Partnerships and collaborations are one of the many ways non-profits broaden their reach and help address more of the needs of the underserved communities that they support. Strategic partnerships are a metric that can reflect the overall strength of an agency. It may not be as obvious as looking at financials and other metrics, but partnerships between organizations demonstrate a broader understanding of the needs of a community and how to meet them. Partnerships can be beneficial to both agencies involved and ultimately serve the community more efficiently and effectively. Partnerships exist between both non-profits and corporations and also non-profits and non-profits. Some of the benefits that can be met when engaging in strategic and/or collaborative partnerships are:
Organizations with shared goals and aligned missions and visions can have greater impact in their communities when they work together to alleviate the needs of the community and support its members. One such collaboration is between SOS’s grantees Casa de Salud and Eye Thrive. Together they have found and created a mutually beneficial program that broadens both organizations reach in different ways and effectively better serves the communities they serve.
This partnership allowed Casa de Salud to offer their clients’ children eye exams and glasses in a familiar, trusted environment. Casa de Salud’s clients deal not only with the language and cultural barriers but trust is also a concern, especially for those immigrants who are undocumented This concern often results in avoiding health care altogether. In this partnership the trust that Casa de Salud has established with their clients is leveraged by Eye Thrive and allows them to build credibility with the families and children to better meet their optical needs. This particular population might never have engaged with Eye Thrive due to all of the aforementioned barriers, but because of the partnership, parents were able to book appointments with Eye Thrive through the same reliable bilingual staff at Casa de Salud with whom they had previously established care. Familiar faces were available for interpretation and for navigating parents and children through the appointments. To date the Eye Thrive, Casa de Salud Partnership has distributed glasses to 28 children, and this is only the beginning. Although this is not the only partnership between two of SOS’s grantees, it is a clear example of how partnerships can help broaden the reach of both agencies involved. Even though the creation of relationships between agencies is not central to the mission Of SOS it is undeniable that SOS’s community engagement lends itself to creating the opportunity for connection between grantees which in turn helps to build a stronger interconnected community. |
Do you have ideas about ways to retain our current members or how to engage potential members? Do you like to plan events? You could help out with planning one of our scheduled annual events. Join the SOS Membership Committee All members are welcome to join our Membership Committee meetings. Meetings are virtual and occur on the second Monday of the month from 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. Contact Ally Melvin for Zoom Link information aamelvin1s@gmail.com. |
Last year the Education committee organized three engaging events that introduced topics that are relevant to the St. Louis community: The Power of the Arts, Resettling of Refugees in St. Louis and Housing Inequity. Look for save the dates for this coming year’s education events. They are informative and always present a new perspective on the community in which we live. Here are some further thoughts about the Housing Inequity presentation. Often the topics of discussion are a jumping off point for deeper thought and discussion. What is Intersectionality In his March 8th SOS Education presentation: “Housing Inequities 101”, Beyond Housing’s Executive Director Chris Kreymeyer said
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Christy Potthast |
Here is some good news about Dream Builders 4 Equity. https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/nonprofit-that-rebuilds-north-st-louis-homes-lands-new-hq-from-midwest-bankcentre/article_f60f9b1a-731f-5da7-a3ce-0cef386de3d6.html |
New Member Information SessionDo you have a friend interested in joining SOS? Membership Committee is hosting an SOS Information Session on Thursday August 11th at 11am-11:30am via zoom. Please keep an eye out for the invitation. |
SOS is pleased to announce the 2022-23 Board. |
President - Katy Dowd President Elect/Membership Chair - Ally Melvin Secretary - Joni Karandjeff Treasurer - Becky Courtney Immediate Past President/Nominating - Amy Garrison Education Chair - Nancy Garvey Education Vice-Chair - Pat Crowe Grants Chair - Kathleen Beckmann Grants Vice Chair - Joan Gallagher Impact Chair - Carol Rodriguez Impact Vice-Chair - Nancy Hamilton Marketing and Communication-Chair - Gretta Forrester | Marketing and Communication-Vice Chair - Tasha Borglum Technology Chair & Philanos Liaison - Amy Conard Technology Vice Chair - Cynthia Pilling At-Large - Sarah Woodburn Shawntelle Fisher (Governance) Rose Carnes-Bruce (Governance) Ellen Schapiro (Book Club) Advisory Council Chair/Founder Initial SOS Co-Chair - Shelby Schagrin Founding Initial SOS Co-Chair/Member At-Large - Susan Block |
A special thank you to retiring board members Sharon Abel, Amber Howlett, Elveeta Macon and Gwendolyn Wesley. |
Recently Eye Thrive welcomed SOS members Marcella Stevens, Lee Braff, Kathy Holman, Ann Desai and Marianne Baer …and we are grateful for the volunteer hours they gave. |
Nice article in the Ladue News about SOS. Here is the digital copy https://www.laduenews.com/site/e-edition/ (see page 26-27). Steps for Funders and Giving Circles Who Care About Equity Read this article to find out four ways funders can better support non-profit staff: https://givingcompass.org/partners/giving-circles/how-giving-circles-can-support-equitable-practices-for-nonprofit-staff-we-give-summitCheck out the article that STL Community Foundation posted about SOS on their website https://stlgives.org/sos-milestones/. |
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Recently SOS members met for Lunch at the Boat House and a Tour of Forest Park by the Missouri History Museum with a focus on Women’s Accomplishments in the park. Next summer gathering….. Tour of Central Library Saturday, Aug 6 10:00-11:00am Keep an eye out for invitation. | Pictured Barb DuBois, Marianne Baer, Kathleen Beckmann, Nancy Garvey, Barb Meyer, Beth Ann Riechman. Not Pictured: Chris Schmiz |