Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Abigail Neeley, Abigail Patschorke, Emma Ramsey, Emma Pedersen, Ira Hogg
7 April 2024
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Many factors contribute to the problem MIRCI (Mental Illness Recovery Center Inc.) has
in engaging youth experiencing homelessness in the services they offer, there are three that stand
out as the most contributing factors. The first identified factor is that MIRCI has not updated the
locations they visit to do youth outreach and is visiting outdated locations with minimal youths
experiencing homelessness. This leads to their outreach coordinator's struggle to engage with
youth at the current outreach locations, creating a barrier to communicating and engaging
homeless youth in their services. In addition, MIRCI does not have enough communication
between the departments within the organization. This leads to a lack of cohesion within MIRCI
to effectively manage the outreach program and share essential information. Finally, MIRCI does
not collaborate enough with other community organizations in Richland County that work with
their target population. Populations who are at greater risk of experiencing homelessness in their
youth are not being made aware of the services that are available to them when they begin to
Youths, ages 17-22 years old, living in Richland County, are experiencing homelessness
as unaccompanied youth at an increasing rate. There were 1,017 youths recorded as experiencing
outdated definition of homelessness, which does not align with the evolving circumstances of
with the diverse and individualized experiences of current homeless and unaccompanied youth is
Solution Identification
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engaging youth in their supportive housing services. If MIRCI adds additional locations to their
outreach, then they will maximize engagement and service delivery with youth experiencing
departments, then best practices, including relevant outreach locations, will be identified through
expand their intra-organizational collaboration among other organizations engaging with at-risk
youth, then there will be an increase in knowledge of available services among these youth.
Change Approach
Key Participants
among youth, ages 17-22 years, experiencing homelessness in Richland County. MIRCI can be
involved in the change effort by re-evaluating its outreach approach to be more inclusive of the
The change agent system is The Chief Clinical Officer, Julie Miller, and the Director of
Outreach and Benefits, Dianne Miller-Fields. They are responsible for coordination and
leadership in the early stages of the change effort. They will collaborate and present their
intervention proposal to the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ti Barnes, for approval to move on
to implementation.
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The primary beneficiaries are the MIRCI staff we identified in the above systems and the
external partners participating in the collaboration. The secondary beneficiaries include youth
The support system includes several categories of groups. Organizations such as Palmetto
Center, Richland County Public Library, and USC Supportive Housing will support the change
effort through information, guidance, and wisdom regarding our intervention. The United Way
of Midlands, Rainy Day Fund, and the Mckinney-Vento Act are particularly interested in
resolving issues related to youth homelessness. Many other groups work with homeless youth in
Richland County, including Richland County Schools, local universities, shelters (Palmetto
Place, Transitions, Oliver Gospel), the Richland County Public Library, the Richland County
The controlling group is MIRCI’s executive leadership board, the Chief Executive
Office, Julie Ann Avin, the Chief Financial Officer, Susan O’Neal, the Chief Operating Officer,
Ti Barnes, and the Chief Clinical Officer, Julie Miller. MIRCI is the host and implementing
system responsible for the change effort activities. The Outreach Coordinators, Alicia and Anita
Jones, the Director of Outreach and Benefits, Dianne Miller-Fields, the Chief Clinical Officer,
Julie Miller, the Youth Home House Manager, the Outreach Lead, and the youth home staff will
For the primary beneficiaries to achieve the desired benefits, MIRCI’s staff must actively
communicate and collaborate to re-address their outreach mission and objectives to increase the
inter-organizational task force must engage in ongoing collaboration with other community
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agencies targeted toward addressing youth homelessness in Richland County. MIRCI’s staff and
their community partners need to agree to the change. MIRCI’s outreach staff also needs to start
working with youth at-risk of homelessness to increase knowledge of effective outreach practices
The action system includes the Director of Outreach and Benefits, Dianne Miller-Fields,
and the Chief Clinical Officer, Julie Miller since they are responsible for hiring an outreach lead.
The Outreach lead will be the head of the central inter-organizational task group and collaborate
with the other staff and organizations to see the change effort through to completion.
Change Approaches
MIRCI has identified the increase in youth homelessness as a problem in the Midlands,
which would require community-wide, ambitious change efforts to address the problem. There
are multiple steps to achieve change, which can be viewed as a project to avoid overwhelming
the community with the overall plan. Our proposed change effort is one of those steps, leading us
unsheltered does not apply to the experiences and needs of the homeless youth in Richland
County. The client system’s environment will continue to evolve, affecting the population's
needs. This approach allows project adaptations to continue meeting the needs of a changing
environment.
communication and collaboration between MIRCI’s departments and staff, as many of their roles
overlap. However, we have identified a lack of communication between the youth home and
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outreach staff. The current collaborative status between the staff may undermine the proposed
change effort. Adopting a personnel approach with our project approach will ensure a change at
the personnel level to improve the quality of functioning and productivity in outreach efforts to
We are implementing a collaborative strategy since the action system, the Director of
Outreach and Benefits, the Chief Clinical Officer, and our target system, the outreach staff,
effectiveness. There has also been an agreement to allocate resources to support the proposed
change effort. We are utilizing implementation and capacity-building tactics, which include
participation. The activities for the task group will involve members of the client system and
residents in the MIRCI youth home. MIRCI staff will gather information about how they can
better support and reach the client system from the clients themselves.
The goal of this change effort is to maximize MIRCI’s inter and intra-organizational
Richland County.
Objectives
During the first zero to six months, nine staff will develop an inter-organizational task
group as measured by observation of staff participation in task group meetings and events. By
the first month of implementation, one outreach lead will be hired, as documented by
employment documentation. By the end of the second month, one hired outreach lead will attend
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training as documented by mandated training documentation. Between months two and three, the
outreach lead will develop a six-month meeting schedule for the internal task group with broad
During months six through twelve, six external partners will develop the intra-
organizational task group as documented by meeting notes. By month seven, the outreach lead
will develop a six-month meeting schedule, the mission, and broad objectives for the intra-
organizational task group as documented by the task group meeting notes. During months eight
through twelve, MIRCI staff and the six external partners will collaborate toward strategy
Funding, staff, and community partners will be required to implement the proposed
intervention plan. The funding will support the salary of newly hired outreach lead positions and
incentives to give the community partners to participate in the task group. To develop the inter-
organizational task group, nine MIRCI staff members, including the Outreach Lead, Youth
Outreach Coordinator, Outreach Coordinator, Youth Group Home Manager, three youth home
staff, the Chief Clinical Officer, and the Director of Outreach and Benefits, will participate.
task group. The community partners may include DSS, Law Enforcement, Mckinney Vento,
Outcomes
The intervention allows for short-term impacts, supporting more communication and
collaboration among the MIRCI staff and external partners, leading to increased knowledge of
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services available to at-risk youth in the long term. Increased knowledge of effective outreach
practices is another short-term impact, which will lead to the dissemination of effective outreach
services in the long term. If implementation is successful, there will be continuity of expanded
Unpacking the Role of the Organizational Environment,” researchers found multiple benefits of
and goals, excelling in firm innovativeness, and environmental changes (Alexiev et al., 2016).
Relations: Debates and Cases,” authors Sydow, Schüßler, and Müller-Seitz outline why engaging
in these relations matters. At the beginning of the collaboration, clear goals are not yet
established by either party. “Rather, goals are produced in the process of collaboration. Inter-
organizational relationships offer unique opportunities for “making aims” based on the
Study,” authors Le Pennec and Raufflet used a value spectrum to test the significance of inter-
organizational collaboration. One of the values is “synergistic value.” “The value arises from the
underlying premise of all collaboration that combining partners’ resources will enable them to
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accomplish more together than they would have been able to do separately” (Le Pennec &
Raufflet, 2016). The inclusion of new groups and individuals reengaged the social mission of the
collaborating organizations, as well as the learning that occurs in the inter-organizational process
Koehnen writes on the importance of inter and intra-organizational communication. The two-
communication methods such as co-planning, joint programs, and project partners (Koehnen,
2015). “Coordination and active inter-organizational communication does not happen naturally
without some type of facilitation, planning or effort by all of the organizations in the sphere of
these two collaborative techniques benefit the healthcare setting. “Authors point out that
communication makes possible role negotiation and development in cooperation with others, as
well as role clarification and the span of discipline boundaries, and fosters relationships between
communication combines trust, power, and professional roles while balancing power, clarifying
professional roles, and helping those involved to share values (Karam et al., 2017).
and Yu define the use of social media as a connector tool used by shelter providers for inter-
organizational networking purposes (An & Yu, 2024). “The finding implies that specific
organizations hold greater influence due to having more connections, positioning them at the
core of the social media network. By serving as bridges, these organizations facilitate
communication and collaboration between different segments of the social media network,
enabling interaction to flow smoothly from one end to the other” (An & Yu, 2024).
found that services for those experiencing homelessness could be effectively delivered when
collaborating organizations had similar goals. “These effective collaborations often took place
where organizations with parallel goals worked together to manage an excessive demand on their
services or resources. In these cases, there was little competition for clients, and collaborators
were able to work together effectively to distribute strain across the collaboration” (Zimmerman
et al., 2021).
For the inter-organizational outcome objective, the outcome will be measured by using an
attendance log and observation from other members during the task group meetings to determine
if there has been an increase in engagement with the development of the task group. This will
ensure the level of participation from MIRCI staff is accurately assessed, and the recording of
task group meeting data. Using an attendance log and observation from other members during
meetings provides data to track any improvements in engagement resulting from the
intervention. The trends in the data over time will allow for MIRCI to assess if the intervention
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plan has fostered collaboration within the organization and is achieving the objectives within the
plan.
organizations have confirmed participation to determine if the number of external partners has
increased since the implementation of the intervention. This approach allows for measurement of
the internal and external network expansion of coordinated efforts, and overall collaboration with
partner organizations. Tracking the involvement with partner organizations assesses how well
collaboration between MIRCI and other organizations is progressing. The outcome of this data
will provide insight into the intervention plan's effectiveness in strengthening relationships with
We estimate the total budget for the MIRCI Outreach Taskforce is $59,686 per fiscal
year. The key outputs/activities requiring funding are a salary for the Taskforce Outreach Lead,
incentives for community partners, and applicable training workshops (see Appendix B). A
salary will consist of $55,000 per year for the Outreach Lead. Incentives for community partners
will be delivered as recognition events, gift cards, and other forms of appreciation. Incentives
will total out to $4,162.88 annually. An allocation of $524.00 will fund a training symposium for
the Outreach Lead, cover catering, preparation material, and certifications. To view an itemized
References
Alexiev, A. S., Volberda, H. W., & Van den Bosch, F. A. J. (2015). Interorganizational
An, S., & Yu, M. C. (2024). Exploring online coalition building: A longitudinal analysis of
Karam, M., Brault, I., Van Durme, T., & Macq, J. (2017, November 11). Comparing
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020748917302559#sec0070
4c0b-9ba9-ad154acb1cd6/content
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-3012-7
Sydow, J., Schüßler, E., & Müller-Seitz, G. (2016). Managing Inter-organizational Relations.
hl=en&lr=&id=EiVHEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=inter%2Borganizational
%2Bcollaboration
%2B&ots=ol4uaMIShS&sig=Oovq7XqAQWi7Sx2GlV4uqbbn5Xk#v=onepage&q&f=fals
Zimmerman, T., Slota, S., Fleischman, K. R., Greenberg, S., Snow, J., & Rodriguez, S. (2021).
the Value of Interorganizational Cooperation for Data Sharing. TMS Proceedings 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1037/tms0000117
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Appendices
3. MIRCI does not have enough This leads to certain populations who are at
collaboration between community risk of experiencing homelessness later, not
organizations working with the target being aware of the services when they begin
population. to experience homelessness.
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Outputs
Outcomes -- Impact
Inputs
Community
partners
Develop attend task
intraorganizati group
onal task meetings.
group
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Salary
Outreach Lead $55,000.00
$55,000.00 Total
Training
Outreach Lead Training
Symposium
$524.00 Total
Incentives for
Community Partners
Gift Card Lotteries
$2,500.00 Total
Recognition Events
$1,662.88 Total
Total