1. Public Services Institute: A Catalyst for Change

2. Establishment of PSI Influence of Kettering Foundation
Impetus & Start Up Funding
Established in1988 by Dr. Roy Church & Dr. Jeptha Carrell
Start up funding provided by
Nord Family Foundation
The George Gund Foundation
The Stocker Foundation
Founding Director, James Kunde, served as Kettering Fellow
Others Kettering fellows (early influences) were James Shanahan and Anita Fonte
Strong continuation of this work to this day:
“Public talk”
Neutral convening and facilitation
Group processes
PSI since worked with other nationally recognized experts like AmericaSpeaks, National Issues Forum, the Harwood Institute, & Public Agenda

3. Mission
Utilize the resources of higher education to assist not-for-profit organizations and governments with strategic thinking, planning, decision making, and problem solving through quality, affordable process and research services.
Early offerings:
Board Mentor Program
Training & Development (Elected Officials Institute)
Public Services Internship Program
Facilitation Services
Strategic Planning
Data, Research, & Evaluation Services

4. Information Arm of PSI Joint Center for Policy Research
Data, Research, Evaluation Services
Initiated in 1989 through partnership with University of Akron Center for Urban Studies
Focused on areas of national, state, regional, and local policy importance
Secondary data services (census data, labor market information, etc.)
Primary data collection
Quantitative survey research
Qualitative research (focus group discussions, key informant or in-depth-interviews, case studies, etc)
Literature reviews
Policy analysis
Outcome based evaluation services

5. PSI = Community Capacity Building
Deliberately bringing people together to plan and problem solve
Informing conversations with factual information (using quality data and research processes)
Facilitating community work in a neutral manner
Quality process design to help people and groups find common ground and achieve results
Service to non profits and governments to enhance organizational effectiveness and efficiency
Significant community service contribution at little-no cost to LCCC

6. Local & Regional Impact
Education, Workforce Development, Economic Development, Government Collaboration

7. Education 1988-89 1993-95 LCCC University Partnership 2000-01
Research, Community Engagement/Education (Ford/MacArthur Grants)
Research, Community Engagement/Education
Statewide Research for Ohio Board of Regents/Enterprise Ohio Network
Research, Leadership Engagement, Civic Engagement, Strategic Planning
Center for Leadership in Education
ReachHigher P-16 as spinoff
LCCC University Partnership
LCCC Skills Max Center
Eastern Gateway CC

8. Workforce Development
Comprehensive Analysis (State of Work, the Worker, and the Workplace), & Leadership Engagement
Regional IT Study for NorTech and NEOSA
Workforce Institute
LCCC RITE BOARD

9. Economic Development 1998-99 GLIDE 2003-04
Convening/Facilitation of Digital Economy Task Force
Regional Research, Leadership Engagement
16 County Civic & Leadership Engagement (Voices & Choices)
GLIDE
Fund for Our Economic Future
NEO’s 1st Economic Development Plan (Advance Northeast Ohio); Piloted key pad polling, theme team, other tools for the region

10. Government Collaboration
Convening/Facilitation leading to 1st formal Council of Government (COG) in Lorain County/PSI Fiscal Agent
Leadership Engagement for Northeast Ohio Mayors and City Managers Association (Regional Prosperity Initiative)
Facilitation/Strategic Planning assistance to Elyria Health District and Lorain Health District
Lorain County Community Alliance (LCCA)
Formal resource sharing between districts (Shared Commissioner, Nursing Director, Medical Director)
HUD $4.5M Grant & start up of NEOSCC (Sustainable Communities Consortium)

11. Community Development
Market Assessment for Metro Parks & City of Oberlin
Splash Zone
Organizational Effectiveness
Strategic Planning Assistance (last few years alone)
Elyria Township
Oberlin Underground Railroad Center
Lorain City
Oberlin City
Lorain County Urban League
Zion CDC
U.S. Fab Lab Network
Lorain County Health District
Elyria City Health District
Team Lorain County
United Way of Greater Lorain County