Quarterly Resource Review for November 15 – January 15, 2014

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOWING REPORT CONTAINS RESOURCE LINKS THAT MAY BE OUT-DATED. PLEASE REFER TO THE RESOURCE DIRECTORY (NAVIGATION BAR ABOVE) TO FIND THE MOST CURRENT RESOURCE INFORMATION.

Hello! My name is Stefan Christian Densmore, I’m the President/CEO of United Resource Connection. Here is an update of the new resources that have been added to the Cincinnati resource directory over the past quarter. The present document reviews the resources added between November 15, 2013 and January 15, 2014. If you are interested in receiving an email notification when this update is posted each month, consider subscribing to an eDigest our Community Blog (using the form at the bottom of this page); its FREE, we don’t share your email address with anyone, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

New in the Blogosphere.

Proud to report that we now have over 31 hundred subscribers to our community blog, which has almost doubled since our last update! Subscribers receive a weekly eDigest summarizing all the new content that has been posted on the community blog. Subscribers can unsubscribe at any time. I believe the increased subscription base to our community blog is due to our addition of several new bloggers, including two prominent Cincinnati leaders: Moria Weir, and Kevin Finn.

Moira Weir is Director of the Hamilton County Department of Job & Family Services (HCJFS). She blogs about the work the department does in Hamilton county, changes to the services being offered, and updates us as needed when there are changes in the hours of operation. Weir has two masters’ degrees, one in social work, and one in business administration. She’s been blogging since 2009 and provides great content that adds significant value to the community blog.

Kevin Finn is Director of Strategies to End Homelessness. His blog covers the efforts of his organization to reduce homelessness by 50% in 5 years (2012-2017) — as well as topics that increase awareness about issues effecting those in our area that are homeless. We rebroadcast the blog feed of Moira and Kevin to our 31 hundred subscribers, helping their voice reach a greater audience. We hope to attract more community leaders to blog on our network as the advantages of doing so become more widely known. We thank them for all they do to support our neighbors in need! 

We’ve added a number of therapists to the community blog, as well, who contribute on a wide variety of clinical topics. Linda Bloom & Charles Bloom (LISW & MSW respectively) are blogging about how to build relationship skills; Rick Hanson, Ph.D, is blogging about the neurology of love, happiness and wisdom. Aaron Karmin, LCPC, is blogging about anger management; Carla Naumburg, Ph.D, is blogging about mindful parenting. Lyn Robinson, M.Ed, is blogging about divine intuition; and we are rebroadcasting Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S., who is interviewing clinicians in a blog called “Clinicians on the Couch”. We are very pleased to have these clinicians contribute to the community blog. If you are a clinical service provider or social service recipient interested in joining us as a contributing blogger, we encourage you to complete our online application. 

New Resource Links and Downloads.

Following suggestions from our users we added a number of additional resource links to the website over the past two months. Each of these links can now be found via our Resource Links tab, using the subcategories noted within parentheses next to each link. We also fixed a couple resource links that were reported broken, as a result of the rebranding of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission (now called the Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities).

• Computer Programming Tutorials One hour tutorials and projects for kids of any age. Did you know that 9 out of 10 schools do not offer computer programming classes, yet job opportunities in computer science are growing at 2x the national rate. (child development resources, vocational development, recreational resources)

• Medicaid Expansion Info Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid eligibility has expanded to 138% of the federal poverty level. More info and how to apply online.  (medicaid insurance, private insurance, medication issues)

• Department of Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) This department replaced the Rehabilitation Services Commission. They just rebranded, the services are the same. Learn more about the department serving Ohioans with Disabilities. (vocational rehabilitation)

• Veteran’s Guide to Vocational Rehabilitation Resources .pdf provided by the Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) commission. (vocational rehabilitation)

• Application for Vocational Rehabilitation Services .pdf provided by the OOD, includes application and information for individuals seeking vocational rehabilitation services.

• Hamilton County Public Library link was added as a Child Development and Recreational Resource for their recreational and educational resources available in person and online, including eBooks and music available for free download. (vocational rehabilitation)

• Parental Education Materials  Resources for building parenting skills to help children, provided by the Childhood Development Institute. (child development resources)

• Health Insurance Marketplace Federal access point for information on health insurance options under the Affordable Care Act. (financial issues, mental and behavioral health treatment, primary medical care, private insurance programs, senior citizens)

Additional Changes.

We also continue to implement ideas suggested by area caseworkers and service recipients about the structure of the website. If you have suggestions for additional changes, use the “suggestion box” link in the footer of this page. Over the past 2 months we’ve implemented the following upgrades:

1) Changed the web servers to accommodate the increasing popularity of the website. The Cincinnati site now has its own dedicated cPanel, which means we have a lot more web application services available to us that we no longer have to share with other local chapters of United Resource Connection.

2) Improved the search functionality for the website by adding a Google search bar which provides search results for the entire website. This now produces search results from blog entries, links, downloads, and health news, all in one location. The search bar is located at the top of the side bar on the right or the community blog.

3) Created new templates for our blogging services. Many of you may not realize this, but registered users can sign up for a FREE or PREMIUM blog on our website. We believe it’s a great resource for nonprofits and individuals alike who have a stake in this professional sector, and that it ultimately enhances communication and collaboration among service providers. We anticipate the increased use of this feature as the benefits of blogging on our network become more widely recognized.

4) Added the ability for our bloggers to purchase domain names directly from within their blog administration area. They can research domain name availability, purchase domain names, and map those purchased domains to their blog directly from within their administrative dashboard. They can also transfer domain names they already own. This feature is available for all our blog hosting packages, including the FREE blog package.

And that’s the news from Lake Wobegon. Sign-up for a subscription to our community blog (using that little box at the top of the right sidebar) and you will get an email update sent to your inbox whenever new content is made available on the website. Its FREE, keeps you informed, we don’t share your email address with anyone, and you can unsubscribe at anytime. Let us know if you have any questions or comments!