Partnerships.
Area Resources & Community Trust
Community Partnership
Established in 1998, Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS) is a 501c3 organization that provides grant funding and business consulting services to support area not-for-profit human service agencies.
​
The goals of ARCHS are to improve the lives of Greater St. Louis’ residents by convening strategic community partnerships.
​
ARCHS is one of 20 Community Partnership organizations serving the state of Missouri. The state-wide partnership concept grew out of a St. Louis-based program started in the early 1990s for St. Louis Caring Communities that was later expanded across the state by Missouri’s Governor and Legislature. These partnerships are coordinated through Missouri’s Family and Community Trust (FACT).
Family and Community Trust (FACT)
State Partnership
In November of 1993 an Executive Order (93-43) was signed that established The Family Investment Trust (FIT) to promote collaboration and innovation in service delivery for Missouri’s children and families.
It called for change in the way services were delivered, where services were delivered and mandated that local decision-making be utilized in the process.
​
These changes were to drive a new and different relationship between state government and communities. This model approach was then known as Caring Communities.
​
FIT was set up as a private/public board that included the leaders of state departments as well as community leaders from the corporate and civic arenas to guide the general direction and engage communities in the work of Caring Communities.
​
In 2001, this work was reaffirmed by Executive Order (01-07), but the organization was renamed The Family and Community Trust (FACT) to better emphasize the role of communities in the work.
​
Twenty-one Caring Community organizations were established around the state to implement this innovative approach with six core result areas as their focus.
Those Core Results are Parents Working, Children Safe, Children Ready to Enter School, Children & Families Healthy, Children & Youth Succeeding in School, and Youth Ready to Enter the Work Force.
​
There are currently twenty Community Partnerships across Missouri. These non-profit organizations work in concert with local, state, and federal partners to implement effective community strategies to meet local needs.