A “Community Resource Directory,” a new online database to help social service organizations assist clients and communities throughout the Adirondack Park and beyond, has been launched by the John Rugge Center for Community Impact at Hudson Headwaters Health Network (CCI), Hudson Headwaters vice-president and CCI head Jessica Rubin announced February 26.
“Our partners in preserving the social safety net really felt the need for a resource that was at their fingertips, so that when aiding a client, the most up-to-date information was available to them,” said Rubin,
The web-based tool is expected to improve access to essential social services for those most in need of them.
According to Rubin, the new online directory comprises a continually updated list of community-based providers offering housing assistance, food support, behavioral health services, transportation assistance, senior services and legal aid across the 79,000 square mile area served by Hudson Headwaters Health Network, an area that extends from Saratoga County to the Canadian border.
“We’re really excited about getting this off the ground,” said Rubin, who noted that the recently released version of the directory has been in development for more than a year.
Rubin said the origins of the Community Resource Directory lie in a tool developed for Hudson Headwaters Health Network’s caregivers working with patients who live with chronic conditions and who may need assistance securing access to health-related social services.
In the wake of discussions sponsored by the Adirondack Regional Social Safety Network Initiative, which is led by the Adirondack Community Foundation, the Directory was expanded to be of use to – and to be available to – social service providers throughout the region, Rubin said.
“The vision behind the John Rugge Center for Community Impact has always been to leverage Hudson Headwaters’ resources and infrastructure to help address upstream factors that impact downstream health outcomes,” said Rubin. “Making the Directory readily available to our many partners helping to address social drivers of health for our patients and communities is a win-win.”
A 2024 “Adirondack Regional Social Safety Network Report,” commissioned by the Adirondack Community Foundation and the Center for Community Impact, found that roughly 40% of local families face challenges meeting basic needs. To address those needs – for housing, transportation, jobs, childcare and food – partnerships are crucial, the Adirondack Community Foundation and CCI concluded.
The Community Resource Directory is one example of the many ways that CCI’s partners with other organizations, said Rubin.
“It occurred to us in one of those proverbial “light bulb” moments that since we’re currently maintaining a searchable resource directory for our caregivers and patients, we could make it available to our partners as well, which any one of them could log onto,” said Rubin. “A presentation has been created to help our partners use the Directory once access has been granted.”
“The need for something like the Community Resource Directory has been a major theme since the Social Safety Net project was launched in 2022,” said Cali Brooks, president and CEO of the Adirondack Community Foundation. “The Directory complements other efforts that support the nonprofit sector and covers the largest geographical region yet. This is a tremendous asset that will allow social safety net organizations to better serve our communities.”
“In a rural region like ours, where distance and limited infrastructure can make access to services more difficult, our ability to bring people, resources, and organizations together is especially critical,” said Bill Creighton, the Pilot Knob resident who chairs the Adirondack Community Foundation. “Strategic initiatives that foster collaboration will strengthen the fabric of our communities.” “We’re really trying to reach community members that have been isolated since COVID and connecting them to all the great activities that are happening in the region and all of the resources that are out there and to help weave their community into kind of a new way,” said Kim Trombly, Adirondack Community Foundation’s Director of Community Impact.
