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Three local entities are joining efforts to create a service agencies resource guide that Dodge City and surrounding communities can use in the future.
The Ford County Volunteer Center, The Area Inter-agency Coordinating Council, and Dodge City Community College assigned this work to Michelle Dobkins, a DC3 technology and computer programming student. She is doing this work as a volunteer with FCVC.
The resource guide will cover information in eight areas: Health and medical, child and family, food and housing, educational, crisis and emergency, mental health, immigration and refugee, and support services.
But that's only the first phase of the project. The second phase of this project will be to create a Web page so people can access information quickly.
Crissa Salmans, infant toddler recruitment specialist with Child-care Aware of Southwest Kansas, said the last resource guide was created 10 years ago, but it has not been updated.
“This resource guide will be so important as a phone book and will be updated yearly," she said. "It will be useful for families who are new to the area or have been in the area for a while, and can also be used for area businesses.”
Sheila Grayson, coordinator of the FCVC, said the guide will serve as a resource for service providers and consumers by providing pertinent and timely information regarding location and contact information, kinds of services provided, hours, volunteer opportunities and donation needs.
“We are proud of this accomplishment in placing a civic volunteer (Dobkins) in a position to help an organization with a project that no one has had the time to complete. High school and community college students will have the opportunity to expand their horizons by volunteering in certain settings, developing community-minded activities and supporting local agencies,” she said.
A lot of work
Dobkins has worked in the school system with physically and mentally challenged children and with the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. So she knows, first hand, how important is for people in need to have varied contact information. Because of that, she volunteered to do this work.
Also, she said, much of the reason why helping agencies aren’t as effective as they could be is that contact information simply gets lost. But with updated information, a lot of people will benefit.
“Many service organizations have desire and the funding to lend a helping hand, but cannot reach those most desperately in need. I mean, often hardworking taxpayers do not qualify for food stamps or medical cards, and now more than ever there are many people in need that feel they have nowhere to turn for help,” Dobkins said.
Dobkins’ goal is to include every Ford County service organization in the resource guide, but collecting information is a lot of work. She said most people know Dodge City's major service providers, but few think of the smaller ones in surrounding towns that work just as hard to provide services but often receive less physical and monetary support.
Dobkins started her work by sending emails, but she has only gotten answers from 15 percent of the agencies. She works in the humanities computer lab at DC3, contacting sources and looking for information for her project.
She makes intensive searches on Google, looking for service organizations that are established in Ford County. She also uses Yellow Pages listings to get basic information, keeps notebooks full of smaller area directories and reviews newspapers and other resources useful for her project.
Dobkins uses the technical knowledge she has acquired through desktop publishing and design courses, including Adobe illustrator and Photoshop, to do her work for the community. She has also worked as a professional freelance writer — an experience that is helping her.
“Honestly, I expected this work would be done fairly quickly, but as often happens, I was wrong," she said. "I am hoping a fairly organized draft will be ready for review the end of July. I have drawn and stylized a front wrap illustration and put together a small mock-up of what the finished work might look like, which I have handed over to the committee in charge."
Ford County service agencies that want to be registered in the new resource guide can help Dobkins by providing information at fordcountyresourceguide@yahoo.com, or by calling 227-7077 or 227-9587.
Three local entities are joining efforts to create a service agencies resource guide that Dodge City and surrounding communities can use in the future.
The Ford County Volunteer Center, The Area Inter-agency Coordinating Council, and Dodge City Community College assigned this work to Michelle Dobkins, a DC3 technology and computer programming student. She is doing this work as a volunteer with FCVC.
The resource guide will cover information in eight areas: Health and medical, child and family, food and housing, educational, crisis and emergency, mental health, immigration and refugee, and support services.
But that's only the first phase of the project. The second phase of this project will be to create a Web page so people can access information quickly.
Crissa Salmans, infant toddler recruitment specialist with Child-care Aware of Southwest Kansas, said the last resource guide was created 10 years ago, but it has not been updated.
“This resource guide will be so important as a phone book and will be updated yearly," she said. "It will be useful for families who are new to the area or have been in the area for a while, and can also be used for area businesses.”
Sheila Grayson, coordinator of the FCVC, said the guide will serve as a resource for service providers and consumers by providing pertinent and timely information regarding location and contact information, kinds of services provided, hours, volunteer opportunities and donation needs.
“We are proud of this accomplishment in placing a civic volunteer (Dobkins) in a position to help an organization with a project that no one has had the time to complete. High school and community college students will have the opportunity to expand their horizons by volunteering in certain settings, developing community-minded activities and supporting local agencies,” she said.
A lot of work
Dobkins has worked in the school system with physically and mentally challenged children and with the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. So she knows, first hand, how important is for people in need to have varied contact information. Because of that, she volunteered to do this work.
Also, she said, much of the reason why helping agencies aren’t as effective as they could be is that contact information simply gets lost. But with updated information, a lot of people will benefit.
“Many service organizations have desire and the funding to lend a helping hand, but cannot reach those most desperately in need. I mean, often hardworking taxpayers do not qualify for food stamps or medical cards, and now more than ever there are many people in need that feel they have nowhere to turn for help,” Dobkins said.
Dobkins’ goal is to include every Ford County service organization in the resource guide, but collecting information is a lot of work. She said most people know Dodge City's major service providers, but few think of the smaller ones in surrounding towns that work just as hard to provide services but often receive less physical and monetary support.
Dobkins started her work by sending emails, but she has only gotten answers from 15 percent of the agencies. She works in the humanities computer lab at DC3, contacting sources and looking for information for her project.
She makes intensive searches on Google, looking for service organizations that are established in Ford County. She also uses Yellow Pages listings to get basic information, keeps notebooks full of smaller area directories and reviews newspapers and other resources useful for her project.
Dobkins uses the technical knowledge she has acquired through desktop publishing and design courses, including Adobe illustrator and Photoshop, to do her work for the community. She has also worked as a professional freelance writer — an experience that is helping her.
“Honestly, I expected this work would be done fairly quickly, but as often happens, I was wrong," she said. "I am hoping a fairly organized draft will be ready for review the end of July. I have drawn and stylized a front wrap illustration and put together a small mock-up of what the finished work might look like, which I have handed over to the committee in charge."
Ford County service agencies that want to be registered in the new resource guide can help Dobkins by providing information at fordcountyresourceguide@yahoo.com, or by calling 227-7077 or 227-9587.
