State-level officials who normally spend their days calculating budgets for the Department of Social Services, Division of Youth Services and the House of Representatives are here taking a look at one of the projects they help fund.

The budgeters are learning about Cape Girardeau's Community Caring Council.

"They are here to look at innovative programs in Cape Girardeau," said Shirley Ramsey, executive director. "We're letting them see the real world."

Today, the group will visit May Greene Elementary School to learn about the school's Caring Communities Program and the expansion of the program to other Cape Girardeau elementary schools. The Caring Communities Program brings together service agencies and the school system to help children and families.

The Community Caring Council started in 1989 through the work of State Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau.

The council promotes coordination between service providers, churches, the business community and the educational system to help families and individuals become more resourceful, responsible and self-reliant.

Today, more than 98 agencies and organizations are involved.

The council has developed a number of other projects to serve specific needs. For example, agencies pool their resources in an inter-agency staffing team.

Sometimes children or families have a multitude of problems being addressed by several different agencies. In the past as many as six agencies could be working with a family, offering six different suggestions on what to do. None of the six agencies was aware of the advice being given by the others.

With the Inter-Agency Staffing Team, the six agency representatives sit down with the family to develop one unified plan of action.

Other projects are Court Appointed Special Advocates for children, First Steps project, Teen Pregnancy and Responsibility Network and Americorps.

Cape Girardeau's work through the Community Caring Council has become a model for other communities across the state to follow, officials said.