Forum History

 

The Interagency Forum was the brain child of Trinitius Pickett, Director of Social Services for The Salvation Army, Sister Judith Smits, then Director of the Service Center of Catholic Social Services and Sister Beth Marie Ruder, current Director of the Service Center in Mobile, AL. In the fall of 2006 a Steering Committee was formed.

The Planning Committee worked through 2007 to determine the roles and responsibilities of the social service network in Mobile. In open forum, 30 agencies and more than 60 participants shared information about their agencies and worked together to identify factors that strengthen the social work community including issues that challenge service delivery to consumers.

In mid-2008, Baldwin County social service agencies were invited to join the Forum. Work groups were formed to explore five areas of concern and generate strategies to positively address these focus areas.

The Forum subcommittees continue in their purpose to work collaboratively to improve social services agency effectiveness and provide quality services to their consumers.

Thanks to the courage and vision of three women, we are working and growing together to improve our interagency networking arena.


The Interagency Forum Focus

The Interagency Forum works toward collaborative improvement in five focus areas:

Interagency Collaboration: Working to better improve communication, professional development, and service provision for and across agencies.

Housing: Meeting the needs for affordable housing of the homeless and low income families and individuals in our community.

Transportation: Working with local, state, and federal agencies to improve public transportation for agency clients.

Disabled Citizens: Assuring that disabled clients have full access to the range of social services available to them.

Technology: Bringing Forum agencies into the 21st Century with improved technology.