Thursday, April 5, 2012

Collaborating for better information sharing

  


Some of what you will find in the new 211

  • Emergency Assistance
  • Immigrant and Refugee Services
  • Public Benefits
  • Seniors
  • Shelters
  • Veterans
Imagine a world in which all social service and support information was at your fingertips.   Imagine a world in which you could find an after school arts program for your child with just a few clicks of the mouse.
With your help, that world is possible.   And soon.
Residents, providers, advocates, government representatives, and techies are working together to make the search tools easier to use and more fruitful.   That's right, we are collaborating to make social service program information more robust and more accessible than ever.   The DC Community Resource Platform group (you can join the Google group here) is moving forward on a number of fronts to ensure that social service program info is available to anyone who needs it.
We need you to help us make this happen.   I hope you will consider taking action in one or more ways:
  1. Tell us if your organization has an internal and/or external resource directory:   Please share that information here.
  2. Share your organization's internal and/or external resource directory:   If you feel like sharing, email print-only directories to Susie Cambria.
  3. Join the group:   Stay apprised of progress, meetings, and work to be done by joining the DC Community Resource Platform Google group.
  4. Tell us about your experience finding social service information:   Take this survey about your experiences seeking social service information for your clients, neighbors, family members, and yourself.   The results will inform the work to improve the resource and referral system as we move forward.
  5. Learn more about what the group is doing:   Much of the information gathered so far along with meeting notes and next steps are on the community resource portal wiki.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

We are what we eat Ward 2

Our nutritional status, health, physical and mental faculties depend on the food we eat and how we eat it. In ward 2 the access to good quality food has been a challenge to families with low income specially Undocumented Latino families. More than 17 percent of the Ward 2 population lives under the poverty line. Poverty among African- American DC residents jumped nearly one fifth, rising from 23 percent in 2007 to 27 percent in 2010. Poverty stood at 8.5 percent for non-Hispanic White residents and at 15 percent for Hispanic residents in 2010. Many of them children are today hungry and malnourished with serious impact on growth and learning capacity of children and the ability of adults to lead fully productive lives. The Columbia Heights/Shaw Family Support Collaborative (CH/SFSC) in partnership with The Executive Office of the Mayor on Latino Affairs (OLA), and the Capital Area Food Bank are determined to stabilize families, and provide all families with their basic needs.

Roxana Olivas Director of The Mayor's Office of Latino Affairs
helping families receive food services at Seaton Elementary.
There are several agencies across the District that shape how we get food.  There are at least 13 agencies that deal with food in our city! Bread for the City is an amazing agency that provides people in need with food. However the Latino population in Ward 2 is very hard to reach. CH/SFSC has an outstanding record with Latino Families in Wards 1 and 2 which allowed them to partner with OLA to provide a much needed food distribution site at Seaton Elementary located in Ward 2. On January 12, 2012 CH/SFSC alongside OLA, and the National Area Food Bank were able to provide food to over 40 Latino and African-American families for the first time at Seaton Elementary. Seaton will be the first of several food distribution sites that CH/SFSC, OLA, and the Food Bank will coordinate and serve families. 

  

Monday, February 13, 2012

Help DC Doors Raise Money

DC Doors is a grassroots initiative that provides housing to the homeless immigrant population in the District of Columbia. It seeks to accomplish this goal by providing transitional and permanent housing and comprehensive supportive services in a culturally competent and sensitive manner to families and single females. Please join DC Doors for their first Happy Hour Fundraiser at Cafe Citron (1343 Connecticut Ave, NW Washington DC 20036) Thursday February 16, 2012 from 6-9 pm. They are asking for a $10 donation at the door.


Monday, January 30, 2012

February SWOT Meeting

Hello everyone! I hope that this email finds you in great spirits! On behalf of the Columbia Heights/Shaw Family Support Collaborative, I would like to personally invite you to attend the Strengthening Ward One Together (SWOT) monthly meeting Scheduled for Friday February 3, 2012 from 9:30 – 11:00 am at the Columbia Heights Youth Club, located at 1480 Girard Street, N.W..

SAVE THE DATE: The next Strengthening Ward One Together (SWOT) meeting will be held February 3 2012, from 9:30 -11:00am at 1480 Girard St NW.  At this meeting we will: 1) Hear from Ward 4 City Council Member Muriel Bowser, Ward 1 State Board of Education Representative Patrick Mara, and , and Ms. Myrna Peralta, of CentroNia 2) Give update of SWOT Successes 3) Discuss Next Steps. For more information, please contact German Vigil at gvigil@chsfsc.org or check out the SWOT blog: http://swotdc.blogspot.com/   
Thanks, and see you all at the February SWOT meeting/workshop! And please invite any service provider that you know! I want to thank each of you so much!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Creating Solutions Together – 2011-2012 Community Feedback Survey

The Columbia Heights/Shaw Family Support Collaborative was recently awarded federal funding to strengthen and expand our community violence prevention and intervention work.

We value your opinions about your neighborhood. As part of this grant, we are conducting a short survey in order to gain a better understanding of what residents think and feel about their community.

We hope to use this feedback to better provide resources and address community needs. The survey should take about 5-7 minutes to complete.

No names or identifying information will be associated with your responses and all questions are voluntary. Please click on the following link to complete the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SBMYJ22

If you have further questions about the Collaborative, our funding, or this survey, please contact Carmona Ross at cross@chsfsc.org or 202-518-6737.