Creating a Social Program

Creating a Creating a Social Program Axia College HSM 240 It takes the collaboration of many different agencies and organizations to ensure that all U. S. citizens enjoy healthy and fruitful lives. Through these planned, ongoing collaborative efforts, available resources can be maximized to provide the greatest benefit and support for all of our communities. Disaster programs are particularly important in bringing stability back to families and allowing the affected communities to continue to thrive after the chaos of the initial trauma.

The phrase ‘it takes a community to raise a child’ has been used to indicate that we all have to work together to raise productive, healthy children. The same proves true for our country as a whole. Every day personal and community crises happen that require help from the larger community to overcome. The provision of basic needs, such as shelter, food and medical care, during natural and economic disasters is essential to families being able to regain their stability.

Among the human services agencies that offer assistance during disaster are the American Red Cross, the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections (NRCPFC) and the Salvation Army of the U. S. A. These are all good models to review when designing a new human services organization that will be geared toward effective, nationwide disaster relief services. Those affected by disasters will often need help for a prolonged period of time. Disaster relief programs have to be able to provide adequate assistance and know ahead of time what services they can provide and how they will work in concert with other agencies.

They have to define just what they wish to accomplish in a situation and for how long they can provide relief. Temporary shelters have to be provided immediately. These shelters either have to have a long life or have to be replaced by interim shelter once the area has been stabilized, as it will take a considerable amount of time to repair or replace all of the permanent shelters damaged or lost during a disaster. Families without insurance may be displaced for a longer time than those who have insurance in place. If those without insurance cannot find adequate compensation or grant funding, then they may face homelessness.

Families, especially those with young children, are at great risk of permanent displacement from a disaster. Responding agencies must have the means to decide when and where to intervene so that those without resources are helped as soon as possible. This assistance must take the form of both material goods and counseling for mental health. Our organization wishes to emulate the services that the Salvation Army provides. This includes the collection and distribution of donated cleaning and repair supplies to assist families in returning to their homes as soon as possible.

Coordination of services among government and private agencies allows for temporary relocation into existing structures that are sound. Each of the response teams that come to offer aid during U. S. disasters have a protocol that they follow regarding who is the first responder and how each team member will work with the other agencies involved. Our efforts will be geared toward assisting families to return to permanent shelter within one month. The reality of meeting this goal will depend, in large part, on the extent of the disaster. In extreme cases, all local resources are lost.

This loss results in all families within the affected area lacking the means to fed, clothe and house their family members. They may not have sufficient funds available to recover from this disaster on their own. These families can benefit from nationwide assistance in the event of such an extreme disaster. The volunteers and organization members benefit as well, because they can take a sense of satisfaction away from helping those in need. Those who lose family members or who are injured while providing assistance or have a permanent injury or mental illness as a result of the disaster suffer the greatest long term effects.

The responders put themselves at risk by coming to the aid of others. Their commitment to the situation is part of their reward. Our mission in this new organization is to provide services to assist families who suffer the effects of natural disasters. These services will include medical services, temporary shelter, water, food and counseling to all families in need. We will work with other responding agencies to provide clean up and expect to remain on site until such time as the area becomes self- sustaining. We will bring in food kitchens and provide prepared meals both at these stations and in a meals-on-wheels service.

We will also provide potable water and emergency contact services. Management of donations both at the collections and distribution levels will have to be a part of the organizations services. This management includes supplies for medical care and clean up and will involve securing a warehouse site in conjunction with other providers. Blood drives will have to be arranged. Financial assistance for those left destitute will also be required. Shelter, baby supplies and free day care are essential components of service provision so that parents can return to gainful employment as soon as possible.

With regards to organization budgeting, staff will be comprised of both paid staff and volunteers. Both groups will require adequate and appropriate training. Funding for this staff and training will be estimated for a paid staff of 20 individuals at an average $8 an hour wage for a minimum of 40 hours per week. Without allowing for overtime, as staff would be rotated to prevent overexertion, the total annual budget for staffing would be $307,200. No allowance is made for cleaning supplies and repair equipment as these are to be raised through in-kind donation of goods.

Estimate is made of 500 families in need of baby supplies at $20 per person for this equipment comes to an estimate for this item of $10,000. Travel costs for staff and movement of equipment to the site is estimated at $40,000 for a vehicle, and gas up to $500. Shelter is to be provided in coordination with local agencies on site to lower the overall cost. Donation warehousing and business site location is estimated at $200,000 per year. $25,000 per family will be garnered for each family that does not have adequate insurance to help them recover. At 500 families, this benefit would cost $12,500,000.

This insurance benefit would be held in a revolving loan program that would help individuals in future disasters. These line items total a budget of $13,057,700. Ongoing donations and grants will be sought to fund the program. All donations and grants would be managed in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and filings made in compliance with all state, local and federal regulations. These filings include the annual, publically available, federal IRS form 990. If the organization failed to survive, grants and donations that remain would be requested to fund another organization of the same type.

These filings and gift management tools are part of the control that the IRS mandates for enforcement of executive compensation monitoring (Wikipedia). Our organization wishes to staff the program with individuals whose personal principles have a strong faith-based component. This aspect of the organization will be disclosed in all grant and donation requests. The intent is that these individuals will help maintain an unbiased provision of services to all in need. All employees will be held to a code of ethics for management of funds and provision of services on a non-discriminatory basis.

Our organization resembles the Salvation Army because their model has proved to be so effective in providing excellent, quality services and immediate response to all those who have been in need in disasters here in the U. S. Their approach as an organization that adheres to the most basic Christian principles of service to others makes them serve with a deeper sense of obligation. They have provided services to many Americans, well beyond their disaster relief program services. The Salvation Army showcases their disaster relief program on their website. They provide services to all families in the U. S. who have disaster related needs.

They clearly explain their goals and the objectives they will use to meet them. Their goals are to provide material and emotional support to all those in need in disaster areas. Their objectives include provision of potable water, prepared meals, shelter, medical care, emergency contact equipment and emotional and spiritual counseling support. They aim to provide the most basic needs, such as water, immediately, to the entire community. They intend to intervene when local agencies resources are inadequate to respond to the situation, such as when there are airborne contaminants affecting the local water supply.

Their programs are designed to deliver those goods that meet human needs for emergency services and shelter. The Salvation Army does not build permanent shelters, but will provide temporary shelter or assist in running shelters in permanent buildings, such as schools and community centers, when these buildings are being offered for disaster services by local authorities. They may provide trained personnel in these instances to assist in the management of these shelters. They also provide services for clean up and for restoration in emergency situations.

In these cases, they distribute tools and equipment to facilitate clean up, such as mops and brooms, shovels, detergents and tarps. They will also coordinate their own volunteers as well as spontaneous volunteers who respond during the disaster relief efforts. Their restoration efforts may include storage and access to building materials that have been provided as donations, such as sheet rock and other building supplies. The Salvation Army also administers donations. They are one of the leading recipients of donations nationwide.

These administrative services include the collection, sorting and distribution of donations. They can warehouse materials and goods and provide distribution points for these items. They do an excellent job of clearly defining their goals and the objectives that they undertake to meet these goals for their disaster relief programs. The goals are more overreaching, while the objectives break down the smaller tasks necessary to accomplish those goals. For instance, the goals use the terms ‘spiritual comfort, emotional support, material and physical needs’. The objectives are necessary to clarify how these goals will be met.

The objectives clearly state who is eligible for help, who will provide the services, how the services will be provided, when they will be provided, where programs will be carried out and why these services are being provided. Disaster relief is a short term enterprise. These services provide necessary food, shelter, comfort and care for families to help them survive the disaster. Counseling is provided during this time as well. This counseling includes provision of information on relief and grant funding that can help a family to regain it balance after the disaster, including information on how to rebuild their homes and their lives.

Long term planning and funding is not available through the Salvation Army. It is not part of their mission. The Salvation Army deals with manifest goals that give disaster victims access to food, water, clothing, baby supplies, emergency communications and so forth. These goals do not meet any latent, long term planning objectives. They are not designed to do so. In my opinion, the Salvation Army is doing a very good job of meeting their stated goals. They command an excellent reputation for honesty and performance for a non-profit organization.

They follow their religious principles by providing care for all disaster victims without discrimination. Examples of the wide variety of disasters to which they have responded include the bridge collapse in Minnesota, the Southern California wildfires, the Virginia Tech shootings, and floods in the Midwest (2009). We are very fortunate that they have also received ongoing federal and state assistance to carry out these programs, since they use these funds effectively and help large numbers of people. I would like to see this funding continue, since it is in the best interest of U. S. axpayers to have these quality services available immediately after every disaster. I would like our newly designed organization to become as effective as the Salvation Army is in providing support to all disaster victims here in the U. S. References American Red Cross. copyright 2009. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 . https://www. redcross. org/ National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections . Retrieved on September 10, 2010https://www. hunter. cuny. edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/disaster_relief. html#trauma Salvation Army, Copyright 2000 to 2009, Retrieved on September 10, 2010. www. salvationarmyusa. org ----------------------- 1

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