a fairly typical representation from the state of Michigan right now as far as th\ ose challenges. The fortunate thing that we have as a community is a wonderf\ ul netw ork of health and human service organizations. And I mean that in a sens\ e of we just don't have a lot of agencies. We have organizations that are \ well run.

They have wonderful leadership giving direction to them. They are workin\ g in coordination with each other to make sure services are being provided where they need to be. So, I think as a community, we're uniquely set in that \ standpoint.

NARRATOR: Ask any human services professional in Kalamazoo and many will bear testimony to the city’s rich tradition of philanthropy.

Two leading examples of this humanitarian culture are the Greater Kalama\ zoo United Way and the Kalamazoo Community Foundation.

1 The Lifeline Initiative provided leadership through civic leaders in our community coming togeth\ er and saying we need a coordinated approach in our community to raise resource\ s to meet the needs of these agencies that are providing direct services in our community.

Employers were getting challenged because they were being hit up by a va\ riety of different organizations. So a coordinated approach to fund-raising was critical.

And in 1926 they ran their first annual campaign.

Many of the things that we did back then we're continuing to do today. I think the reality though is we're not as much just a fundraiser, though that is a \ means to the work that we're able to do in the community. The reality is we bring\ our relationships we have in the community both with the private and the public sector, nonprofits, we have relationships with education, we have relati\ onships with other funders, the business community. I think the uniqueness about\ the work we're doing today is about how we can bring people to the table and work together to create solutions that we we're dealing with in our community\ .

JUAN OLIVAREZ: The Kalamazoo community foundation has a rich history here in the city and in the county. It was started 85 years ago through Dr. Upjohn who started the foundation with $1000, believing we needed such an organizat\ ion.

We have been in our history a leader in the community like the United Way. And working on behalf of donors trying to make sure that we were assisting t\ he organizations out in the community that serve the people who are in need\ .

Obviously we are a charitable organization in that we provide dollars for these agencies to help families and children and individuals in the community.\ But we're also a leader in the community in that we get invited to the table\ on many fronts, many issues, and the community agencies and other community lead\ ers seek our input to make sure that we are providing information and data t\ hat we might have about the community.

And today we have become more and more collaborative, such as with the United Way project that we have in trying to model for others that in th\ ese times, we need to collaborate a lot more and a lot deeper, so that we can lever\ age our resources.

NARRATOR: Economic shifts and the specialization of the human services field have made the need to leverage resources efficiently, within Kalamazoo, \ vital.

Recognizing the city’s unique philanthropic ties, both organizations have seen an opportunity to come together, maximize these resources, and positively i\ mpact Kalamazoo’s underserved.

2 The Lifeline Initiative MIKE LARSON: You know, if you went back 30, 40 years ago, you had an organization that was pretty much addressing all the issues but didn't h\ ave the capacity to address the issues. Today we have more specialized training \ for individuals to work with people around certain issues. And with that, I \ think we're seeing a number of new nonprofits—501(c)3 health and human service organizations being created because of that.

The challenge we have with that growth in nonprofits in the US is how do\ we sustain their work. It costs money to do that work. And I think we're go\ ing to have to be more creative in how we work within the network of organizations w\ e have currently to make sure we've got the skill set and the capacity to do th\ e work.

NARRATOR: The Lifeline Initiative is a collaborative effort that provides funding \ to organizations responding to the growing and sometimes unaddressed needs of Kalamazoo residents.

With a focus on the areas of: joblessness, hunger, homelessness, and lac\ k of healthcare, the United Way and Community Foundation are taking a unique \ approach to charitable giving.

JUAN OLIVAREZ: There was an economic downturn and both Mike through the United Way and us here at the Community Foundation were seeing things looking worse and worse in terms of the numbers we were getting of famil\ ies needing food, shelter, clothing, health. And at the same time, we were experiencing in both of our organizations watching our assets go downwar\ d as everyone's personal assets were going down.

MIKE LARSON: People were coming and asking for food that have never asked for food before. When you lose your job, you're making hard choices. Do \ I pay my rent this month, do I buy that prescription for my child, do I go and\ buy groceries. What can we go without? And the reality is, is traditionally \ people can find food someplace, so that's one less thing that I have to spend money\ on. So, we were finding a lot of our local food pantries and food banks being co\ ntacted to get food. So, that would be one of the top ones we saw.

We are seeing families losing their homes because of foreclosures, not knowing where to turn. So, finding opportunities and options for them to make su\ re they have a house over their head and for their kids. Also, you're going to l\ ose health insurance in many cases if you were working and you're not working today\ .

Where do I get health care, where do I get dental care? And, so, these types of issues were growing tremendously as we saw the unemployment rate increas\ e in our community.

JUAN OLIVAREZ: And so we were conversing about not sitting back and just watching things as they happen, collecting data and holding our breath; \ and that we really needed to do something, we really needed to be proactive, we n\ eeded © 2014 Laureate Education, Inc.

3 The Lifeline Initiative to get in front of this issue. And so we thought we would do something v\ ery unique, very different for both organizations in terms of going to famil\ ies and individuals, only, asking them to go a little bit deeper beyond their co\ ntribution to the United Way, beyond what they were doing through t he Community Foundation currently.

NARRATOR: That difference has been approaching past donors, as a team. Asking for more money at a time when most are seeing a decrease in personal finances is risky. But by combining their influence in the community, and promising to direct the funds solely to other organizations, their e\ fforts have paid off.

MIKE LARSON: As Juan and I went out and we did most of these calls the two of us together, one-on-one with individuals and families, the first thing that we asked when we went into those was we need you to continue to support the United Way campaign but we're asking for a gift above and beyond.

The reality was we didn't lose one dollar in the United Way campaign and\ actually from that group it went up in percentage of giving versus the y\ ear before.

And as we walked into the room of many of these families, the first resp\ onse was we love seeing the two of you sitting next to each other coming to us. T\ hey were excited about the collaboration; the two leadership organizations around philanthropy in the community coming together and working together to ad\ dress this.

We made a commitment that both organizations would work together to dist\ ribute those dollars. So, we had volunteers from both organizations and staff f\ ro m both organizations working on this together. An organization if they had inte\ rest in applying for some of these resources would traditionally contact one of \ the United Way staff or the Community Foundation.

And they would help them through the application process and they could apply through the Community Foundation and they have an online process that th\ ey can apply for those grant dollars. From there, those grant applications were taken on a quarterly basis to the committee and would review those and make recommendations from there to the board of the Community Foundation.

JUAN OLIVAREZ: Collaborations are tough. We talk about them as if they just happen naturally and it happens very smoothly—and it doesn’t. And, in our case, we were driven by the need and we were also new to each of our organizations as CEO's and so we had none of the past baggage or things \ that maybe didn't work in the past in front of us and we just saw nothing but\ positive and that certainly helped our attitude in going into this.

4 The Lifeline Initiative closely together and a number of our staff. And we could not have done i\ t without their commitment and leadership. This was above and beyond everything th\ at we had to do on a daily basis.

But the reality was the return on the investment of time, the return on \ the partnership I believe had a tremendous impact on what we were able to do\ with this, but I think the greater impact will even be further down the road \ on what we can do together in the future.

MAN: Yes, good afternoon. You know, I looked at this sheet and unfortunately it's not the amount of money that I know that we had. (LAUGHTER) [HORSE WALKS IN] MAN: There’s my courier. This is our sum total as of this morning, I presume and what we took this to the stable. It’ s $205,177.36, which makes it approximately 75% of our goal. And we're really excited about that and our effort has been to extend the constituency. And for those who haven't given a report, we're encouraging them to do $50 minimally or $52 and putting a dollar a\ week.

And so we've extended the base and we're also then - and I know my colleague, Amy, is going to talk about this - getting students involved. And there's a T-shirt sale for the United Way this afternoon in Central Campus, and will also \ be repeated next week.

JUAN OLIVAREZ: I think the evolution of the nonprofit world has changed in complexity. I do think that organizations are being expected to do more.\ And I also think that with that, the community and funders are expecting more \ accountability. So that has really drastically changed the landscape. Th\ ere is more of an effort to be able to tell what the return on investment has been, what the outcomes are, what the impact is, and that fewer and fewer funders a\ re willing to take the charity notion, that we do it just because it makes \ us feel good as the answer.

MIKE LARSON: I also see a challenge for nonprofits today. It's becoming more and more competitive. It's competitive in a variety of ways, it's compet\ itive in who's providing the services, it's competitive in where the funding is g\ oing to come from. The reality is, is we've seen less state and federal funding \ coming to our community, which creates a real press on philanthropy in this commun\ ity.

And the reality is, is we don't have all the resources to meet that gap \ in state and federal funding. We need organizations that are going to be true to thei\ r mission, that are going to be true to addressing the issues in our community and true \ to results.

5 The Lifeline Initiative tremendous impact, and like the United Way and Community Foundation, are leading examples of those who address human need.

The West Michigan Cancer Center is a cutting-edge collaboration between \ two major healthcare entities, dedicated to enriching the lives of cancer vi\ ctims.

At Ministry with Community, Kalamazoo’s homeless population can receive a second, and if necessary third chance.

The Michigan Organizing Project is combating joblessness by advocating f\ or social change for all workers.

And the Food Bank of South Central Michigan is building a stronger commu\ nity, one meal at a time.

JUAN OLIVAREZ: There are obviously many organizations that have applied for grants through the Lifeline fund. We have a committee that reviews all o\ f the grants and actually makes the determination, but we can tell you that as they come to us for review, all of the agencies that have been granted one of\ the grants have been very, very worthwhile, they've been carefully vetted an\ d certainly staying true to the vision that we had for the Lifeline Fund. One of those organizations was the West Michigan Cancer Center. And that one was very\ unique and needed to have a bridge for this year. They lost their fundin\ g for mammograms for low-income women without health care. So, when they came to the Lifelin e Fund committee, their application was asking for that bridge and so we were able to leverage dollars that was able to bring in other private\ dollars because of this funding and they were able to get enough to do four Satu\ rdays.

There's another organization that we have funded that came to us because\ of the work that they do with low income families as they organize community, t\ hey work a lot with immigration, they work a lot with getting families and i\ ndividuals in families into work and they too have been successful in getting a grant from the Lifeline fund as they came to the committee.

MIKE LARSON: Two other organizations that the Lifeline invested in—one is the Food Bank of South Central Michigan. This is an organization that's is k\ ind of a clearinghouse or warehouse that provides food in a regional standpoint. \ But they work closely with a network of service providers here in Kalamazoo Count\ y and they came in partnership with Loaves and Fishes, which is really our loc\ al major food pantry here in town working together trying to create more capacity\ to address the need of food in our community. And we've been able to expand\ the pounds of food that have been going out into the community based on the \ dollars that the Lifeline Initiative was able to support them with.

6 The Lifeline Initiative the things that I have actually have had the opportunity to see it first\ hand because I've had the opportunity to serve a breakfast or lunch down ther\ e is there's an increase of kids, children that are coming through with famil\ ies. We're seeing families that have not ever experienced this type of need before.\ So, for us all of these organizations that I've talked about are critica\ l to the core services and basic needs in our community JUAN OLIVAREZ: I entered the human services field through education. I was first a teacher right out of college, and I saw so many needs in the cla\ ssroom th at I decided to go back to school and get my Masters and then a Ph.D. worki\ ng with families and children in particular, and trying to make a difference in \ the lives of our students in the schools.

I think first and foremost, a human services professional needs to have passion for the work, they need to have that fire in them to do work out in comm\ unity and with people because it is never ending, it is very hard work, it's colla\ borative work, it is work that involves a lot of understanding of people and organizations and systems.

We will probably never have enough resources to address all of the needs\ that we confront in our community. So, as we work out there in community tryi\ ng to solve problems and look for better ways of doing things, to think about \ what are the levers that are going to make the most impact, what are the things t\ hat we can do that will be long lasting, what are the issues that can be sustai\ ned through effort.

MIKE LARSON: A human service professional to me is somebody who truly cares about their community, cares about individuals and brings a unique skill set to the work that they're doing to address the needs of individuals.

I was brought up in a very conservative home as a kid. My father was a p\ astor in a small country church and my parents when we were brought up in our family; it was not a choice but an obligation to help those in need.

I entered the human services field because of wanting to make a differen\ ce. As human service professional, you think about the needs in the community a\ nd how you can partner with other organizations to address that. So I think\ they need in the community was a driving force. I think is a human service professional though, as we get into this work it's about meeting and gro\ wing quality of services, accessibility of services, looking at accountabilit\ ies within our work, to making sure that we are having the impact that we want. As I looked at United Way as a career, one thing that I figured out-that the work isn't about United Way, it's not about me, it's really about the people we are tryin\ g to serve.

7 The Lifeline Initiative The Lifeline Initiative Additional Content Attribution Creative Support Services Los Angeles, CA Dimension Sound Effects Library Newnan, GA Narrator Tracks Music Library Stevens Point, WI Signature Music, Inc.