Community Spoke is an entity involved in bringing government agencies and non-profit organizations together to form collaborations. Community Spoke aims to improve the effectiveness of all participating organizations for the benefit of West Michigan residents. But is Community Spoke and the participating organizations really benefitting the public or are they taking advantage of public funding?
Some of the collaborations Community Spoke was instrumental in creating include:
Grand Haven Case Collaborators
Holland Case Collaborators
Age-Friendly Holland/Zeeland
Lakeshore Housing Alliance
Housing Next
Model Communities of Holland/Zeeland
Ottawa County Suicide Prevention Coalition
Lakeshore Alliance Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (LAADSV)
Ottawa Food
Thrive Ottawa County
Great Start Collaborative Ottawa
Community Spoke is involved with numerous surveys and data collection efforts, which are used as justification for initiatives undertaken by collaborating non-profit organizations and government entities. According to the Community Spoke website, “Our success is largely dependent on having robust data and studies to help inform our collaborative work.” Some surveys and data collection efforts facilitated by Community Spoke include:
Age-Friendly Holland/Zeeland
Patrick Cisler, the former Executive Director of Community Spoke, gave a presentation at the Ottawa County Health and Human Services committee meeting on January 31, 2023. During the meeting he explained that he represents two 501(3)c organizations, Community Spoke and Lakeshore Non-profit Alliance, and that Lakeshore Non-profit Alliance leases staffing services from Community Spoke.
Cisler continued to explain that prior to Community Spoke’s formation, around 2012-2013 there was a state-mandated county organization known as the Human Services Coordinating Council which was comprised of county department heads. As the Human Services Coordinating Council dissolved, Community Spoke was formed with one significant difference — rather than being comprised of county department heads, Community Spoke is comprised of a partnership of government department heads and non-profit organization leaders.
According to Cisler, Community Spoke facilitates collaboration on issues such as affordable housing, mental health, and community planning by bringing together stakeholders. For example, Community Spoke developed the Healthy Ottawa Plan which is a strategic plan intended to improve the health of residents, and was formally called the Community Health Improvement Plan. Community Spoke also responded to human services needs that arose from COVID-19 by convening community stakeholders including government leaders, non-profit leaders, school leaders, hospital leaders and business leaders to address issues such as food insecurity and housing. Community Spoke is strategically responsive and facilitates the meeting of non-profit and government leaders where they look for opportunities to collaborate.
Community Spoke receives funding from Ottawa County on an annual basis and they have two county board members and two Lakeshore Non-profit Alliance representatives involved with Community Spoke. Current and former county representatives Lisa Stefanovsky, Lynne Doyle, and John Shay are all current or former members of Community Spoke. According to Patrick Cisler, Community Spoke received approximately $45,000 in funding from the county in 2022 and $45,000 in 2023. The total Community Spoke budget is approximately $300,000 and they also receive funding from the Grand Haven Community Foundation and the Holland/Zeeland Community Foundation, the United Way and through employee leasing to the Lakeshore Nonprofit Alliance.
This job posting contains some Community Spoke and Lakeshore Non-profit Alliance funding information.
Community Spoke and the Lakeshore Non-profit Alliance are two local non-profit organizations that intertwine their funding, missions, and personnel with each other and other non-profits, businesses, and government organizations to ostensibly improve their effectiveness for the benefit of West Michigan residents. But are these organizations really benefitting the public or are they taking advantage of public funding?