The Story County Community Partnership for Thriving Families is the CPPC (Community Partnership for Protecting Children) initiative in Story County. The CPPC approach aims to keep children safe from abuse and neglect and to support families. This approach recognizes that keeping children safe is everybody's business and that community members must be offered opportunities to help vulnerable families and shape the services and supports provided.
There are four strategic pathways for Community Partnerships in Iowa: Neighborhood Networking, Policy and Practice Change, Individualized Course of Action/Family Team Meetings, and Shared Decision Making. Listed below are examples of activities implemented in Story County to address these strategic pathways.
Neighborhood Networking:
We provide communities with funding and support to plan activities and programs to prevent and reduce child abuse. For example:
1) Provide funding assistance to agencies to provide goods for at-risk families: winter clothing, smoke detectors, car seats, etc.
2) Provide opportunities for children to attend summer day camps on scholarship.
Policy and Practice Change:
We strive to change policy to make it easier for families and communities to work together. For example:
1) Write letters to Story County legislators to advocate for children and families, and participate in day on the hill activities.
2) Provide CPPC 101’s (i.e., introductory training on CPPC) to others in the community.
3) Support efforts to advance professional development of local providers.
Individualize Course of Action/Family Team Meetings:
We provide support for trained facilitators to conduct family team meetings (FTMs) to strength a family's informal supports and goals.
1) Funding support for expenses necessary to conduct family team meetings.
2) Assist in providing space for family team meetings.
Shared Decision Making:
Members of our committee gather together to share in the decision making process, and cultivating a “community” support system for protecting our children.
1) Assessing services in the area, needs and strengths of the community, and gaps in services.
2) Working collaboratively with community stakeholders (e.g., Story County Childhood Collaboration, Story County Empowerment, Story County Decategorization) to plan for and address the needs of children and families.
Membership: Membership is open to anyone who have an interest in the mission of the Community Partnership for Thriving Families. Contact Belinda Meis (
belinda.meis@lsiowa.org) for more information about the Story County Community Partnership for Thriving Families and how you can become involved. For more information on the statewide CPPC intitiative:
http://www.dhs.iowa.gov/cppc/.
Meetings: The Community Partnership for Thriving Families (CPTF) meetings are held on the second Thursday of the month at 10:30 a.m.
