Many families served by human services agencies face a range of challenges that lead to their involvement with other systems, such as criminal justice, workforce development, or housing. High rates of poverty and crime disproportionately concentrated in a few neighborhoods in each state destabilize those communities and the families who live there. Yet this overlap in criminal justice and human services caseloads offers an opportunity to create more cohesive, coordinated, and community-based service delivery systems for families engaged in these systems.

Programs located in the communities they serve, such as One-Stops or nonprofit or faith-based organizations can serve as a key intermediary among the human services, workforce, and criminal justice systems. By using funds from each system, community-based programs can deliver a mix of services to individuals with criminal records and their families and help bridge the service gaps when prisoners are released. As intermediaries, community-based programs can help connect multiple systems and improve the accessibility and responsiveness of human services programs, through informal consultation and problem-solving, client advocacy, cross-referrals, and cross-training. (See Recommendation a, above, for more increasing access to children and family services.) In addition, human services agencies can contract with community-based organizations that work with people released from prisons and jails and their families, including providers that focus on re-entry, family support, domestic violence, and responsible fatherhood programs. Such organizations, which often already have ties to this client population, can conduct assessments, provide case management, deliver program services, and serve as partners on cross-disciplinary teams.

Through their links to community-based organizations, human services agencies can extend their reach to the community of families beyond those enrolled in TANF cash assistance and other government aid programs. For example, families just above the eligibility threshold, families who have dropped out of the system, families who move back and forth between programs, and family members who may not be not directly served by human services programs (such as non-custodial parents) may fall through the cracks of most children and families programs but may nonetheless have service needs. Human services agencies can also inventory community resources and establish a whole network of relationships within the community among those working at community centers, public health clinics, schools, public housing offices, One-Stops, and community supervision agencies.

Notwithstanding their benefits, these relationships may be difficult. It can be awkward to negotiate the often divergent service goals and client relationships pursued by community-based programs and human services agencies. Limited resources, insufficient data collection, and restricted information-sharing also can present challenges to these collaborations. ^[1]   However, working with community-based organizations, which are often closely knit into the fabric of the community, is critical to the success of the human services system and the families it serves.