KLA Cadets Visit K-21 To Learn About County’s Social Services
Posted
Staff Report-
On Tuesday, the Kosciusko Leadership Academy cadets visited the K21 Health Services Pavilion to learn about human services in Kosciusko County.
The cadets heard presentations by Laura Deal-Decker, social worker and Help Center navigator for K-21 Health Services; Randy Hall, president of Cardinal Services Inc.; and Darren Bickel, president of United Way of Kosciusko County.
Deal-Decker spoke on the services offered by organizations located in the K-21 Health Services Pavilion and reported on the work that the Pavilion has done. The Resource Center has helped 567 clients and has had 2,098 referrals. The Resource Center works with many topics including health, transportation, youth, employment, housing, food, mental health and financial assistance.
Hall presented on Cardinal Services and its services for the community. Cardinal Services works to help assist and advocate for people with disabilities. About 4,000 are served annually by Cardinal Services and they have around 445 employees. Their services include a WIC program, Head Start, Early Head Start, Healthy Families, Redbird Art Studio, Career Links, residential home groups, affordable housing and the Kosciusko Area Bus Service.
Bickel explained to the group the economic struggles that many families in Kosciusko County face. The United Way works to help families by offering program such as the United Way 211 line that connects people to local resources. They also have services that assist veterans, prepare students for kindergarten and an early learning service.
For the next KLA session, the cadets will visit Ivy Tech for the White Paper Round-up event where the cadets will break into teams and pick projects to work on that will benefit the county.
The Kosciusko Leadership Academy is in its 37th year of continuous service to the county. As an independent 501-3(c) organization, KLA conducts bi-weekly morning sessions around the county to expose leaders to a wide variety of local topics and experts. The annual whitepaper projects have yielded many benefits to the citizens of Kosciusko County.
For more information, visit www.kocsciuskoleadership.org.
