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Enabling individuals to reach their full potential means providing access to the building blocks that sustain well-being: supports like early childhood development and education, preventive health and behavioral health services, affordable housing and transportation, workforce training, services for older Americans, and more.

Human services organizations such as Family & Children’s Place work on a local level, in partnership with government and the philanthropic sector, to provide those supports that enable healthy, equitable communities.

Our impact on the communities we serve is measurable: New families are raising safe, healthy babies with help from our HANDS team. Students are doing better in school and getting the help they need to escape the drugs, violence and poverty that afflict their neighborhoods. Children and families hurt by abuse are overcoming their trauma, working toward recovery.

Despite these tangible impacts, human services community-based organizations (CBOs) like ours are facing challenges and threats to our capacity to do all that’s needed to build strong families and communities and contribute to the economic health of Louisville, Southern Indiana,  and this nation.

A groundbreaking new report commissioned by the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) and drafted by Oliver Wyman and SeaChange Capital Partners has outlined the challenges facing organizations like ours. “A National Imperative: Joining Forces to Strengthen Human Services in America” examines the economic and social impact of CBOs and provides a call-to-action for the human services sector, government, and the philanthropic sector to strengthen and preserve the role of CBOs in the greater human services ecosystem.

As a nonprofit community partner, we work in tandem with public agencies to provide critical assistance that enables people to lead healthier and more productive lives.  We are part of the backbone of a human services ecosystem that touches the lives of an estimated one in five Americans, according to the report. Collectively, the human services sector employs more than three million Americans and generates in excess of $200 billion per year in economic activity nationwide through spending on wages, rent, fuel, and all the other inputs necessary to run organizations and deliver services.

While human services CBOs are providing clear value today, our potential value is much greater than what has been realized so far. Against the backdrop of an increasing need for human services, driven by poverty rates, income inequality, an aging population and the challenge of the opioid epidemic, the financial stability of the human services sector is increasingly tenuous, which will make realizing our transformative potential and contributions to a healthy society and strong economy difficult.

According to the study’s findings, too many CBOs operate under persistent deficits, have few or no financial reserves, and lack access to capital to invest in technology and modern data sharing tools. Addressing these complex and interrelated challenges will require a comprehensive response by human services CBOs, government and the philanthropic sector.

The human services sector must develop its capacity for innovation to deliver increasingly better outcomes, and through improved data sharing and analysis, better deployment of technological strategies, and stronger connections among leaders to share knowledge and solutions. This means adopting more robust finance and financial risk management capabilities and the development of strategic partnerships across the sector that can broaden their strengths and reach.

Public and private funders will also need to recognize the importance of the capacity for innovation, and the need to support that through funding.  Funding should be targeted to outcomes and results rather than outputs or services delivered and financial resources should be allocated for innovative partnership opportunities.

Regulators at all levels should engage with community-based human services organizations in a review and modernization of CBO regulation.

We all have a role to play in working together to ensure that the vital supports we offer across our sector, in partnership with other community organizations, government agencies, and the philanthropic sector, enable all Americans to reach their full potential and contribute toward a healthier and stronger America.

Family & Children’s Place protects Kentuckiana children, families and communities from abuse, neglect and exploitation and, through evidence-based services, helps them heal. The organization has supported families for 135 years and helps more than 6,000 children and family members annually. For more information about Family & Children’s Place, visit www.famchildplace.org or call 502-893-3900.