Holmes County Partnerships for Success Strategic Action Identification Report

Partnerships for Success is a holistic and strategic approach to building Holmes' County's capacity to prevent and respond effectively to our child and adolescent problem behaviors while promoting positive youth development.

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Executive Summary

In 1998, Ohio was one of five states chosen to participate in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders Initiative. The PfS Model evolved from this initiative. Since 1998 the PfS Model has been monitored, evaluated and changed in order to become a successful operation system by which Ohio counties may evaluate their commitment to families and youth.

Holmes County Family and Children First Council (HCFCFC) (Appendix A) is a diverse partnership of organizations and individuals committed to improving the well-being of children and families in Holmes County. However, a community without critical protective factors and strong developmental assets faces ongoing challenges to meet the most serious needs of its children and adolescents. Throughout an examination of current programming and funding allocations, Council members repeatedly ask, “With all of our successes, what have we missed? How can we best allocate our resources to ensure a better return on our investment in the children and families of Holmes County?”

In 2006, Holmes County was one of six counties selected to receive a Partnerships for Success (PfS) grant. Holmes County Partnerships for Success (Appendix B) is a holistic and strategic approach to building capacity within our county to prevent and respond effectively to child and adolescent problem behaviors while promoting positive youth development. PfS is based upon guiding principles gleaned from research on the effective prevention and reduction of youth problem behaviors and the promotion of positive youth development. These guiding principles are:

1) Involve and Engage the Entire Community in identifying and implementing strategic actions to promote positive youth development.
2) Balance a Holistic Continuum of Approaches that include primary prevention programs, early intervention programs, and systems of care to meet the needs of children and youth in the community.
3) Make Data-Informed Decisions that continually address the priorities and concerns of the community in relationship to program planning, implementation, and evaluation.

The Partnerships for Success Model is built on the concept of cooperation and collaboration of community members, agencies, and businesses.

It is an operating system that offers tools and procedures for identifying and prioritizing critical community issues and managing the investment of resources to address those issues. This initiative helps counties to mobilize around issues relating to families and children, use data strategically to develop evidence-based action plans to improve our county’s overall well-being, and implement these plans with a commitment to evaluating their impact and sustaining their presence. PfS planning is comprised of three basic activities:

1) Needs Assessment
2) Resource Assessment
3) Strategic Action Identification

The Holmes County Partnerships for Success Initiative completed the planning year of a two year Partnerships for Success (PfS) process. Through extensive mobilization of key community members, data collection and resource analysis, the development of a data informed Strategic Plan was achieved. The Strategic Plan for Holmes County will include the development of a Community Prevention Coalition and the development of a social marketing plan to address decreasing family and community norms tolerant of substance abuse. The completion of the planning year and the development of the final Strategic Plan were possible through the guidance of the Partnerships for Success Academy, Holmes County Family & Children First Council, and the use of the Partnerships for Success (PfS) Model.

The Planning Process
Holmes County Family & Children First Coordinator established a Core Team (Appendix B) comprised of four key community members and a coordinator. The Core Team’s goal was to oversee and coordinate the Partnerships for Success process. This process would include three key components to be completed during the first year: 1) Needs Assessment, 2) Resource Assessment, and 3) Strategic Action Identification. Over the past twelve months, Holmes County Partnerships for Success has developed three workgroups whose goals were to use specific tools and procedures to successfully complete each of these three key components.

The Needs Assessment Workgroup begins the process by the collection of local, state, and federal data concerning youth. An analysis of the data is done to assess the primary concerns of the county. This analysis is done by exploring the Six Commitments to Child Well-being listed in House Bill 289 and the indicators for each of the commitments. The concerns, attitudes, and beliefs of the community can be assessed in several ways. (Example: focus groups/community surveys) After the collection and analysis to the data is completed a Logic Chain is created with the Long-term outcome, Intermediate outcome and Short-term outcomes. The Logic Chain (Page 4) is instrumental in maintaining the county’s focus on the areas within that county to promote positive change for children/youth, families and community.

The Holmes County PfS Needs Assessment Workgroup collected and analyzed data from local, state and national sources, administered a community survey, and identified the Long-term, Intermediate-term and Short-term Outcomes specific to the needs of Holmes County. The Long-term Outcome of “Children and Youth Engage in Healthy Behaviors” was found to have the highest priority for preventing youth problem behaviors and promoting positive youth development in Holmes County. “Reduce Substance Abuse” was ranked as the highest priority intermediate-term outcome that would result in more youth engaging in healthy behaviors. The Workgroup reviewed the data, analyzed the indicators listed under risk factors, protective factors and assets known to reduce substance abuse and worked cooperatively to agree on short-term outcomes which fit Holmes County’s unique population. The three short-term outcomes are as follows:

• Increase positive peer relationships (where best friends model responsible behavior).
• Increase positive internal assets of integrity, responsibility, restraint, resistance skills, personal power, sense of purpose, and positive view of personal future.
• Decrease family and community norms tolerant of substance abuse.

HOLMES COUNTY LOGIC CHAIN
Long-Term Outcome	Children and Youth Engage in Healthy Behaviors.
Intermediate-Term Outcome	Reduce Substance Abuse.
Short-Term Outcomes	• Increase positive peer relationships (where best friends model responsible behavior). • Increase positive internal assets of integrity, responsibility, restraint, resistance skills, personal power, sense of purpose, and positive view of personal future. • Decrease family and community norms tolerant of substance abuse.

Holmes County Partnerships for Success Strategic Action Identification Report Continues --
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