Study shows need for more study
Guest commentary
Fayette County is rich in history, in agricultural, natural and mineral resources, and in the ethnic diversity of its people. From George Washington to George Marshall, from J. V. Thompson to Bob Eberly and Joe Hardy, we have been blessed with leaders with a powerful vision for a better future. Although, as like in much of the country, the region has endured many economic setbacks, the area has steadily been rebounding for a decade.
However, increasingly larger percentages of our citizens despair that a better future is not in store for them and their families. Why?
A study conducted by the Fayette County Human Service Council indicates that the there are serious repercussions from the county’s high percentage of families living in poverty.
But surprisingly, most of the poor families in the county are those with one or more working adults.
These working poor families are often reluctant or unable to take advantage of the help available at local agencies.
The Human Service Council has formed a partnership with human service workers, health care providers, community leaders and the Fayette County Office of Human and Community Services (OHCS) to address this issue. In 2004, OCHS funded a study the council had developed.
The report from that study was published on the council Web site in October, and the results presented at the county commissioners meeting in December. Results of the study are available on the council Web site: www.fayettehumanservicecouncil.org
The recommendations of that report are:
– Improve affordability and accessibility of health and human services.
– Create an integrated human service system with consumer input.
– Improve and coordinate education, especially adult and higher education.
– Coordinate improvement of health and human services with economic and community development.
The Fayette County Community Health Improvement Partnership (CHIP) has joined the Human Service Council, and both groups are planning a series of meetings later in the spring to implement recommendations from the study.
The first meeting in the series will be a forum of community leaders, to solicit their support and determine their role in implementing the findings.
Additional meetings will be held with professionals, service consumers and the public.
Researchers from Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, are planning follow-ups to the study. Dr. Debra Evans-Rhodes, assistant professor of psychology, and Dr. Jo Jankowski, assistant professor of human development and family studies, are extending the research into specific behaviors of local individuals and organizations providing services.
They will continue the in-depth “ethnographic” interviews that help agencies to understand the views of poor families and gauge their service needs.
They will also expand and extend the results of the survey in the original study. Future plans include conducting an experimental study of providers to investigate their attitudes toward consumers in general, and toward specific subgroups among the poor (e.g., African-American consumers, the elderly and the working poor).
We have seen dramatic changes in the community when the private and public sectors work together.
Physical changes, like the awesome renovation of downtown Uniontown, creation of the beautiful Penn State Eberly Campus, and the long fought for construction of PA 43 show what can be accomplished when we work together.
Now we must launch a similar campaign to address our community’s basic human needs.
The study shows that in order to succeed we need to move forward together to discuss local solutions to a variety of problems, such as affordable health, integrated human services that deal with problems before they become crises, increasing collaboration and resources for education, and greater availability of adult and higher education.
Solving these problems will have tremendous workforce and economic advantages to Fayette County.
Dealing with these problems will require commitment and partnership, with the participation of the business and economic development community and with health and human services community and its consumers: In other words, all of us.
John Rapano is the Program Coordinator of the Human Development and Family Studies Department at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, and a Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the Administration and Leadership Studies in Human Services Program.
He is the chair of the Fayette County Human Service Council, Inc., and serves on several community organizations.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily the reflect the views and opinions of Penn State University or Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.