Thrive Iowa to hold Impact meeting in FM

FORT MADISON - Families needing help in Lee County will soon have new opportunities to find assistance in their own communities.
Iowa Health and Human Services (HHS) recently selected Lee County Health Department as the backbone organization for the Thrive Iowa initiative in Lee, Henry, and Van Buren counties. To introduce community partners to the initiative, a collective impact meetings will be held in Fort Madison on Wednesday, February 11, where community leaders taking part in Thrive Iowa initiative will learn how to help their neighbors in need. Thrive Iowa is a community-led initiative that helps participants overcome crisis using community resources. The initiative is centered on the collective impact model, designed by Arkansas-based Restore Hope, and is focused on strengthening community partners to work together to help families go from crisis to career.
The goal of Thrive Iowa is to coordinate existing services in a community, such as the communities within Lee, Henry and Van Buren counties, so that more individuals and families in crisis are able to become stable and ultimately in a place where they can thrive.
“Collective impact is a structured way for government and community groups to work toward the same outcomes using shared data and measuring outcomes,” said Paul Chapman, Executive Director of Restore Hope.
He added that by collective impact families experience one coordinated system instead of multiple fragmented services that can be difficult to navigate.
Chapman helped start Restore Hope in 2015, as Arkansas was faced with an alarming crisis with young families and a high incarceration rate. Through community affiliation organizations, Arkansas families were able to get the specific help and guidance needed to face their challenges and do so by local grassroots efforts.
Chapman, along with Iowa HHS staff and local community leaders, will be in Fort Madison on Wednesday, February 11, and in both Elkader and West Union on Thursday, February 12, to discuss the power of collective impact to produce positive change.
“When community providers can align their services, they achieve better outcomes, Chapman said. “I hope Iowa sees fewer families stuck in crisis, better outcomes for children, and more efficient use of resources.”
Thrive Iowa is currently helping families in Fayette and Clayton counties, as well as Black Hawk, Lee, Madison, Van Buren, Buena Vista, Warren, Webster, Cass and Henry Counties.
Thrive State Director Page Humphrey said Iowa HHS is expanding the initiative over the next two years across the state.
“Thrive Iowa helps connect families with resources in their communities, but it’s more than resource navigation. It equips communities to work together in a coordinated way to help families in their own community. It’s Iowans helping Iowans.” Humphrey is the Community Services Bureau Chief at the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
“Iowa has strong local leaders and assets,” Chapman said. “Collective impact helps connect those strengths into a unified, measurable approach that moves families from crisis to career.
The collective impact meetings will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 11 and Thursday, Feb. 12 at the following locations:
Wednesday Feb 11:
Fort Madison - 3 p.m.
Lee County Health Department, 5001 Ave. O, Fort Madison, Iowa
Thursday Feb 12:
Elkader - 10:30 a.m.
Public Meeting Room in Clayton County Office Building, 600 Gunder Rd. NE, Elkader, Iowa 52043
West Union - 1 p.m.
Heiserman Room, West Union Community Library, 210 N. Vine St.
West Union, Iowa 52175