The Lincoln Housing Authority, through the Family Resource Center has adopted a pro-active approach to family support issues and to increasing awareness and access to services. By building a Family Resource Center and developing its programs, the Housing Authority has committed to strengthen family structure through outreach, education, support, counseling and child care.

The Carol M. Yoakum Family Resource Center opened its doors in April 1995 with a purpose of providing child care and family support services to residents of the Arnold Heights neighborhood and surrounding communities. The center is located on the north edge of the Arnold Heights neighborhood of Lincoln, Nebraska. The neighborhood encompasses over 1,000 units of housing. It is geographically isolated from the rest of the city and has no easy access to human service programs. The Housing Authority owns approximately 50 percent of the housing in the area including public housing, Section 8 New Construction, and market-rate units. The one-story Family Resource Center has over 6,600 square feet. The center provides space for a child care center, resource library, meeting rooms, offices and health clinic examination rooms. The child care center is licensed for 50 children full-time, plus an additional 35 children on a limited basis.

The building of the Family Resource Center represents a major commitment to the neighborhood by the Lincoln Housing Authority. From the early stages, however, the Family Resource Center has been planned and operated in collaboration with other agencies. Collaboration can easily become just another buzzword. In operating this Family Resource Center, however, collaboration has significant meaning. It is more than simply sharing knowledge and information and more then just a relationship that helps each member agency achieve its own goals. It is more than just planning together; it is implementing those plans together in an ongoing program. The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation defines collaboration as "a mutually beneficial and well-defined relationship entered into by two or more organizations to achieve results they are more likely to achieve together then alone." The Family Resource Center has become a textbook example of collaboration at many important levels --- collaboration in planning, grant writing, program implementation, and case coordination.

The local neighborhood association is an important part of the Family Resource Center. The Family Resource Center publishes a bi-monthly newsletter of news, programs and activities. In addition, the neighborhood association, with the support of the Family Resource Center, publishes its own newsletter.

The Lincoln Housing Authority has developed a Family Resource Center Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee, made up of people who live and/or work in the Arnold Heights area, meets monthly to plan and monitor programs and activities of the resource center. The neighborhood association has representatives on the Advisory Committee. In addition, the Advisory Committee recruits members from public housing, the section 8 program, and the Family Self-Sufficiency program. As a committee, they represent a strong commitment to actively promoting the Family Resource Center and providing the grass roots involvement that is needed to successfully maintain the Family Resource Center and develop new programs to meet neighborhood needs.

To accomplish its mission, the Carol M. Yoakum Family Resource Center coordinates with other private and public agencies. Primary partners include: