Rural Collaborative Creates Cohesive Network Despite Distances

It's not an easy task to serve the needs of rural communities spread out over broad stretches of land. The Northwest Minnesota Council of Collaboratives evolved in 2002 as a result of the initial work of Children's Mental Health and Family Service Collaboratives in the mid-1990s. The purpose of the Collaborative is to ensure that the needs of residents in the remote northwest corner of the state can be best addressed in a coordinated, seamless system of care. Over the years the collaborative has grown and now serves 19 school districts, 18 service providers and five county collaboratives throughout five counties covering 14,000 square miles in this rural part of Minnesota. It consists of representatives from schools, public health, social services, mental health, corrections, law enforcement, county governments and community based organizations. In 2002, one of the goals of the Collaborative was to effectively implement a SS/HS (Stephen-Argyle) grant in 11 of its school districts. The Collaborative keeps the grant implementation rolling along despite the great distances between each school. They do this with determination to be efficient, be inclusionary, and be visionary.

The Collaborative creates the utmost efficiency by holding monthly meetings in a geographically central location with members traveling more than two hours to attend, in some cases. In addition, the Collaborative utilizes the internet fully. Their Web sites (www.councilofcollaboratives.org and www.nwmnconnections.org) act as information warehouses for collaborative members, parents, professionals, and community members.

The Collaborative has grown to encompass over 41 partners coming from all corners of the community. By including a wide range of service providers, the Collaborative is able to make large distances appear to be much smaller by streamlining activities and coordinating efforts. This strong sense of community enables members to band together during hard times and know that they can rely on each other to share the work that needs to be done.

The vision of Northwest Minnesota Council of Collaboratives encompasses not only the immediate goals of the SS/HS grant, but also the long-range goal of continued connectedness and a dedication to a system of care approach to service provision.

In today's environment, creating a collaborative is a means of self-preservation and efficacy. It is far more difficult to stand-alone to create change. By working together, to share challenges and to celebrate accomplishments, the Northwest Minnesota Council of Collaboratives are able to improve their systems, increase capacity and engage each other in ways that best meet the needs of the communities they serve.

Melissa and Colleen offer the following advice for grantees in rural, suburban, exurban or urban settings:

• The SS/HS grant program can be a platform to build a long-lasting collaborative model, no matter the geographic distance between school districts.
• Utilize resource mapping to determine where individual resources are and how they may be accessed. Not only does this increase overall access to services, it increases their quality. Resource mapping also improves the ability to serve residents and improves communication between service providers in effect creating a wrap-around model of care.
• Ensure that CEOs and Superintendents are active partners in the collaborative from the outset. Start with people who can create change and make decisions.