“The biggest advantage I see (in ServicePoint) is the ability to make adjustments and changes on the fly --- in real time.  The flexibility that is in the DNA of this tool is fabulous.  And ServicePoint 5.0 will allow us to further adapt the look of the tool to meet the needs of our clients.” 
– Dave Eberbach, Associate Director, Iowa Institute for Community Alliances

Embracing technology has helped grow a small local Iowa agency into a leading regional and statewide social services organization that is changing the face of data collection and service response across Iowa and parts of Nebraska.  The Iowa Institute for Community Alliances (IICA), now a growing social service assistance leader, initially set up shop with a staff of one who performed most operations manually.

In the late 1980’s, the Iowa Institute for Low Income Housing, Energy and Telephone was organized as a joint venture with the local Community Action Network to distribute grant money to low income individuals for housing, electricity and even telephone service (from a Bell Telephone grant).  In 1991, the Iowa Institute changed its name to IICA and picked up a Homeless Shelter Operation Grant to manage the distribution of funds to non-profits.  The focus was always on low-income assistance and the flexibility needed to work with multiple non-profit contacts.

Dave Eberbach was hired by IICA in 1995 to oversee the grant work and a new project, the manual collection of statewide homeless demographics.  Collecting demographic data was a manual effort at that time.  It included utilizing bi-annual service provider surveys as the information source.  Although IICA was a one-person shop, they were already having a significant impact on homelessness and homeless data collection in Iowa.

In the late 1990s, homeless prevention had really begun to percolate, and Julie Eberbach, who had taken over for Dave as the primary demographer, was eager to participate in the first HUD sponsored homeless data collection trial.  Iowa had moved from a bi-annual survey of providers to a monthly semi-automated data collection method using floppy disks and Excel spreadsheets.  IICA partnered with Iowa State University to analyze the collected data.  Unfortunately, Iowa was not selected for the HUD sponsored Anchor study, but the opportunity to improve responsiveness by doing a stronger job of collecting homeless service data made a lasting impression on the Eberbach. (Dave had returned to handle contract needs.)

In 2000, IICA and Bowman Systems began to discuss the possibility of using ServicePoint to collect data in a move away from the long embraced Excel spreadsheet method.  ServicePoint was widely perceived as the best choice for Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) at that time because of the APR report capability and the intrigue of performance reporting.  Noting ServicePoint’s strong track record and IICA’s knowledge of homelessness, the State of Iowa approved funding in 2001 for ServicePoint including one license for every homeless service provider in the state.

HUD then granted funds to IICA in 2004 (as the lead grantee for balance of state) to enhance the statewide HMIS system.  The core principle of the upgraded site was that licenses would be available for all users at all HUD related providers in the state.  Subsequent HUD grants for Des Moines and Council Bluffs also included IICA as a secondary or primary grantee, and the statewide system was solidified under the management of IICA.

With a continued focus on HMIS, IICA was asked by the Omaha Coalition to provide technical assistance when their HMIS provider was unable to easily meet revised HUD standards in 2005.  The technical assistance and the willingness of Omaha to try a different approach resulted in IICA managing the Omaha coalition as one partner in the Nebraska statewide system.

Today, Dave Eberbach is the Associate Director of a thriving organization that serves all of Iowa and parts of Nebraska.  IICA manages three ServicePoint databases, the aforementioned HMIS database serving Iowa statewide, an Iowa database for non-profit services unrelated to homelessness, and a disaster recovery installation that evolved following significant flooding in Cedar Rapids last year which raised interest in creating a specialized disaster response services database.

“One of the reasons we have been able to adapt the product for varied uses is because the Bowman team has allowed us to be involved in planning and testing to meet our evolving needs,” said Eberbach.  “The biggest advantage I see is the ability to make adjustments and changes on the fly --- in real time.  The flexibility that is in the DNA of this tool is fabulous.  And ServicePoint 5.0 will allow us to further adapt the look of the tool to meet the needs of our clients.”

So what is next for IICA?  Eberbach is already working to take data analysis to the next level.  “We have been doing a great job on tracking, data quality and data collection, but want to do even more from a detailed reporting and data analysis perspective,” said Eberbach.  “Public policy is largely driven by research that is received from major metropolitan areas because that is where data is most readily available, but it is data that doesn’t always represent what is going on in rural areas well.  We need to be able to tell the story about what is different in Iowa.”  

IICA has hired an analyst with a background that enables him to look at the data from the perspective of genuine concern while applying his strong analytical skills.  “By using both existing data and surveys, we hope to tell the whole picture --- what is working and what is not,” said Eberbach.  “It’s essential to be able to properly document services provided and to whom. This is particularly important in light of the fact that so many of the agencies are experiencing budget cuts that force them to do more with less. We had one meal site that was reluctant to embrace the new technology. However, the director finally decided to try it, and she called us after things got rolling to let us know that she was so grateful for the change.  Apparently, she only had been reporting 300 clients based on poor documentation when she had actually been providing services to double that number. ”

IICA is already working on a homeless migration study using HMIS data and reports of services provided to clients that will also look at the number of people that were discharged into a better place and the number that digressed back into a need for services.  “We want to know what happened along the way that brought them to this point,” said Eberbach.  “Better understanding of the path that led them to homelessness will help us provide the right mix of services that can lessen the likelihood that they will return to us in a similar status.”

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