CMCA focuses on families

Kellie Pontius updates the Callaway Resource Network on Central Missouri Community Action's latest efforts. The agency has focused in on quality of services, rather than quantity, she said.
Kellie Pontius updates the Callaway Resource Network on Central Missouri Community Action's latest efforts. The agency has focused in on quality of services, rather than quantity, she said.

Central Missouri Community Action is focusing more closely than ever on people, according to family development supervisor Kellie Pontius.

Charitable organization CMCA offers a variety of services - from weatherization to preschool and beyond.The organization released a new strategic plan almost exactly a year ago. Its focus was on increasing service integration and access to programs.

"We began using a full-family approach," Pontius told the Callaway Resource Network during a Thursday meeting. "This was to break down those (service) silos so we can provide seamless resources. For example, if a family comes in for energy assistance, we can assess the other needs they have too."

CMCA combined or eliminated some programs as part of the plan.

"What this means is that we're going to be serving fewer families, but we will be able to serve those enrolled better and focus on moving them out of poverty and helping them to live a more resilient life," CMCA Executive Director Darin Preis said last December.

Pontius said she feels the changes have paid off. They've allowed CMCA to focus on the quality of the services offered, rather than just the quantity.

Services currently offered by CMCA fall into three arenas: economic stability, family well-being and social connections. Each aspect is important to ensuring families' resilience and success, Pontius added.

"These families can invest in their community and become civically engaged," she said.

Sharon Rosinski, a family development specialist with CMCA, shared one example of how she's seen these policies help families.

"We had this one family, and they started out as a homeless family," she recalled. "(The mother) came into our system and she was able to get housing."

The family almost lost the housing after the mother struggled to pay for both rent and food, child care and medical expenses.

"She was having to come home halfway through her shifts to pick up her child," Rosinski said. "We got her on food stamps and Medicaid and helped her find child care."

The ultimate goal is for the family to wean off of government assistance. However, helping the mother access that assistance when she needed it ensured her family's security and made it more likely that they'll be able to help themselves in the future, Rosinski said.

CMCA is also focusing in on caring for employees, Pontius said.

"Especially in Head Start (the preschool program), employees see so much trauma in homes," she said. "How does this affect them?"

Many people involved in social work get burned out, depressed and traumatized by what they witness, Pontius said. CMCA is working on updating policies to better prevent those negative outcomes for employees.

"For example, we want to make sure our home visitors feel safe going into peoples' homes," she said. "Our executive director sees value in our employees. We want to make sure our employees are able to help themselves, so they can help others."