Technology Unifies CHRIS Kids' Work Deborah Held Maslia April 14, 2006

CHRIS Kids Inc., an Atlanta nonprofit that provides social services for some of the city's most troubled youths, has utilized technology to improve its services and increase its thriftiness.

For this, the agency has been selected as one of three finalists for the fifth annual Technology Innovation Award, which will be presented at this year's TechBridge Digital Ball on May 6.

"Effectively utilizing technology at CHRIS Kids is essential to the success of our work," said Kathy Colbenson, CEO of CHRIS Kids, via e-mail.

Indeed, the nonprofit has spent the past three years trying to make its community model more economically viable, said Angela Scobey, CHRIS Kids' grant writer. The costs of being spread out in the community are high, from the expenses of managing the group homes to the expenses of travel. Also costly is the necessary labor involved in managing documents from social workers in the field.

CHRIS Kids utilized KaleidaCare -- a case management and reporting software provider for social services organizations -- for its much needed Web-based, portable technology. The agency and KaleidaCare customized the program to collect, store, transfer and analyze client and social services' data from multiple sites and various purposes.

The paperless system not only cut the costs of clerical staffing and overhead, but helps meet Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy mandates.

Additional technological tools were implemented. Private grants provided laptops and wireless access to social workers. The laptops reduced unnecessary office travel, especially since CHRIS Kids developed an intranet for the posting of documents, organizational information and other vital agency news in 2004.

Fund-raising has improved as costs are cut and a greater percentage of charitable dollars can be traced to directly helping more than 800 of Atlanta's neediest children per year, according to CHRIS Kids staff.

"As CHRIS Kids moves forward, we will continue to rely on technology to help us maximize and maintain the economic viability of our unique and highly effective community-based service model," Colbenson said.

This is especially important for a nonprofit such as CHRIS Kids.

CHRIS Kids' mission, as per its Web site, is "to break the cycle of abuse by healing children, strengthening families and building community."