September 2006 Redmond Business

A National Model, Right Here In
Downtown Redmond
by Pam Mauk

I was visited last week by Julie Reid, executive director of a family resource center in Topeka, Kansas.  She traveled cross-country to share ideas with one of the few centers that sounded anything like her own.
Like our own Family Resource Center, her nonprofit works to ease access to services by providing families with a “one-stop” shopping experience with information and referral supports. She offers to service providers, as we do, a low-cost, collaborative environment.

Her visit reminded me of the calls and, increasingly e-mails I have received from throughout the country. You are actually doing this, I am told. Locally, leaders have consulted with us from Kent, Bainbridge and Whidbey Islands, Auburn and recently Issaquah, all looking to provide human services more centrally and more effectively. 

What do we mean when we say human services (let’s make sure we are clear). We are talking about help from doctors, dentists, school counselors, and drug and alcohol experts. We mean help to put food on the table and support to keep the aging and disabled in their own homes. We mean treatment of mental illnesses, parent training and referral to childcare. We mean consultation on learning disabilities and help of all kinds for families.

Yup. We look like a simple strip mall (excuse me: shopping center), but you can find all of these services and much more on our campus serving the Eastside. While we advocate for maintaining and building government support which is so key to maintaining services (and our own capital budget), our day-to-day operations are free of government or United Way funding. We provide an independent means to stabilize services – a safe harbor for agencies, as my visitor remarked.

Share the news:  that simple campus you drive by in Redmond is a model for others both locally and around the county. Celebrate our unique role with us, as we work together to support families in East King County.

Pam Mauk is executive director of Family Resource Center. For information on the Center, call 869-6699.
(For information and referral to community services, call 211.)

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