Webster County Community Services

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The MI/DD/BI Planning Committee meets the first Thursday of every month. Click here to view the Meeting Agenda

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The Alliance Center for Planning and Coordination

Giving the best services by numerous providers demands careful planning and coordination, to serve the individual needs of people with disabilities.

The Alliance acts as a center to unite people with disabilities, service providers, affected families and others to:

• Gather information on disability needs and services
• Improve existing services, create new services and coordinate all services
• Provide information about services to people with disabilities and their families
• Promote the flow of information among people with disabilities, providers families and others
• Promote broad public knowledge about disabilities and disabilities services.

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Projects the Alliance is planning or has established include the following:

Social/Educational Center

Alliance is working to establish a central location for social and educational activities for people with disabilities.

Crisis/Emergency System

Alliance is planning for a central, quick response system for engaging services and giving counseling for crises and emergencies involving people with disabilities and their families.

Transportation

Alliance is studying the transportation needs of people with disabilities.

Case Management/Social Work Services

Alliance provides professionals to access, coordinate, and monitor services to people with disabilities.

Consumer Advocacy

Alliance sponsors training to enable people with disabilities to advocate for their own needs.

Conferences

Alliance has begun a program of professional and lay training and educational conferences.  The first of these focused on planning care to capitalize on strengths, to meet the individual needs of the person with disability.

Volunteerism

Alliance is recruiting a team of volunteers to help meet the needs of people with disabilities.

Speakers Bureau

Alliance has enlisted a battery of informed speakers to give programs on disabilities at churches, schools, service clubs, and other organizations to better inform the public at large about disabilities and disability services.

Newsletter

Alliance publishes a quarterly newsletter to keep its staff, committees and others informed of its work and to provide information of interest to Alliance members and others.  To view this publication on-line click here.

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The Alliance Portal to Funding

Webster County commits a large portion of its annual budget to fund services for people with disabilities.  The Alliance and the County CPC Administrator process applications for disability services at county expense.  A staff of trained caseworkers assists in that process.

Call or visit the Alliance office to obtain an application.  Staff will assist you in completing it.  If you are not eligible for county funding, staff will refer you to an agency that can help.

If you are eligible, the staff will work with you to determine what services you need.  They will then help you create and carry out a plan specifically tailored for your situation.

The services that are available to meet and individuals specific needs include:

• Employment in the community with assistance of a job coach
• Vocational training services
• Support services to maintain your own home or apartment in the community
• Residential services in a facility
• Mental health services – outpatient counseling, evaluations, medication management, community support, crisis intervention
• Hospitalization of diagnosis and treatment of mental illness with associated legal expenses
• Information on other resources for assistance
• Financial management services
• Socialization opportunities

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Join the Alliance

Volunteers are a vital part of the County’s effort to help people with disabilities.  The Alliance has a place for your special skills and talents.  If you are interested in volunteering in any of the following ways you may call the Alliance office or you may click on the link below, fill out the form and either email it or print it and send it to the Alliance office.

Volunteer Form

Serving on a Committee
       Volunteer
       Transportation
       Crisis/Emergency Response
       Consumer
       Family Support
       Social/Education Center
       Education/Awareness
Volunteering for
       The Alliance Speakers’ Bureau
       Transporting a person with a disability
       Providing Respite Care for a person with a disability
       Being a companion to a person with a disability
       Working with affected families
       Working in the Alliance Office
Receiving Services
Receiving the quarterly newsletter
Support groups

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What is the Webster County Disabilities Alliance?

In 1999, the Webster County Board of Supervisors appointed a committee to advise it on how to provide services to eligible people with disabilities.  The committee was composed of people with disabilities, service providers, members of affected families and officials, under the leadership of the county’s Community Service Administrator.

The advisory committee surveyed the existing services, and identified needed services that were not being provided.

The committee envisioned a system of services provision to people with disabilities, accessible to all regardless of age, disability, and financial status; a system that empowers consumers of services, supports families affected by disability and educates the entire community regarding people with disabilities; and a system in which consumers, providers, and their families would work together to provide the services and support needed by people with disabilities.

The committee articulated three broad goals:

• Give consumers and families equal access to information, services and support
• Improve coordination and communication among consumers and providers
• Strengthen public education to break down barriers faced by people with disabilities and build bridges among consumers, providers, and affected families

The committee identified specific objectives for each goal. The vision, goals, and objectives were approved by the Webster County Board of Supervisors and Webster County’s three-year strategic action plan. Now known as the Webster County Disabilities Alliance, the committee hopes it will become the tool by which consumers, providers and their affected families can bring the County’s strategic plan to fruition.