Letter from the executive director | by Scott Wituk

Scott Wituk

I hope you will join us this year in celebrating CCSR’s 30^th anniversary. Over the past three decades we have been fortunate to contribute to many local and statewide initiatives to improve the health and well-being of Kansans. These projects have reached thousands of Kansans through community coalitions, grassroots groups, nonprofits, civic and government institutions, self-help support groups, public health departments, state agencies, community foundations, schools, local businesses and other groups and organizations that are the fabric of Kansas communities. 

A handful of the initiatives from the past 30 years include:

• Community Development For Healthy Children
• Healthy Community Initiative
• Compassion Kansas
• Project Access
• A Statewide Network of Consumer Run Organizations (CROs)
• Leadership training and coaching for SRS, KDADS, and KDHE staff
• Building a Statewide Network of Certified Peer Specialists (CPSs)

In addition, we have maintained one of the largest collections of self-help support groups in the United States, providing access to hundreds of support groups for Kansans who are interested in helping and benefiting from other Kansans who share similar experiences. A true example of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. 

In order to be most responsive to the needs of Kansas communities and organizations, we’ve focused our efforts into several service areas (described in more detail below), including:  Leadership Development, Organizational Capacity Building, Community Collaboration, Research & Evaluation, and our Mental Health Initiative. It is through these services areas, often working together, that we can assist individuals, organizations, and communities as they make progress on the issues most important to them.  

Some may know that Evelyn Middlestadt, a Wichita social worker, started the Self-Help Network from her kitchen table. After her idea grew, Dr. Greg Meissen brought the Self-Help Network to Wichita State University in the late 1980s. Dr. Meissen, along with others, contributed to its growth into the Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR).  Over the years, we grew from several small offices in the corner of Jabara Hall to occupying several floors at the WSU Downtown Center at Third Street & Main. Staff grew from under a handful to now over 40 full and part-time staff. The continued dedication and commitment of CCSR staff to providing the highest quality of work and assistance is why this Center has been as successful and why it remains a special place that I’m glad to be a part of for the past 20 years of my career. 

While much has been accomplished, CCSR and its Kansas partners, have much more to do. I look forward to the future and excited about the possibilities.  

This letter is from the 2013 Annual Report. For the rest of the document, go to:  http://www.wichita.edu/ccsr/ccsrannualreport.

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