Systems of care allow clients to seamlessly receive care from multiple health and human service providers. They improve access to care and encourage accountability for health and human services organizations. Systems of care are defined as referral systems across health and human service agencies supported by technological capital (e.g., community referral technologies, updatable resource directories) and human capital (e.g., community health navigators, call center operators, social workers). The implementation of these

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate This introductory video provides information about systems of care or networks designed to connect individuals experiencing material hardship with the resources they need. The video describes why coordinated service delivery is essential and the key elements of its design. It ends with several examples of coordinated care systems across the United States. 

From technology to fashion to social-issue intervention, nothing stays stagnant. As COVID highlighted, organizations need to be ready to adapt quickly to changing circumstances. How can organizations, especially those in social impact networks, prepare for a changing landscape? One strategy that social impact organizations can use to prepare for change is to enhance their organization’s absorptive capacity. As our previous two blogs have shown, a network’s ability to manage change—both

Networks are similar to suspension bridges. They are held together and supported by the organizations that compose them. Our previous blog covered changes in the whole network, but impactful change can happen among organizational members. Change within a member organization can upset the balance of the network, impacting one or many organizations in the network.  Consider a scenario where a critical participating organization undergoes a management change. A new manager

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate The Leveraging Integrated Networks in Communities (LINC) to Address Social Needs Act, currently before Congress, addresses the lack of coordination between social service and health organizations. Through public-private partnerships, it offers states and regions incentives to use technology to equalize access to essential services. Section 3 of the proposed legislation focuses on evaluation, requiring the U.S. Comptroller General to assess service provider networks based on

In 2018, the Westside Infant-Family Network (WIN) received $16 million to aid their efforts to increase trauma resilience across west-central and south Los Angeles. WIN is a nonprofit network comprised of eight agency partners established in 2006 to provide mental health resources to families with generational mental health challenges. At first glance, an unknowing onlooker might never know that WIN came from humble beginnings. But, when they started, WIN faced