Service Providers Coalition
Members Of The Service Providers Coalition
- Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services (ADWAS)
- American Sign Language Interpreter Network
- Seattle Children's (formerly Children's Hospital)
- Deaf-Blind Service Center (DBSC)
- Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR)
- Hearing Loss Association of Washington (HLA-WA)
- Hearing, Speech & Deafness Center (HSDC)
- Helen Keller Northwest (HKNW)
- Lighthouse for the Blind
- Mildred M. Johnson Memorial Library
- Northwest Asian Deaf Organization (NWADO)
- Northwest Deaf Addiction Center (NWDAC)
- Northwest Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf (NWRAD)
- Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ODHH)
- Seattle Central Community College
- Sound Mental Health (SMH) (formerly Seattle Mental Health)
- Shared Reading Video Outreach Program (SRVOP)
- SignOn
- Southeast Washington Service Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SEWSCDHH)
- Washington Assistive Technology Foundation (WATF)
- Washington School for the Deaf (WSD)
- Washington Sensory Disabilities Services (WSDS)
- Washington State Association of the Deaf (WSAD)
- Washington State Deaf-Blind Citizens (WSDBC)
- Washington State Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (WSRID)
Forming The Service Providers Coalition
In 2002, HSDC formed a focus group of regional nonprofit agencies serving similar populations: individuals who are Deaf, Deaf-Blind, hard of hearing, or facing speech challenges. At that time, there was no cohesion between agencies, there was consistent competition for funding for duplicate services, and there was no vehicle for sharing the best practices and information.
Convening this group fit HSDC's mission, which includes a focus on impacting systemic change and building capacity in the community. With a new facility and a strong infrastructure and management, HSDC was in a unique position to organize what came to be called the Service Providers Coalition. The belief was that we could strengthen the individual agencies through collaboration and increase the quality and coverage of services, and it was clear that the community was looking to HSDC to provide leadership in bringing these agencies together. HSDC stepped up to the plate and hosted the first focus group meeting with thirty-five participants in December 2002.
The goals of the focus group were...
- To understand the mission and programs of each agency to avoid duplication of services.
- To identify what the gaps in services were.
- To look at which agency or agencies would be most appropriate to address those gaps.
- To find ways to support each other more in our efforts.
- To share best practices in business operation.
- To develop a strong "voice" to communicate the needs of these communities.
It was clear from the first meeting that this coalition was needed. There was neither a clear understanding of services provided by the various agencies nor any documentation of the needs of the communities. A matrix of services and gaps was developed to quantify the information and serve as a tool in the agencies' long-range planning.
The group - now called the Service Providers Coalition, and maintained in partnership with the Washington State Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ODHH) - has been meeting quarterly ever since, and has had exciting results: coalitions and partnerships between agencies, training and mentoring, identifying trends and needs in the community, agencies exploring the possibility of merging where appropriate and increased visibility for a number of individual providers.
