Patch Approach
A Neighborhood,
a Center, and Families
"The Brownstone" is a three-story brick walk-up on the corner
of 1st Avenue N.E. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It sits on a tree-lined street
on the edge of an urban commercial district. The Brownstone, a Family
Resource Center named by a site council composed of family members and
community representatives, houses the first of a series of Patch teams
which are changing the way children and families know and use the service
system in Cedar Rapids. Through the Patch approach, the Brownstone has
become a place to access an array of family and children services on the
near east side of Cedar Rapids. The atmosphere at the Brownstone is comfortable,
friendly, busy. It's a place to plan and to do things with other families
and neighbors; a potluck supper, a bicycle safety class, or a clothes
closet, to name a few. People walking in off the street gather information
on community services and events. A "skills exchange" lets people
share talents such as carpentry, auto repair, or sewing. Families take
some stress out of their day at the Brownstone's "family center."
There they can use emergency laundry facilities, make a phone call, grab
a loaf of bread from the free bread pantry, or just sit and talk for a
while.
Changing Services to Families
The Patch approach at the Brownstone demonstrates the best kind of service
center emerging from a national interest in transforming children and
family services. It's putting services into the neighborhood, replacing
the lengthy trip to a central office downtown with a short one to a familiar
place with familiar faces. It's mixing services with family support--
recognizing that for services to work they must be offered in a community
setting that can sustain a family's progress. The Patch approach goes
further, bringing public child welfare, income maintenance, and health
services into a family support environment. Through the Patch approach,
services emphasize participation and empowerment, not simply the transfer
of resources.
Patch Means Neighborhood
The Patch in Cedar Rapids is a neighborhood with about 10,000 residents.
The Patch approach spreading across Linn County is a community-centered
practice model initiating dramatic change in social services and community
development. Going Patch describes the process of creating interagency
teams of community residents, advocates, professionals, volunteers and
others in combinations as diverse as their neighborhoods. They work in
those neighborhoods in a vital and innovative way. By establishing a Patch
team in a local neighborhood, the Patch approach decentralizes services
while making them more comprehensive, more accessible, and less fragmented.
The Patch team services a specific geographical area and provides a shared
neighborhood entry point for a wide array of services, supports, and opportunities
to contribute to the neighborhood. The Patch team has a strong orientation
to the local neighborhood and involves residents of the neighborhood in
planning and providing services.
Goals of the Patch Approach
The goals of the Patch approach operate at the level of the family, the
neighborhood, and service system. These goals include; Identify family
strengths and needs early, Strengthen family's neighborhood social support
network, Discover and create neighborhood assets and resources, Build
partnerships with families, neighborhood groups, businesses, and service
organizations, Provide neighborhood access to necessary services, Coordinate
services with informal supports and developmental activities, Locate service
gaps and plan comprehensive services, Develop policy that supports a neighborhood-based
service system, Increase satisfaction with the service system,
Looking Back
The terms Patch, the Patch approach, and going Patch derive from the project's
past. The Patch approach originated in Great Britain, in response to reports
dating to 1968, which found social services to be too bureaucratic, too
specialized, and too fragmented. In the 1980's, going Patch gained momentum
as line workers and managers looked for ways to promote reform and respond
to budget cuts.
The Patch project was seeded in Cedar Rapids in 1991 through an innovations
transfer project sponsored by Linn County. The University of Iowa, and
the U.S. Administration for Children and Families. It developed through
Linn County Decategorization. "Decat". legislated by the State
of Iowa, pools social service funds and uses them in flexible ways to
meet the needs of families in new and resourceful ways. Through these
origins, the Patch approach continues to grow in Linn County.
Making the Patch Approach Work
Making the Patch approach work is the achievement of many people-- from
neighborhood parents who watch children walk home from school, to high-ranking
administrators with the skills to translate a vision into policy, to front-line
staff accepting the challenge of a new form of practice. These people,
among many others, discover that the Patch approach is not a new agency
or program, but a Change Process, depending on a commitment to building
partnerships and changing relationships at all levels of the service system.
Community Centered Practice
Working as a team in the neighborhood has positive effects on workers'
practice. Team members develop their own distinctive Patch approach. Team
members develop a rich base of information about the neighborhood and
the people who live there. The team joins with families when "a little
bit of help" can make the difference in a family's support system.
It takes a creative approach to developing local resources and informal
neighborhood supports. And it advocates for families within the system.
The team experiences the fact that their relationships with other team
members, with neighborhood residents, and with the broader human service
community enhance their ability to achieve improved outcomes with families.
The Future of Patch
Patch has grown. It has become a key ingredient in the progress of systems
change in Cedar Rapids. In the early 1993 a group of service providers
gathered to form the Family Resource Development Association (FRDA) in
Linn County. The FRDA is a broadly based collaborative intended to act
as a planning/governance entity for a series of Family Resource Centers.
The Patch approach, through its team structure, community centered practice,
and its vision of partnership within communities, was a key to establishing
the Centers. Now Patch teams will be developed in four Family Resource
Centers in other neighborhoods in Cedar Rapids and north Linn County.
Each team, and the activities of each Center, will be tailored to the
neighborhood through the work of its Neighborhood Site Council.
Patch continues to attract national attention. Patch, and Linn County
Decategorization, have been selected as finalists by the Innovations in
American Government program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
University and the Ford Foundation.
Creating the Team
The team is the heart of the Patch approach. A Patch team is diverse.
At the Brownstone, the Patch team includes: Child Protective Service Investigators
and Assessors, Income Maintenance Workers, A representative of Harambee
House, a community program associated with Jane Boyd Community House,
A homemaker from the Linn County Home Health, A juvenile court officer,
A nurse from the Linn County Health Department, Family support workers,
Americorps workers, A domestic violence advocate from the Domestic Violence
Program at the YWCA, Student interns from area colleges, The Patch team
adapts to its circumstances. The team changes as it negotiates an evolving
policy and program environment, as it develops a deepening understanding
of neighborhood assets and needs, and as it reflects the increased resourcefulness
of its members. This creates the opportunity to adapt the Patch approach.
Patch teams might include: Team coordinators, Supervisors from agencies
serving the neighborhood, Head Start Teachers and Aides, Family Development
Workers, Neighborhood residents, Child care workers, Community law enforcement
officers, vHousing inspectors, Business people, Community artists, Teachers.
The team works by including diverse participants capable of making positive
contributions to their community. In addition to refocusing traditional
social services within the neighborhood, the Patch team responds to other
concerns of families. The availability of housing, skills and materials
for household maintenance, resources for effective parenting under stressful
conditions, and emergency assistance all challenge the team to discover
and develop resources. The team also works with residents to develop activities
that families want in their neighborhood. Classes such as Tae Kwon Do
or cooking, peer support groups, or summer recreation programs are just
a few of the activities the Patch team may initiate.
Other Patch Articles:
- Patch Named Finalist in 1996 Innovations Awards Program
- Unruly Process of Systems Change: How the Patch Approach is Leading
Reform by John Zalenski
For more information on patch consultation, please contact:
Brad Richardson
Associate Research Scientist (319) 335-4924
