Collective Impact Initiative

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

The Collective Impact Initiative (CI²) is an innovation effort designed to improve the self-sufficiency of at-risk citizens by addressing two major obstacles to the coordination and delivery of county human services. The first type are the communication barriers that exist between staff in different departments and between the county and the public. The second is the fact that the point at which citizens interact with the county, the “user-interface,” is designed to ease the administration of services rather than to make accessing services easier. These obstacles nationwide due to privacy laws, funding streams, and the specialized nature of services delivered. As a result, citizens must visit numerous departments, complete duplicative applications, and often must return after learning of additional requirements to apply for services. In addition, county staff, effectively silo’d in different departments, are often unaware of the broad scope of services available and cannot easily collaborate with peers to help clients. CI² is addressing this by developing and piloting a software application, the ‘Common Application for Services’ (CAS) that amounts to a new “user-interface” simplifying the service application process. CAS integrates the eligibility requirements for numerous services into a single “application” citizens complete on an iPad or online and have a preliminary eligibility decision made for all services in a process similar to prequalifying for a consumer loan. After prequalifying, CAS makes a referral and shares application information with the relevant departments to expedite the formal application process. In addition, CAS incorporates a survey tool to “score” client self-sufficiency in various areas, simultaneously proving a means to track outcomes and a tool for staff to work with clients in developing case plans.