NEWS RELEASE
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Brian Flinchpaugh, Provident
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Website: www.providentstl.org
For Release: March 23, 2006
'PROVIDENT': A NEW NAME WITH A NEW SENSE OF MISSION
145-Year-Old Agency Expanding Role as a Social Service Provider, Collaborator
Provident Counseling, a 145-year-old nonprofit organization that provides an array of social services throughout the St. Louis region, has a new name -- Provident, Inc. It signifies an expanded role as a social service provider and innovator in serving low-income families, underserved youth, and impoverished neighborhoods in the St. Louis region.
In making the announcement this week, Kathleen E. Buescher, president and chief executive officer for Provident, had the following comments.
"The new name came out of an extensive research and planning effort that redefines how we intend to serve the community in the future," Buescher said. "Along with the name change, we also have a fresh statement of our mission and goals plus plans and initiatives that we hope everyone in the community can join us in accomplishing. Our ultimate goal is reflected in the new tagline that accompanies our new logo: creating hope, self-reliance and social impact."
The first of these plans and initiatives is what Provident calls its "Self-Reliant Communities Initiative" (SRCI), which is being planned in the Penrose-O'Fallon neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are north of Natural Bridge, south of Interstate 70, and between Kingshighway on the west, and Fairground Park on the east.
Through SRCI, Provident will work with neighborhood residents and leaders to bring its services and those of other organizations and agencies to help them build better lives for themselves and their families. Lessons learned from the SRCI effort will form a model for use in other neighborhoods throughout the region.
The initial SRCI neighborhoods have been chosen for a number of reasons -- one being that Provident has more than a decade of experience in this part of the city. The agency has been providing after-school and tutoring services through its Shreve Neighborhood Center, as well as jobs and skills training through its community technology center, known as the Cyber Learning Center. Both centers are located in the same building at 4008 Shreve Avenue.
Another reason is the need for action now. Both neighborhoods have great assets—high homeownership rates, large numbers of single family homes, and a core group of concerned citizens. Yet these and other neighborhoods in the city may face grave consequences without bold initiatives. They continue to feel the negative impact of high unemployment, lead poisoning, declining student test scores, high rates of teenage pregnancy, and increasing gang activity and drug use.
Confronting these kinds of challenges in a more effective way prompted Provident to redefine itself and its services. Buescher said there is a growing realization at the agency that there is a need to go beyond chipping away at social problems one person or one family at a time. Most of the people that Provident serves face multiple challenges, as do the neighborhoods where they live.
"In part, our name change is a reflection of our intention to address persistent social problems in a broader, more encompassing way to achieve significant community impact," Buescher said. "We aren't changing what we do -- we're reshaping the way in which those services are delivered."
High quality and low-cost outpatient mental health counseling for adults and children will remain a major thrust of the agency's work but it is only one of many services to be provided through the "new" Provident.
Provident also will evaluate how it can strengthen its ability to provide comprehensive, integrated services across the entire spectrum of social needs.
"To have more community impact requires that this organization provide a network of care rather than just a collection of services," Buescher said. "That means that no matter how a client comes into our agency, they see that all of our doors are open, all of our staff available, and all of our programs are linked and integrated to respond to whatever problems and challenges they face."
This reshaping of Provident was spurred after Provident’s Board of Directors adopted a series of "Ends Statements" in 2004. The statements directed the agency to help low-income families, underserved youth and impoverished communities. The statements also require the agency to measure the results of its programs to evaluate how well they are helping people. "These statements are our marching orders—they set the stage for an expanded approach to providing social and other services," Buescher said.
Buescher acknowledged that the agency by itself doesn’t have the resources to address the enormous range of issues in the Penrose-O'Fallon neighborhoods, much less other parts of the region. She emphasized that this kind of effort can only succeed through collaboration with residents, community groups, other agencies and providers, and with other public and private sector organizations.
"Provident wishes to be a catalyst for collaboration," she said. Buescher added that the agency is eager to explore different ways that they can collaborate with other groups that are working toward the common goal of improving the quality of life in these neighborhoods and throughout the region.
"Our vision is for safe, stable and productive neighborhoods where people can live with a great sense of hope," said Buescher. "We see families with the tools and resources they need to thrive in challenging situations. We believe we can leverage our resources, talents and experience to realize this dream."
Founded in 1860, Provident provides a variety of effective and affordable behavioral health and community services at seven locations in the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County and Jefferson County in Missouri; and in Fairview Heights in Illinois.
It also maintains one of the nation's oldest suicide prevention and crisis hotlines -- (314) 647-HELP (4357) -- through its Life Crisis Services division.
In addition, the agency offers quality home health care through its ProvidentCare subsidiary, and it provides services to employees of area companies through its Employee Counseling Service. Provident serves more than 47,000 persons annually in the St. Louis region.
Provident is funded by gifts from individuals, corporations, foundations, contracts for services and by the United Way of Greater St. Louis.
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