Church leaders, volunteer emergency-response teams, mental-health groups and agencies assisting victims of domestic abuse were among the more than 30 organizations turning out for the needs-assessment meeting.
Photos courtesy of South Shore Coalition for Mental Health & Aging
An unprecedented gathering of South County nonprofit groups is already bearing fruit, establishing new relationships between groups that could help meet some of the area’s shortfalls in everything from transportation to mental health.
The May 11 meeting at Sun Towers in Sun City Center drew more than 100 attendees representing more than 30 local groups.
Rather than wait on government help to address local needs, the area’s nonprofits are tackling the issues, attempting to uncover what is needed and how existing resources can meet those needs.
Organizers also plan to produce a directory of South County services, a guide that will provide information on everything from housing and transportation to animal care and mental health.
“Everyone says our government should do this and that but it is just not happening,” said Debbie Caneen, newly elected president of the South Shore Coalition for Mental Health & Aging. “We have the ability within our community to care for ourselves.” Caneen’s group is the driving force behind the needs-assessment meeting.
A seating system that saw groups asked to sit at tables designating the services they provide proved enlightening.
An innovative seating system at the meeting brought the area’s shortfalls in services into stark relief. Each nonprofit group was asked to sit at a table that best described the service they offered. This left some tables empty, others full.
Organizers quickly pointed out that drawing any firm conclusions from only the first meeting might be premature but that it was a starting point.
“The hunger and transportation table were empty, so although there are some local groups that cover hunger that were not able to attend,” Caneen said, “it’s still glaringly obvious we need help in those areas,” Caneen said.
“Each participant completed a questionnaire [that] revealed what services they provide and, most important, what service they find missing in our community,” Caneen said.
“The audience was asked to return to discover the results of the day’s event,” she said, “and to come together in a collaborative effort to reduce duplication of services and fill the gaps that exist presently.”
Karen Fredricks, president of Hillsborough County’s National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, and a facilitator for the needs-assessment meeting, described the meeting as a first step taken in what all associated with the event acknowledge will be a long process.
“I am very excited that we have begun the process,” she said, “so even when we finish, every year this is going to be looked at again so it reflects what we have but also what needs we have and how do we as a community address those needs.”
Fredricks said she hoped the nonprofits could find “places where we can collaborate and augment what we are each doing.”
One of the persons attending was Robin Watt, a member of the Sun City Center Emergency Squad. Watt and hundreds of fellow volunteers work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year providing emergency aid.
Watt said the needs-analysis meets a “huge need” and that “It was great to get all the nonprofits together and see what we are missing. Hunger is still an issue. We are also going to need more programs in place to take care of our kids and our seniors. It was very timely.”
As the “front line of community caregiving,” the Emergency Squad sees community need up close, Watt said. “When we go into someone’s home we see how well they are cared for, how well they are taking care of themselves and what kind of help they may need.”
The proposed directory of services will be a boon for the area, said Julian Graham, an associate pastor at the United Methodist Church of Sun City Center who attended the meeting. Graham said he’d also like to see “the people involved in helping other human beings have a better idea of what is available and that the people providing those services will have a better idea of the need.”
With more robust growth expected in South County in coming years, Watt said the Emergency Squad is just one of the local nonprofits that will feel the pinch.
“With the population boom in South County, the Emergency Squad will feel the impact in multiple ways,” she said. “Although Sun City Center is near build-out, the surrounding areas are growing fast. We expect this to place a larger demand on Hillsborough County Fire Rescue and their availability to respond to calls within Sun City Center.
“The domino effect from this means that it will also stretch our resources and availability as well. We have a great need for additional volunteers now, so we know that in the next five years we will need many more in order to continue with the same level of service that we currently provide.”
Deciphering data from questionnaires is the next step. “Then we want to reach out to those organizations that we know were not present,” Caneen said. “Not everyone could attend.”
She said, “This is about the children, families, the adults in our community whose needs are not being met, and what is it we can all do to gather our efforts to make sure those needs are met, not as a handout but as a hand up. It’s a very different approach.”
The next needs-assessment meeting is set for noon, July 16, in the Florida Room at Sun Towers.
To learn more about the South Shore Coalition for Mental Health & Aging, visit mentalhealthandaging.org or call 813-419-4902. For more information on the needs assessment or to participate in the project, email NeedsAssessment2015@gmail.com.
