TSA to Host N. Salem SIT

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

North Salem Service Integration Team, June 2018 Mtg at Center 50+

Salem Health announced in recent weeks that The Salvation Army of Marion and Polk Counties has agreed to "host and facilitate the North Salem Service Integration Team on an interim basis while they work through the due diligence" required for "their board" to approve taking on the program.  See here (at the end) for the complete text of the 8/17 email to the North Salem SIT. 

According to the emailed announcement, meetings will move from Center 50+ to the Kroc Center, and the next meeting will be Wednesday, October 3d, from 1:30 to 3pm.  Questions should go to TSA's Dan Williams, who will lead a discussion on the way forward at that first meeting.  In his view, the North Salem SIT no longer exists, and it is unclear what should replace it.  The team has not met since early June, and there is currently no mechanism for requesting funds.  Nor did anyone inform Center 50+ that the North Salem SIT meetings had been suspended.   

From the Love, Inc. website

The other two teams piloted by Salem Health in Woodburn and North Marion have continued to meet on their own during the summer (same times, same places), the former run by Love, Inc. ("Woodburn City Task Force"), the latter by the membership and their "Interim Lead", Craig Johnson.

Salem Health has offered to sponsor (i.e., provide team funds for) all three teams and provide limited administrative support in the form of a site or page at its "sitsofmarioncounty" domain, and funds ($5K each to Woodburn and North Marion, $10K to North Salem).  Salem Health has said it plans to hold a meeting with team leaders to work out details, including the transfer of funds (including WVCH and ELH funds).

The original goal of Salem Health's pilot service integration program was to reproduce the model developed by Polk County.  However, as discussed in a previous blog, the teams were not given the support and guidance they needed to succeed, and Salem Health suspended its program in June.  Now, by giving its teams just enough support to allow them to survive and go their separate ways, Salem Health avoids having to admit failure, but not the failure itself.

North Marion SIT, June 2018 Mtg

Service integration is supposed to be more than a monthly meeting to divide a pot of money, but that's what it can become when leadership and commitment are  lacking.  To succeed, a SIT needs to be one of several in the area coordinated by a single individual who is backed by a committed and neutral sponsor, who has experience and the right skill set --  someone like a Debbie McMillan or Melissa Baurer, who knows how, and whom, to nudge, persuade, negotiate, investigate and hold accountable.  A SIT needs a coordinator who's doing more than just running a meeting and keeping an account ledger. 

A monthly meeting to divide a pot of money might benefit a few lucky families and individuals, but it's unlikely to improve service delivery and could even act as a disincentive to working together.  A functioning Service Integration program, on the other hand, benefits families and individuals and improves service delivery, essentially by requiring (facilitating/encouraging/urging) team members to cooperate as a precondition to accessing team funds, which is a great oversimplification of a complex process that both builds and depends on trusting relationships among providers, but that's more or less how it works.  

What to expect from the three Salem Health teams going forward?  They have limited resources, but they are free to find their own ways of meeting the basic needs of their communities, so their methods will undoubtedly differ, both from each other, and from the better-resourced teams of Polk, Yamhill and Santiam Service Integration.  They might, or might not, attempt something like service integration, continue to call themselves service integration teams, or maintain active, resource-rich websites or FB pages.  A lot will depend on the team leadership, but a few projections are possible.       

TSA's Social Services Page (info not current)

The North Salem Team.  As its website ("salem.kroccenter.org") suggests, TSA has for some time been much more about The Kroc Center than about providing for the basic needs of the community, as evinced by cuts to TSA's relief programs and services.  This has led to a drop in donations/support.  So, if forgiveness/redemption is what TSA is after here, it's likely to take more than hosting a monthly meeting of community partners.  For one thing, TSA's not attended SIT meetings on a regular basis, so might not be aware of how large the team has grown, or have the relationships/trust needed to lead effectively, or be nimble enough to deal with urgent requests or staff complex situations.  They also have no plan for dealing with the conflict of interest that's created when a team member assumes the role of a coordinator/facilitator.  For these reasons, we think the North Salem team under TSA is unlikely to receive the support it will need to be effective.  More likely, it'll be given a static page on the TSA website, a mention every so often on TSA's FB page, and burn through the team funds before year end (June 30, 2019) with zero leverage to show for it.

The Woodburn Team.  Like TSA, Love Inc. already has a website ("loveincnmc.org/") and FB page.  As noted, the website has for some time (maybe always)  referred to the team as the "Woodburn City Task Force", and makes but one reference to service integration, where it incorrectly states that the team meeting "host" is "Service Integration of Marion County", a misnomer that was changed to "West Marion County Service Integration" last spring. See here.

It is unlikely Love, Inc. will choose to take up Salem Health's offer of a website or attempt  service integration, as they have their own way of doing things (which includes reading their bible aloud during the intake process) and are unlikely to want to change.  And, as the first year's funding requests suggest, the Woodburn team deferred/depended too much on Love, Inc. to be able to grow or develop on their own.

The North Marion Team.  Of the three pilots, the prospects seem the brightest for the North Marion team.  That's because, notwithstanding pilot year's experiences, they "get" service integration, and they are committed to continuing to meet.  The teams' "Interim Lead", Craig Johnson, who is co-chair of the Metropolitan Alliance for Common Good Clackamas Housing Team and pastor of the Christ Lutheran Church in Aurora, is reportedly active in the Clackamas County CoC.  (Yes, Aurora is in Marion County, but as previously discussed, Marion County is mired in a CoC with 27 other Oregon counties, so it makes a lot of sense for Johnson to reach over the border to work with Clackamas instead of the ROCC.)  That involvement indicates he understands the need to work at a systems level, and knows how to do it.  Also, sources say Providence has shown serious interest in sponsoring a Service Integration program in Multnomah and Clackamas and has been in contact with Johnson, so, it's not a foregone conclusion that the North Marion will need to take up Salem Health's offer of support.