LAKE HAVASU CITY – A virtual one-stop shop connecting employment, housing, education, re-entry, and supportive resources already is helping those seeking the services and those providing the services in Mohave and La Paz County.
That was the message from a recent meeting involving providers discussing how an Atlas Partner Portal program is working. The meeting was held Friday morning at the Mohave College campus in Lake Havasu City.
“If you are not using it, you need to use Atlas” said Jason Millin, the One-Stop Operator for Arizona at Work in Mohave and La Paz counties.
The days of tediously pouring over spreadsheets to track individuals going through varied vital social service agencies should be over, Millin said. He said his work on Excel spreadsheets used to take up to 35 hours to complete, but now has been significantly reduced with the more efficient virtual program.
Michael Smith, Mohave County Community Services Director, said he and colleagues were looking into a better way to track needed vital services for the county’s residents and while at a conference in Las Vegas a couple of years ago came across the Atlas program.
The virtual program checked all the boxes to efficiently track different social service programs that can provide help for individuals, Smith said.
Friday’s meeting served as an opportunity for providers curious about the program to ask about how it works or for those using it to address lingering questions.
Smith and other presenters described the services offered as not closing out a case when one set of concerns is resolved for an individual but efficiently moving that person on to another provider as needed.
Presenters said they want the use of the Atlas Partner Portal to continue to broaden.
‘We want to expand it and leverage it,” said Sara Ungaro, Workforce Development Manager for Mohave County.
Funding for different social service programs can change quickly, Ungaro said. With more organizations in the Atlas portal and tagged with the services they provide, gaps in assistance can be filled quicker, she said.
Currently, there are 127 provider partners on the Atlas portal, Ungaro said.
“This is a community partnership,” Smith said. He added that he hoped various chamber organizations tout the benefits of Atlas Partner Portal and use it as a broadcasting tool for events as well.
