25 Jan Community Coalition to launch new resource page
The database will be a constantly updated resource for searching for specific needs.
The McPherson County Community Coalition, established in the hopes of bringing community leaders together to identify community issues, is nearing completion of a project that can simplify how those can find resources in McPherson County.
The website, labeled McPherson County Resources, will be an interactive database of community contacts covering areas such as childcare, disability services, mental health, etc. This database of contacts will be updated regularly as information changes or new organizations are created.
The idea for the page has been about a year in the making for the coalition, with Kristi Martin of McPherson County Health, Jackie Gilby of ESSDACK and Andrea Amann of CKF serving as leads on the project.
Funding for the project was provided from the Community ‘Dream’ Fund administered by the McPherson County Community Foundation (MCCF).
“It’s about removing barriers and empowering our community.” Betsy Davis, Director of Community Services at MCCF said, “Now, the resources of our community can be found all in one place and make the process of looking for help one step easier.”
A list of experts in certain subjects along with their contacts will be listed on the site.
“In my experience living in poverty the majority of my life, and finding myself in sticky situations, I have found myself using the resource list that the community provides throughout town. These are rarely updated, nor has a relationship been built between the resources and everyone that is sharing them. We just all want to help even if we can’t do it ourselves.” Jackie Gilby, Para-Educator for ESSDACK said, “Most of these lists are dead ends, and that is discouraging. Especially to someone in survival mode who just doesn’t have the capacity to find a whole bunch of “no”. We need more, “let me show you.” While also realizing that we live in a society of privacy, and these things aren’t fun to tell everyone while getting nowhere.”
The hope for the page is that it can continue to grow, but at launch the webpage will have the contact information of over 200 organizations/services that operate in McPherson County.
The site is now live and can be found at: https://www.mcphersonresources.com/