One-Stop Shopping for Social Services.

Hellerman, M. Kasey

The article presents information about the Near West Side Multi-Service Center. The center houses, coordinates, and operates programs aimed at improving living conditions in the Near West Side of Cleveland, Ohio. Within the center are twenty-two independent organizations and agencies offering free assistance in one or more of six specializations: general counseling and referral, emergency assistance, employment and education, rehabilitation of offenders, community development, and home and family services. The center's outstanding achievement can be traced to the coordinated anti-innovative approaches that these organizations take toward the delivery of services. The titles of the twenty-two agencies--indicate the kinds of services they offer. Residents of the community are then able to go to that specific agency that can help with their immediate problem. After this problem is resolved, the agency generally guides the client toward the use of the center's other organizations. However, staff members at the center recognize that many families are so overwhelmed by the burden of poverty that they cannot even recognize what type of social services they need. The Convenience of one-stop shopping for social services is not enough to attract them to the center.

SOCIAL services; ORGANIZATION; GOAL (Psychology); COUNSELING; FAMILY services; HUMAN services; CRIME prevention

Social Work, 1975, Vol 20, Issue 2, p91

0037-8046

Academic Journal

10.1093/sw/20.2.91