COE professor provides inspiration for Children's Alliance
Most teachers are familiar with the children’s book “Stone Soup,” in which a hungry but wily traveler boils a rock in a pot of water – and convinces villagers to contribute enough additional ingredients to make a real meal.
COE Professor Elizabeth “Buffy” Bondy knows how it feels to be the stone in the soup.
Last November, Bondy was feted at a banquet in Gainesville, where the Alachua County Partnership for Strong Families presented her with the first annual Vision Award for her efforts on behalf of the welfare of children. But, despite initial appearances, the banquet wasn’t really about her.
You see, Bondy, who has a long history of support for local child-welfare initiatives, has been clamoring for years for the creation of an Alachua County Children’s Alliance – an umbrella organization that would coordinate the efforts of child welfare agencies throughout the area.
“Coordinating efforts” may sound a little vague, but Bondy says there’s more at stake than a bunch of boxes on an organizational chart.
“You don’t have to work with local child-welfare organizations for very long to see that there is some duplication of services, and some areas in which no agency is providing services,” Bondy said. “I don’t think anyone knows the extent of the gaps and duplications yet, but it’s clear that they’re there.”
No single organization is to blame for those gaps, Bondy said.
“When you have lots of worthy organizations and very little grant money, this is what happens,” she said. “Organizations compete for funding, but because no one sees the big picture, the needs of children can fall through the cracks.”
Many other counties and metropolitan areas have formed “children’s alliance” organizations to overcome similar problems. There’s even a National Alliance for Children and Families devoted to coordinating the efforts of child-welfare organizations nationwide.
To find a good example of the benefits of a children’s alliance, Gainesville residents need only look a few miles south. Since it was formed in 2000, the Marion County Children’s Alliance has grown into an organization that handles more than $800,000 in annual grant money. The group has filled gaps in local child services by starting a series of afterschool programs and initiatives to stop bullying in schools and violence in the home. It maintains a county-wide listserv that connects businesses with surplus equipment with charities in need of computers, furniture and other items.
More important, perhaps, is the role the Alliance plays in state politics. Every year, the group drafts a legislative wish list to let lawmakers know which programs need to be funded to provide needed services for children.
“The legislators prefer to work with a single organization whose only interest is the welfare of children,” said Mike Jordan, the retired physician who serves as director of the Alliance. “Because all the agencies in the area speak with one voice, they have more credibility – and they get more funding.”
That’s why Bondy campaigned for years for the creation of an Alachua County Children’s Alliance. A breakthrough finally came last year, when a representative from the Alachua County Partnership for Strong Families, or PFSF, attended a meeting at which a Children’s Alliance was discussed. (PFSF is a child welfare agency created to meet the demand of a 1998 law requiring the Department of Children and Families to privatize all child welfare services except protective investigations.)
The PFSF representative liked Alliance idea so much, she pursued and received a small grant to fund the creation of an Alliance. They used the money to fund the November banquet where Bondy received the Vision Award. In addition to honoring Bondy and other local activists involved in children’s issues, the event was designed to get local political and business leaders together, and get them talking about a children’s alliance.
The plan worked. The Alachua County Children’s Alliance is now a reality, with a number of local power players– including UF education graduate Sheriff Sadie Darnell (M.Ed. ‘01) and local businessman/philanthropist and P.K. Yonge alumnus Jim Stringfellow – on its board of directors. COE’s own Don Pemberton, director of the Lastinger Center, is also on the board, which holds its first meeting Jan. 17.
Bondy remains humble about her own role in the creation of the new organization, but is excited about the potential of the Alliance.
“We can serve children a lot better if we work together,” she said.
