About the Initiative

Guilford Success Network is designed to coordinate and deliver services for residents with low incomes in Guilford County. The Network empowers residents to achieve their economic goals and attain sustainable financial stability.

Through ongoing analysis and iterative improvements, the Network will use insights about our collective impact to establish quality practices, identify and bridge service gaps, and improve overall effectiveness of services across the community.

The GSN pilot

On June 26, 2022, United Way of Greater Greensboro (UWGG) launched Guilford Success Network (GSN), a county-wide, mobile friendly network that will connect people to services and coordinators who help them identify, track, and achieve their personal goals of becoming financially stable.

Check out launch event photos here.

Check out the press release here.

Since 2014, UWGG’s single focus has been to reduce the number of people living in generational poverty. GSN is one of UWGG’s strategies to achieve that goal.

During the launch event, attended by nearly 100 community members and partners, Greensboro Mayor, Nancy Vaughan, said, “For a lot of organizations, when they talk about ending poverty, it’s just a tagline and a way to raise money. But United Way has really put action behind those words for many, many years.”

GSN is initially launching as an 18-month pilot project with core partners serving the Greensboro area and will expand county-wide over time. GSN partners will learn to identify people who may benefit from joining the Network and people who wish to join will be connected to a coordinator. After the pilot phase, people will be able to access the Network through an online portal.

GSN was developed based on community feedback listening sessions and workgroups comprised of residents with lived experience, nonprofit staff, and local government representatives.

Delivery

GSN is rooted in a service delivery approach that is often referred to as an Integrated Services Delivery (ISD). ISD models connect people to multiple support services through sequencing and bundling so that people who need help can access what they need, when they need it. Research shows ISD strategies empower people to achieve better social, economic, and health outcomes.

UWGG and GSN partners are committed to tracking outcomes and providing annual updates. Data will be captured during intake at all partner locations and will be stored within GSN’s platform.

The Network will measure household progress towards self-sufficiency. Metrics include:

• Income
• Educational Attainment
• Housing
• Safety of Environment
• Health Condition
• Health Access
• Employment
• Work History
• Money Management
• Benefits

GSN pilot partners

While Guilford Success Network is an initiative of United Way of Greater Greensboro, there are many partners in developing and implementing the structure.

UWGG’s role is Coordinating Organization. The Coordinating Organization manages and coordinates the overall functioning of GSN. UWGG financially and programmatically supports the creation and development of the components of the Network.

United Way of Greater Greensboro staff most directly working on GSN are:

• Aden Hailemariam—Director, Guilford Success Network
• Traci McLemore—Chief Community Impact Officer

Coordinators are central to the service the Network provides:

• The Coordinator’s unique function is to help residents who become Members of GSN build, implement, and maintain a plan of services to help them reach their goals.
• Coordinators are responsible for creating bundled service/program recommendations and referrals for Guilford County residents based on their intake information.
• The Coordinator will participate in training for Coordinators and service providers, implementing a new technology platform for the Network, and participating in an evaluation of the Network.

Core Partners are agencies that agree to work with GSN by:

• Dedicating at least one of its programs and staff to participate in promoting GSN
• Helping residents sign up to be Members
• Providing the agency’s service(s) to Members using GSN’s online platform
• Working with Coordinators
• Attending trainings
• Participating in a community of practice

The Core Partners for the GSN pilot are:

• GuilfordWorks
• Housing Consultants Group
• Triad Goodwill
• Nehemiah Community Empowerment Center
• The Servant Center
• Welfare Reform Liaison Project
• Guilford Community Care Network
• The Forge Greensboro

Other Network partners include:

• Piedmont Triad Regional Council—hosting Coordinators
• MDC—guiding implementation of ISD, strategy, and network-building
• Equal Measure—developing an outcomes framework
• AJOY Consulting—developing a Network governance structure
• iWorkflow—developing the platform
• Navarac—providing project management
• Family Success Centers—insight on experience as an ISD initiative
• Members and other residents—insight on service needs and experience

During the pilot, Guilford Success Network will become operational on a limited scale to implement and evaluate major components of the initiative, such as:

• Coordinators
• Mix of services
• Online platform
• Community of practice