When it comes to helping kids who need it, Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna says many services come from small organizations with very little funding. “There are people just truly doing the Lord’s work. It’s amazing and lots of them are doing it for nothing, out of the goodness of their heart. But it does give us the chance, before we go to voters, to see where are we, is there a need and if so, what are the targeted outcomes we expect.”
Hanna was among some fifty local officials and child welfare advocates at the meeting of the Children’s Services Council Planning Committee on Friday, July 12. There were formal presentations from more than a dozen area children’s services providers But the problem is getting them to work together without duplicating efforts. Amber Tynan executive director of United Partners for Human Services, thinks her organization might be able to help.
“Not only helping coordinate who is best in certain spaces, but how we can utilize even grassroots organizations to partner and leverage those resources and bring them along to help build the capacity of all organizations, which is ultimately going to lift our entire community.”
The planning committee is trying to focus the priorities for the proposed Children’s Services Council. It will then be up to the Leon County Commission to decide whether or not the council idea goes onto next year’s ballot for voter approval. The committee’s next meeting will be on September 13.
