Need
As an independent taxing authority, the Children's Services Council
is a unit of government created to plan, coordinate, and fund
services for, and on behalf of, the children of Broward County.
The Coordinating Council of Broward (CCB) is composed of the top
executives of state and county entities from the public and private
sectors, who are responsible for funding a broad array of health,
public safety, education, economic and human services in Broward
County, Florida. In late 1998, The CCB adopted four priorities
and identified Broward County organizations to convene stakeholder
groups to address these issues:
- Jobs, Better Pay and Benefits
- Healthcare Access
- Mobility/Transportation
- Education
Action
A CCB/NSU Community Quality of Life Partnership is being explored
aimed at improving the quality of life for children and families
in Broward County. |
Results
The CCB/NSU partnership provides an opportunity to focus and
align NSU university resources to CCB priority needs: top faculty
aligned to top needs. This total university approach to providing
community solutions not only benefits the community by raising
the quality of life, but benefits the university by increasing
faculty and student exposure to real life issues, increasing funding
opportunities for applied research, grants, and consulting, increasing
faculty expertise in important practice areas, and increasing
NSU graduates’ employment prospects from improved opportunities
to work in the community. Hal Wiggin from CSC presented the Broward
County Children’s Strategic Plan to 40 doctoral students
at the NSU Children, Youth, and Family Summer Institute hoping
to inspire some of them to select dissertations in the priority
need areas.
Building on the Florida Sterling Quality model, Children Services
Council and NSU are also partnering to create and implement a
CSC Quality Improvement Initiative aimed at improving the quality
of children’s programs in Broward County. Using an integrated
systems approach, CSC hopes to implement a Total Quality Management
system throughout the entire children services delivery system,
that will substantially impact the quality of life of children
and families in Broward County. |
