Numbers show TotalChild is making a difference

We all enjoy stories that have happy endings. When those stories include children and families in our community who are experiencing challenges, but overcoming obstacles and achieving success - we feel hopeful. Those anecdotal stories help us wrap our heads around the difficulties of life and the importance of resiliency and community support.

But it is also important to consider data trends, over the years, that help us realize if our efforts are making a difference. I'd like to share some of those trends, involving our children and neighborhoods.

Children: In 2011, Four Oaks began the TotalChild approach to work with Linn County children and their families around complex issues involving mental health, poverty and crime. TotalChild is a comprehensive, collaborative model - with an ambitious goal to enroll 1400 Linn County children and help their families become stable in all areas of their life, including basic needs, education, employment and family supports.

As of the end of December 2015, 932 children and their families have been enrolled in TotalChild. Of those enrolled for a year, over 90 percent have reached stability in all areas of their life. Furthermore, TotalChild is also following over 500 of those enrolled families until the child reaches age 18, and we are able to confirm over 90 percent of those tracked are maintaining stability. To date, 44 TotalChild youth have successfully reached age 18. The most promising part of this whole approach is that these young adults are on the path to be part of the workforce in our community - at the very time when companies are experiencing significant employee recruitment and retention gaps.

Neighborhoods: Some of that work focuses on children and families who live in Wellington Heights, one of the core neighborhoods in Cedar Rapids. Starting in 2012, Four Oaks has been partnering with the Wellington Heights Neighborhood Association, Jane Boyd, the Affordable Housing Network, Inc. (AHNI) and other community partners, such as the Cedar Rapids Police Department, to address additional obstacles that prevent a neighborhood from thriving and growing.

The goal has been to improve 100 properties in the neighborhood, to reduce density and crime and increase homeownership and neighborhood stability. To date, 91 properties have been acquired for rehab and remodel, and 70 have been completed. In addition, 5 new homes have been built by Skogman Homes in Wellington Heights, and AHNI has been partnering with Habitat for Humanity on 38 homes to improve exteriors in the Brush with Kindness program. These results directly correspond to a 30 percent reduction in density, and the multiyear reduction in crime - as depicted by the Cedar Rapids Police Department's recently listed crime statistics for five Cedar Rapids neighborhoods.

These results are possible because neighborhoods, public and private agencies, schools and the business community have worked together to support all our children and families. And while this work will continue, with your help, for years to come - enough progress has been made in the past 5 years, that it's time to identify additional opportunities to make our children, families, neighborhoods and community even stronger. We are grateful for these positive trends and, as a result, more hopeful for even greater gains in the years ahead.

' Anne Gruenewald is president and CEO of Four Oaks. Comments: agruenewald@fouroaks.org