In response to a call by Gov. Ted Strickland and Chief Justice Thomas Moyer at an event called the Ohio
Summit on Children, representatives of area schools, law enforcement, local government and social
service agencies gathered Friday for Wood County’s own “Summit on Children.”
The goal was to bring together people with a common interest — the welfare of this county’s children —
who don’t normally get the chance to meet at the same table and spend an entire day brainstorming ideas.

The nearly two dozen agencies and individuals represented offered lively discussion on top needs
currently facing the county’s children, top challenges facing agencies, and possible solutions.
Many spoke of finding ways to “do more with less” since state funding sources “aren’t what we’d hope,” as
Dave Wigent from Wood County Job and Family Services pointed out.
Better collaboration between agencies and the flip side, possible redundancy in services offered,
concerned many.
“Since 1998 we’ve been battling to get the word out to the public on what’s out there,” noted Paulette
Stephens, JFS director. But even well-intentioned programs such as No Wrong Door, where citizens may
call any county agency and be instantly connected to the correct agency that will help them, and the 211
phone line “haven’t gotten us where we need to be. One problem is the constant turnover” of staff, she
believes. “We train receptionists and then they leave.”
Jim Snider from the Wood County Educational Service Center wondered if “maybe we have too many agencies
trying to do the same things. Maybe have fewer agencies (address a particular problem) and put more
people out there doing the work” in the field.
On-site services out in communities around Wood County, instead of centralized services only from Bowling
Green, may be an idea whose time has come.
The issue of suicide prevention drew much attention.
Bill Donnelly from the Children’s Resource Center said those at his table, during earlier small-group
brainstorming, felt the need for “training for first responders — the need for them to have more
training and resources. No one wants this to happen but kids may make a suicide attempt and get arrested
for inciting a panic,” he offered as an theoretical example. “So that’s a mismatch, obviously.”
“We respect that there are issues about suicide that are different for first responders than for teachers
and parents,” he added, so “cross-training for professionals” was recommended.
Donnelly also said his group had “passionate advocates for parent training even before people become
parents” and especially at “transition points, like when their kids are transitioning to adolescence.”

Other ideas posed:
• Finding out what parents actually want, instead of assuming we know;
• Tapping into the rich resource of local senior citizens as mentors. “I think over the years we’ve lost
some of that intergenerational influence,” Wigent said.
• Doing the same with community leaders in private organizations such as 4-H, Boy and Girl Scouts and
faith-based groups;
• Having one designated grant writer for the entire county, instead of each entity trying to apply for
grants on their own, as everyone seeks necessary alternate sources of funding;
• Treating the schools as community centers.
Cynthia Beekley, retired superintendent of Springfield Local Schools and facilitator for the day,
suggested placing personnel “from social service agencies in your schools, even if you only staff it two
or three days a week, at first.”
• More involvement by youth themselves, recognizing that positive youth really can influence other youth
as programs like the Red Ribbon Campaign demonstrate.
“Sometimes I think we have real untapped resources in kids, particularly with the new technology they are
using,” Beekley commented.
“One of the things we as a community can do is lobby for each other,” said Kelly Hickle-Lentz, children’s
services supervisor with Job and Family Services. When one agency or entity is threatened with a loss of
funding this would serve as “a voice with the state and feds sending the message ‘That is not OK! You
have to knock it off!’”
Photo captions: Kelly Hickle-Lentz speaks to group at summit on children (J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)