The Public Life Foundation of Owensboro (PLFO) will help underwrite the operation of The Center—a new resource hub that links people needing services with those who provide them—with a major three-year grant.
The Center offers families and children a single location to find a variety of social services by making a single stop at The Center’s offices in the River Valley Behavioral Health building on Walnut Street. A goal of The Center is to make access to needed services easier. This is particularly valuable for families with multiple needs.
In addition to having days when service representatives are physically located in The Center to meet with potential clients, The Center staff utilizes the intake form for every client, regardless of which program they are utilizing, providing The Center with the necessary information to connect them with the resources they need. Holly Davis, The Center’s family outreach specialist, will work directly with families in the community.
Another advantage of The Center is the interaction created among service organizations as they share information about the services they provide.
These benefits come as no surprise to the Public Life Foundation, according to David Boeyink, executive director of the foundation.
“We spent nearly a year building relationships with families in Owensboro and Daviess County, asking them about their greatest needs,” Boeyink said. “One of the major needs we identified was better coordinated care.”
Erica Wade, now the director of The Center, served on a PLFO committee exploring how we could do a better job of coordinating care, both among service organizations and between people in need and those equipped to meet those needs.
“The incredible work of Wade, her committee, and many others has brought this new resource to Daviess County,” Boeyink said. The grant will provide $80,000 a year to the operation of The Center. “The Public Life Foundation hopes this grant will provide the sustainability The Center needs to develop broad community support.”
The Public Life Foundation as pledged $4 million over a six-year period to promote early childhood education in Daviess County as part of its Early Childhood Education Initiative. While PLFO’s primary focus is on early learning, this grant to The Center recognizes the impact addressing family challenges can have on the ability of children to learn and thrive.
