ACS: Staying Relevant After 47 Years

By Karen Lubieniecki, STAFF WRITER



They met on Jan. 9, 1963 - four years before there even was a Columbia - 14 concerned Howard County citizens committed to addressing the unmet health, housing, transportation and community services needs of the county's poorest and often invisible citizens.

From those first 14 who met in 1963, the membership of the Association of Community Services (ACS) has grown to about 130 today. Its mission has remained essentially the same: "To provide education, advocacy and networking opportunities to all sectors of the Howard County human services community to advance its capacity and effectiveness."



Human Service Advocate

For ACS, advocating is more than just presenting testimony. It means leadership that involves being a coordinator, collaborator, convener and partner with both government agencies and private organizations in order to ensure the problems facing human services find a solution. Its success can be measured in the fact that ACS has played an important, and often pivotal, role in virtually every important human services initiative in Howard County since its founding.

Noted Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, "ACS and its network of dedicated human service providers have been vital partners in Howard County government's efforts to improve the lives of those most in need."

In 1971, ACS spearheaded a breakthrough seminar that for the first time brought all the stakeholders of the human services community together to begin identifying the county's most critical human service needs. ACS representatives were part of the original taskforce that established the Howard County Community Partnerships in the 1980s. Its efforts helped establish URTA and led to the Community Action Council's call-response program. It was one of the key participants in the development of the county's Human Services Master Plan and is a member of its successor effort: The Board to Promote Self-Sufficiency.

ACS's recent partnership efforts with The Horizon Foundation have led it in an even more proactive direction with creation of the Policy Analysis Center, which is developing critical research about the financial realities facing the county's poor and moderate income citizens. Studies such as the "2008 Self Sufficiency Index" provide solid, statistical background information about the reality of what it takes to sustain a family - including housing, transportation and health care - in today's seemingly affluent Howard County.

Former Howard County Council member, County Executive and now Delegate Elizabeth Bobo noted that information like the Index is critical to helping her make the case in Annapolis that Howard County has a significant vulnerable population and deserves funding assistance.



'Convenor' Role

For nearly 30 years, ACS was a totally volunteer operation. The United Way helped with space and access to support staff, but there were no ongoing paid staff members. Since the first hire in the early 1990s there have been only three executive directors, including Anne Towne, executive director since 2000.

Today, Towne, herself part-time, along with her part-time staff of two, plus consultants, work with a very diverse membership, many still with very small staffs, but others with large, complex operations. These range from private nonprofits, to faith-based and for-profit service groups, to government agencies.

"Not only are we involved in more community partnerships, but our role as a 'convenor' has expanded," she noted, citing the Youth Development Coalition and the Full Spectrum Housing Coalition. "We facilitate and help these groups with problem-solving initiatives. The current economic situation makes this even more vital for many struggling groups."

ACS's efforts to be both a role model and resource to these organizations, while perhaps less visible than its advocacy efforts, are as essential to the success of the human services community. The issues faced by its members are increasingly complex, as Howard County faces an increasingly diverse population, greater service demands and significant budget cuts. Unlike individual agencies, ACS can bring a broad, human services community-wide perspective to problems.



Keeping Current

To meet today's challenges, Towne and the organization have had to adapt, keeping true to the core mission but identifying new ways to achieve its goals. E-mail and web sites have taken the place of fax blasts and expensive mailings. Workshops still cover a variety of management as well as issue areas - but most registration is by EventBrite or on ACS's web site, www.acshoco.org. The organization revamped the latter in 2009 using a program that can be easily managed in-house by its small staff, and along with other members of the human services community is experimenting with Facebook and other social media technologies.

"Helping our members navigate through today's dire economic environment and ongoing budget squeezes while they face rapidly escalating service demands is a critical part of our efforts," said Towne. "It's a challenge to determine the best use our own resources, which have also been affected by the recession, in order to meet our members' urgent needs."



Public Welcome

ACS's free-to-the-public, monthly general meeting provides the community with information on vital issues, from budgets to health care, and includes opportunities to interact with county and state officials. Noted Bobo, who is a frequent attendee, "There hasn't been a meeting where I haven't learned something."

It also offers members and the public affordable workshops. There was a fall fundraising series; a winter series on cultural issues; and this spring will provide a four-part management series that will focus on customers, staff, volunteers and boards.

In addition to the general meeting and workshops, ACS offers its members and their leadership multiple year-round opportunities to network with peers and colleagues and enhance their professional and organizational skills. First Friday networking meetings are just for executive directors, while a "Back-Office Group" explores issues from technology to social media to the potential for sharing services and operations. Through the Gavel Group, a collaborative effort with The Columbia Foundation, board presidents and members have opportunities to solve their pressing oversight issues.

The county served by the original 14 members in 1963 was smaller, with only about 36,000 citizens. Today, Howard County's population has exploded to an estimated 275,000 - a more than 130% increase. It is more diverse, and with the growth of Columbia, less rural and more urban. Though the problems may be more complex and require more expensive solutions, they still revolve around people's core needs: housing, transportation, health, and access to services.

ACS may have changed how it works to meet the needs of its members and its community throughout the years, but the commitment to those most vulnerable that began in 1963 remains constant.