HSPA FACT SHEET

WHO WE ARE... The Planning Alliance is a consortium of public, private and non-profit sectors organized to conduct human services-related planning in Polk County.

• Functions:

To foster dialogue and collaboration between community leaders, consumners, and advocates

To facilitate priority setting and issues identification.

 To assure the collection and dissemination of relevant data for planning.

To align and streamline existing planning efforts.

To foster coordination and information-sharing among funding sources.

To develop and implement appropriate evaluation systems.

To impact public policy by providing guidance on human service priorities to elected officials.

To advocate for programs, funding, and public policy changes to best carry out the mission of the Alliance.

To adopt a results-based framework for decision making, leading to establishing community priorities.

To facilitate the allocation and reallocation of community resources.

• Membership: 30 community constituencies from the government, business, community, health, education and juvenile justice sectors.

WHAT WE'VE DONE... Public input into the creation of the Planning Alliance has been extensive.

• This input began with numerous interviews of community leaders to assess community interest. Groups from each sector were then convened to begin to build consensus on the membership, structure & functions.
• Next, a community-wide facilitated meeting was held to provide an opportunity for over 200 people to give direct input into the key elements of The Alliance. This broad-based group agreed upon the mission and functions (both listed above) as well as the membership and selection process.
• The 20 varied planning groups that were in existence before the Planning Alliance have now been folded into 5 planning clusters: Early Childhood, Youth, Health, Housing/Neighborhoods, and Workforce Development.
• These planning clusters will continue to work together on strategic planning and implementing actions in each of the five areas. Their work will be ongoing.

WHERE WE'RE GOING... The Planning Alliance has now set its priorities to guide strategic decision making.

The Planning Alliance board has identified 3 priorities for the community to focus on in the near future:

• Early Childhood - Improve school readiness; improve maternal & child health; reduce child abuse & neglect.
• Housing - Increase availability of affordable housing for low income residents; improve conditions of housing and public infrastructure in neighborhoods.
• Self-Sufficiency - Empower job-seekers to secure employment; strengthen the connection between temporary economic assistance and preparation for work related self-sufficiency.

The Planning Alliance and community constituencies are now working to establish a business plan for each of these 3 priorities.

HOW WE WORK... Throughout the planning process, the Planning Alliance representatives continue to communicate with their constituencies in each of the priority areas to solicit their input and guidance.

All community groups involved in the Planning Alliance will be given the final plans and asked to specify their specific role in effecting the changes recommended in the plan.