Abstract
In response to frustration at the inability of traditional service models to effect lasting change, service provider organizations and grantmakers have turned to systems thinking to gain new insight into social problems and develop innovative solutions that work. Systems thinking suggests that a social problem needs to be viewed holistically in order to understand and address its multiple sources in a coordinated effort with sustained impact. So, when providing support to a homeless family, if homelessness and unemployment are each considered separate issues and addressed with separate sets of services, then service provision is inefficient and ineffective. When these issues are considered together as part of a system, then each service provider gets a full picture of the barriers that the families face and can help the families to find permanent solutions.
The Secure Jobs Initiative was developed with a systems thinking approach to demonstrate a new integrated stabilization service model. Beginning by forging a strong link between traditionally separated housing and employment services, it creates the infrastructure to make the necessary changes to
organizational systems that allow for service provision through a collaborative network, in which providers of different types of services partner with each other to examine and address clients’ multiple challenges in an integrated package.[2] This brief will provide background on systems change in service delivery models and outline the types of collaborative networks that Secure Jobs sites have built. Based on data from all Secure Jobs partners and stakeholders, the roles various collaborations will be examined, including the development and evolution of service provider relationships, successes and challenges.