The Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act of 1996 represented the beginning of a fundamental shift in ideas about how best to help low-income Americans gain greater economic self-sufficiency.
Members of the Alliance for Children and Families and United Neighborhood Centers of America (UNCA) are familiar with changing theories about service and performance. Just as the challenges facing people in members’ communities have become more multifaceted, so have the expectations thrust upon each of our organizations as to how those challenges should be met.
Indeed, all signs point to an ever-increasing expectation for nonprofit human service organizations to further embrace the concept of combining traditional human and social services with efforts to establish economic self-sufficiency.
One of the many ways the Alliance and UNCA support our members is by helping to keep you cognizant of opportunities to expand your programming, reach more constituencies, and strategically position your organization for the future.
It was with these objectives and the changing expectations for nonprofit human service organizations in mind that the Alliance secured licensing rights from Workshop in Business Opportunities (WIBO), New York. The licensing rights allow the Alliance to replicate a 16-week training program, “How to Build a Growing Profitable Business,” throughout the Alliance and UNCA membership networks.
WIBO is a proven program that helps to move people toward economic self-sufficiency by providing them with business and entrepreneurial skills that can translate into small business ownership or a more viable career.
You may have read about the experiences of Alliance member FSW, Bridgeport, Conn., in the last issue of the Alliance for Children & Families Magazine. Nearly 500 people have gone through FSW’s WIBO program since it launched in 1999.
The Alliance’s inspiration for replicating WIBO through the Alliance and UNCA networks comes from more than 10 years of success in replicating the Ways to Work program, another example of how we combine human and social services with economic self-sufficiency.
Ways to Work, a sister company of the Alliance, offers people with challenging credit histories an avenue to greater economic self-sufficiency through small, low-interest loans they can use to purchase cars. The Alliance originally partnered with The McKnight Foundation, which created Ways to Work, and then Bank of America, to expand the program nationally.
Leveraging the Alliance’s network of nonprofit human service providers was attractive to The McKnight Foundation and Bank of America because members would be able to operate a Ways to Work program, as well as provide the social services required for clients to have better chances at success.
Since this expansion, Ways to Work has provided more than 14,000 loans totaling over $40.5 million. In addition, the program has attracted numerous funders to the 80 total local agencies that have implemented the program over the years.
The same philosophy is at the root of our decision to offer Alliance and UNCA members the opportunity to replicate the WIBO program. We dream of the day when WIBO is replicated throughout our network on a scale equivalent to that of Ways to Work.
Like Ways to Work, WIBO has the potential to be a program that helps families move from the edges of
self-sufficiency to a much greater level of economic security. It is an avenue by which Alliance members can not only reach new potential clients, but also offer a new service to current clients, including foster children and parents, individuals leaving incarceration, older adults receiving services, or even staff.
Using examples like WIBO and Ways to Work, which have been successful in moving people to self-sufficiency, it is understandable why the public and public sector are expecting nonprofit human service organizations to move their services in this direction.
In my opinion, the organizations that collectively make up the membership of the Alliance and UNCA are equipped to “move mountains” so to speak—but I may be biased.
As you define and pursue the best course of action for achieving your incredibly valuable missions, the Alliance and UNCA are your partners in changing with the changing times. We look forward to moving mountains with you.
Peter Goldberg is president and CEO of the Alliance and its parent holding company, Families International. In his capacity as president and CEO of Families International, he oversees a thriving group of affiliated organizations, including the Alliance, United Neighborhood Centers of America, FEI Behavioral Health, and Ways to Work. He has been selected by The NonProfit Times as one of the 50 most influential people in the nonprofit sector seven times since 1998. |  |
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