St. Vincent Catholic Charities — Zoom Project
St. Vincent Catholic Charities (STVCC) is one of the larger private, non-profit child and family service agencies in Michigan. Many of their services are provided to children who have been placed under the supervision of the Michigan Family Independence Agency (FIA) as a result of serious abuse or neglect. STVCC provides fifteen different programs that reach out to people of all ages in a variety of settings.
The Zoom Project is a partnership between STVCC and MSU Outreach Partnerships. An initial task of the partnership was the creation of an overall impact (vision) statement to establish an asset context for their work; based on their mission, it was defined as “Individuals and families who are physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy.” This task was followed by the identification and development of assets (strengths) associated with each impact realm — physical, emotional, and spiritual. To finalize the asset context, each set of assets was then positioned within a journey of at-risk to safe to thriving.
The partnership resulted in: 1) the conversion of the entire STVCC organization to an asset/outcome model of operation that focused on enhancing the strengths of the youths they serve, and 2) provided the capacity for measuring progress within and across all fifteen programs using a common set of standards. These were accomplished by applying the Outcome-Asset Impact Model (O-AIM).
In addition to the shift in thinking created by the application of the O-AIM and its asset/outcome principles, several products were developed that illustrate the journey from at-risk to safe to thriving.
“Our partnership with MSU has fast-tracked our capacity to work in a thriving organization. The focus that the partnership brought to our already hectic work life has allowed us to serve today and prepare for a viable tomorrow. The whole is much richer than the sum of our individual parts! Elegant articulation of mission — impossible without the facilitation from our MSU Partners!”
—Sherri Solomon-Jozwiak, Executive Director St. Vincent Catholic Charities