When did it start?

The vision for a North Alabama Resource Network became clearer at a meeting in November 2011 of two Alabama mayors — Bobby Irons, former Mayor of Florence and Tommy Battle, Mayor of Huntsville. Mayor Irons was very excited about the unprecedented results of the Shoals Emergency Assistance Network (S.E.A.N.Tracker) which was created in 2006 to resolve enormous challenges caused by Hurricane Katrina.
‍
Mayor Irons wanted Mayor Battle to know more about the resource networking technology (now known as CharityTracker™) that empowers S.E.A.N.Tracker, and how this Alabama web-based solution could benefit other counties in North Alabama.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER

Both Mayors agreed to strengthen their relationships with each other. They wanted to discover mutually-beneficial ways to increase communication and cooperation across North Alabama, especially as it related to disaster preparedness and resource mobilization. This would mean that resources, from local communities, could be mobilized in more powerful and productive ways — all is real-time!

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005, hundreds of displaced families found refuge in Northwest Alabama. The United Way, Red Cross, Salvation Army, and local churches all came to the rescue. Many resources were given out…but an age-old problem soon emerged. “The right hand…did not know…what the left hand was doing.”

Many questions went unanswered. Who was getting what…and how much? Were efforts being unnecessarily duplicated? Were the right resources…getting into the right hands, at the right time?

Northwest Alabama Community & Faith-based Leaders

During the aftermath of Katrina, Northwest Alabama Community and Faith-based leaders came together to discuss what they had learned. Frustrated by isolated impact and a fragmented approach to care, they realized that they needed a simple and cost-effective solution that would increase communication and cooperation among each other.

They all wanted to reduce unnecessary and wasteful duplication of resources and efforts. And, they wanted reliable shared data that would help them make better-informed decisions as how to allocate limited resources where they are most needed.

They all realized that they must learn how to work together, as a “community” — to do more than just help people get by. Instead, they wanted to help people get ahead to a better quality of life, and a brighter future.

S.E.A.N.Tracker — the original

In October of 2006, they approached Simon Solutions, an Alabama company, in hopes of finding a simple-to-use, web-based solution that made good sense to all helping agencies in our community. Together, we co-created the Shoals Emergency Assistance Network, nicknamed S.E.A.N.Tracker.

This network served as a safe and secure central repository for information-sharing and interactive communication. This made it fast and easy for helping agencies to quickly find and mobilize resources for people in need — a process which often took days, was now reduced to minutes. Today, this Care Network has 94 multi-sector partners and serves multiple counties in Northwest Alabama.

Good News Travels Fast

During the first quarter of 2007, the good news about S.E.A.N.Tracker quickly spread across Alabama.
‍
Tina Scott, former United Way Director, was getting phone calls from other communities who had heard about our success in getting helping agencies to work together.

Today, the S.E.A.N.Tracker model for care networking is now at work in 60% of all Alabama counties. Collectively, the staff and volunteers of these networks have engaged in almost 2 million acts of kindness and care.

S.E.A.N.Tracker soon evolved into a more sophisticated tool for increased communication, cooperation, and collaboration among helping agencies. We adopted a new name for this solution and called it CharityTracker.

Local Solution Goes Nationwide

So, what was only meant to be a local solution for care networking, is now used in over 2,500 American cities in 49 states. This solution is also finding its way into other countries, including the United Kingdom, South America, and more.

As you can see the numbers are constantly growing, averaging about 250 new cities adopting this innovative solution each year. Over 16.5 million lives have been impacted by Care Networks. We are tracking over 53 million charitable acts of kindness and care. And, we are tracking over $1.4 Billion dollars invested into people’s lives.

The Care Networks that communities are creating are proving to reduce duplication of efforts by as much as 91%. And, helping agencies are becoming more resourceful and able to help more people.

North Alabama Resource Network (NARN)

Community Impact Specialist

We provide help in learning how to maximize the collective caring power of our Alabama communities.

We do this by providing educational webinars and onsite presentations that inspire, encourage, and simply make great sense. They are also available for on-going coaching and consultation — supported by years of research and practical experience.

This team constantly strives to identify emerging trends, best practices, and innovative solutions that are practical and effective. What they learn — they share (via case studies, webinars, and consultation) with others across Alabama and the country.

Team members are available (free of charge) to come to your community and help you build capacity for innovation, broader civic engagement, and cross-sector collaboration that drives collective community impact.

To contact members of this team, simply call the offices of Simon Solutions at 256-764-0633 or email connect@narnetwork.com

"Our communities and our world face such complex problems that we no longer can solve them by gathering a few experts in a room and letting them dictate change. We need new ways to find solutions. Many of us now understand that the emerging problems that communities face have such complex origins that we can only fix them if we use comprehensive community problem-solving efforts rather than single-focused approaches. We need to meet and communicate and partner with each other, and we need to include representatives from all parts of our communities." (The Power of Collaborative Solutions, 2010)

Dr. Tom Wolff

Nationally-recognized expert in coalition-building and community development

The North AlabamaResource Network