Episode 23: Prevention: Reorganizing Community Collaboratives

“We can’t work in isolation - we have so many partners, both our formal partners, our community-based partners that we have to bring to the table to help address many of the issues that our families are impacted by.”
— Robert Matthews, deputy director of community partnerships, D.C. Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA)

By effectively partnering with organizations that support families, child welfare agencies can empower a system of services that improve prevention outcomes. But effective community collaboration requires that the type and level of services are available to meet the specific needs of the families within the community.

'Reorganizing Community Collaboratives' details how Washington D.C.’s CFSA reorganized the contracts and the services for the Healthy Families Thriving Communities Collaborative Network, which serves the city’s diverse wards.

Highlights from the discussion include the following:

• What CFSA included in the revised contracts with their community collaboratives
• Why including treatment-based providers within the collaboratives was so important
• The internal changes CFSA made to improve prevention efforts

The conversation also explores the formal collaboration between CFSA and the city’s Department of Behavioral Health and Department of Human Services. The collaboration, D.C. Cross-Connect, brings the agencies together to collectively serve families by working together to identify priorities and implement universal case plans for families in need.

'Reorganizing Community Collaboratives' features insight and perspective from the following contributor:

• Robert Matthews, deputy director of community partnerships, D.C. CFSA

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