|
|
|
RUPRI Rural Human Services Panel
In February 2010, the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Rural Human Services Panel released its report titled "Rethinking Rural Human Service Delivery in Challenging Times: The Case for Service Integration" (RUPRI Rural Human Services Panel 2010) [1]. This was developed as a response to the current unparalleled need for human services in rural America, with significant long-term unemployment, an increased concern for food insecurity and an increased reliance on food assistance programs, along with increased challenges and decreasing funding for state and local human service providers. These troubling trends have created a significantly greater need for human services and safety net programs for rural families. This 2010 Report sought to help meet this challenge by describing a different approach for more efficiently aligning resources and fully integrating human services into locally and regionally-based client-centered systems. Critical to the success of this model is the creation of readily accessible local hubs for service integration that emphasize local leadership and support. This, coupled with essential services offered in close proximity to clients, can provide improved organizational capacity and oversight, promote greater efficiency of management infrastructure and finite resources, and provide greater opportunity for attracting and better utilizing external philanthropic support and grants for innovative design and testing.
To expand on this work, the Panel located a rural county, Humboldt County, California, where many of the desirable attributes described in the 2010 Panel Report had been in development for more than fifteen years and were currently operational. This recent report provides an analysis and summary of the critical structural and operational elements of the model resulting in demonstrated effectiveness in serving its residents in need.
|
