Melinda Zimmerman smiled in hopes of covering up a wince of pain as her son climbed carefully onto her lap.

Seven-year-old Jesse had just awakened and came outside to check on his mother, who is recovering from back surgery.

"He's a wonderful boy," Zimmerman said, as she held her son and kissed his head.

Jesse and his mom are the people Caring Communities want to help.

It's a complicated, inter-linking puzzle of people and agencies organized in Cape Girardeau under a big umbrella called the Community Caring Council.

Years ago, each part of the puzzle was separate, working on its own to bring services like counseling and job training to families.

In 1990, State Rep. Mary Kasten of Cape Girardeau organized the council, bringing together people from the different service agencies to talk and look for common ground.

At the same time, the state of Missouri had come to the conclusion that directing social services from Jefferson City without much local input or control wasn't working.

The Caring Communities initiative began in 1996. It's not a grant. Rather it's a collaboration.

State agencies including the Departments of social services, health, mental health, elementary and secondary education and labor and industrial relations, pooled some of their state funding and sent the money to communities. The state agencies also sent control of how those dollars are spent to local communities.

"We write our own plan for what we need here," said Shirley Ramsey, executive director of Cape Girardeau Community Caring Council. The plan and its expenditures are reviewed and approved by the state agencies.

In Cape Girardeau, the Caring Communities initiative has targeted four neighborhoods, which are served by four public schools: Franklin, May Greene, Washington and Jefferson. A full-time coordinator works in each neighborhood, paid through Caring Communities.

Parents, residents of the neighborhood and school personnel serve on Neighborhood Advisory Councils.

Most of the ideas about how to spend the pooled state dollars come from these groups.

Denise Lincoln serves on the Neighborhood Advisory Council for the Franklin neighborhood.

"I'm impressed to see state agencies trying to overcome some of the barriers that have really prevented collaborative help giving in the past," Lincoln said.

"It's nice to see them give up competitiveness and really start striving to service the community."

As part of the Neighborhood Advisory Council, Lincoln explained, parents can be advocates for change and recommendations are heard.

For example, Caring Communities money was spent at Franklin School to train teachers in the Boys Town discipline model, one with a proven track record at May Greene Elementary.

"The Franklin staff knew about it and were implementing it, but parents didn't know anything about it," Lincoln explained.

The Neighborhood Advisory Council suggested a class on the Boys Town model for parents, which was funded.

"We as parents wanted to know so we could under-gird what they were doing at school."

Lincoln thinks the neighborhood councils will evolve over the next few years to expand outside school issues to a more neighborhood focus.

"I would like to see more senior adults and business people get involved," she said. "But there's time."

Ramsey said this grassroots approach is a dramatic change in the way service agencies do business.

"It used to be you had to go to the DFS office to do business with a social worker. Now that social worker is housed at a school in your neighborhood."

The state agencies haven't divorced themselves from the money. They keep careful watch over how the funds are spent. Budgets must be submitted and approved, and measurable outcomes are required for each program.

In addition, all the committees and councils involved in planning also watch to see how the money was spent.

"We document everything, and we are open to anybody who has a question," Ramsey said.

Caring Communities is starting to see results. It paid for teachers at May Greene Elementary School to be trained in the Boys Town behavioral model. "We wanted to see discipline referrals go down at least 5 percent," said Chrissy Warren, Caring Communities program director.

The program evaluation showed discipline referrals at the school went down 7.2 percent.

Washington Elementary School started an after-school sports program, funded in part by Caring Communities. "One of the goals was to see a 50 percent increase in the amount of homework turned in by children involved in the program," Warren said. "We met that goal."

The Community Caring Council itself has no budget and no funding. It's executive director, Shirley Ramsey, is paid by the Department of Social Services through an arrangement that pre-dates the statewide initiative.

The Caring Communities initiative received $619,780 this year, representing a 5 percent cut. The initiative money is subject to the same fluctuations as state agencies.

Add in-kind donations and other state and federal money to Caring Communities funds and $1.9 million is spent on the various projects.

"Coordination is important, but I think collaboration is more important," Ramsey said "You build trust when you come together with a common mission."

Instead of doling out Caring Community dollars in the form of mini-grants, the money is often linked with money from other sources to fund a project. That's collaboration.

And an example is the GREAT summer camp for children, a collaborative effort of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, Cape Girardeau Public Schools and Caring Communities.

GREAT is funded with a $10,000 Department of Public Safety grant to the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Caring Communities adds $600 and another $2,800 in in-kind donations of space and supplies makes up the budget.

Police officers lead the camp to teach children personal safety and how to resist gangs.

Jesse Zimmerman attended GREAT camp at Washington Elementary School.

The school-site coordinator came to his house to remind his mother that camp was starting.

"I was so happy she did. I had just gotten out of the hospital, and I had forgotten all about the camp," Zimmerman said. "Jesse love it, didn't you?" The boy nodded.

This wasn't the first trip a Caring Communities staff person had made to Zimmerman's home.

"She brought me taxi coupons one time so I could get to my doctor's appointments," Zimmerman said. "That was a surprise, but it sure did help."

The Caring Communities folks also worked out an arrangement to ensure Jesse's safe arrival at school each morning. "I was afraid to send him by himself. He's so little," Zimmerman said.

Because of her back injury, she wasn't able to walk the child to school. So each morning, she set him off to school knowing that someone was waiting just for Jesse at the school building.

"They have been wonderful," Zimmerman said. "And I know it has made a big difference for my family."

GOALS OF CARING COMMUNITIES

This Cape Girardeau program is one of 18 in Missouri. all 18 target the same six core results:

-- Parents working.

-- Children safe in their families and families safe in their communities.

-- Young children ready to enter school.

-- Children and youths succeeding in school.

-- Children and families that are healthy.

-- Youths ready to enter the work force and become productive citizens.

ORGANIZATION OF COMMUNITY CARING COUNCIL

Community Caring Council

98 agencies, organizations and individuals that work together for a common goal of strengthening families. No budget.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Three positions inlude:

Executive director, $40,667

Business manager, $37,500

Administrative assistant, $19,364

Salaries totaling $97,531 paid by Caring Communities programs.

STANDING COMMITTEES

*Aging

*Children's issues

*Conference and education

*Health

*Fund raising

*Work opportunities and subcommittees

*Employment

*Transportation

CARING COMMUNITIES COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP RESOURCE BOARD

Made up of four neighborhood sites based on location of schools:

*May Greene

*Franklin

*Jefferson

*Washington

Boards meet individually and make recommendation to council.

Funded by state:

Fiscal agent fee, 3.8%, $23,838

Operation (rent, utilities, liability insurance, office equipment, etc.), 6.4%, $39,399

Administration, 15.8%, $97,531

Programs, 74%, $459,012

COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS

Organizations working in conjunction with council but not part of council:

*Educare

*Cape Girardeau Public Schools

*Cape County Public Health Center

*Cape Girardeau Police Dept.

*Community Counseling Center

*Community 2000

*Court-Appointed Special Advocates

*Division of Family Services

*East Community Action Agency

*Family Resource Center Board

*First Steps

*Job Service

*Private Industry Council

*Regional Inter-Agency Network

*Southeast Missouri State University

*Teen Pregnancy Responsibility Network

*United Way

*University Extension and Outreach