Small business development center, city business manager, Chamber of Commerce director, and others have volunteered many hours to a participate in a subcommittee of youth to develop a business plan for the teen center concept. With business plan in hand the youth have gathered monetary support from a local utility company's foundation and from a larger private foundation. The Youth Plus initiative has garnered a 25-minute radio spot on the local station once a week to highlight the positive contributions of adults and youth. The daily newspaper has given space to a monthly column by the family communication task force focusing on improving family communication. Three large manufacturers along with many small businesses place paycheck stuffers focused on family communication in the pay envelops twice a month.
Churches utilize condensed versions in their church bulletins.
Our evaluation of the collaborative objectives is qualitative with the impact verified via consumer, business and agency comments. For consumers, Family TIES has become the group in the community to approach if they want to know what resources are available to strengthen families. The resource directories for public and agency use have been widely used. One manufacturer reported that his directory was constantly checked out by his employees to search for the resource most appropriate to their current concern. Consumers have used the public access computers via electronic connectivity to search for jobs, write resumes, and research issues and concerns for classes.