Service providers who convened Tuesday at the Clinton School agreed to collaborate to better serve those affected by community and family violence in the Little Rock area.
The collaboration began after Clinton School students presented findings from a series of interviews they conducted with area organizations through a yearlong project with the non-profit Safe Places.
About 20 individuals representing 11 organizations met Tuesday to prioritize ways to more effectively coordinate services.
Those in attendance discussed how they could collectively target under-served communities, develop regular lines of communication, and improve wrap-around services for individual cases. Several individuals agreed to meet again in order to keep the conversation going. One service provider said collaboration is valuable in fulfilling her goal to better serve victims. Others said it was refreshing to connect with colleagues.
“Violence is an issue that most people don’t care to discuss,” said Jonesboro native Nate Looney, one of the four Clinton School students who facilitated Tuesday’s meeting. “But these service providers are in the trenches daily, empowering the names behind these numbers.”
Local rates of reported violence are on the rise. The number of visits to Safe Places, for example, has increased every year since 2007. In Arkansas, cases of child abuse grew by 17 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to the state’s Department of Human Services. Sexual abuse cases in Arkansas totaled 3,377 in 2009.
The Clinton School students who facilitated Tuesday’s discussion did so as part of a yearlong project with Safe Places. The gathering was the culmination of their study on the feasibility of a coordinated response to violence. The goal of the project was to strengthen the community’s response to violence so that survivors and their families are better served.
In addition to Looney, the student team consists of Acadia Roher, of Little Rock, Ark., Taylor Ballinger of Richmond, Ky., and Erin Stock, of Overland Park, Kan. It is one of eight completing projects across Arkansas in the first year of the Clinton School’s Master of Public Service program.
“It’s amazing to me how these service providers are able to change lives with such limited resources,” Roher said. “I hope other community members have the chance to participate in this important work and support it.”
Representatives from the FBI, Catholic Charities Immigration Services, Pulaski County CASA, the Department of Youth Services, Partners for Inclusive Communities, UAMS Family Treatment Program and the Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape, and Domestic Violence are among those who are part of the collaboration and participated Tuesday.