BVU, Family Access Center Join in Strategic Partnership
Through a partnership with Buena Vista University, Family Access Center offers additional opportunities and educational benefits for its employees and their eligible family members.
Buena Vista University (BVU) and Family Access Center have positioned themselves as Strategic Partners to help strengthen the workforce and the communities they serve.
This partnership allows for employees of Family Access Center, as well as eligible family members of full-time employees, to receive grant funding to lower the overall cost of education while enrolled in classes at BVU’s Storm Lake campus. Partner grant funding also lowers the cost per credit hour for students enrolled in BVU’s convenient online/hybrid undergraduate programs or the organizational leadership graduate program.
“We believe that education is important, specifically in the areas of service we provide,” says Family Access Center Executive Director/CEO Janelle Tomoson. “Oftentimes the employees we hire are new in their role or career and still working on their education, so this is a great partnership to work with Buena Vista University so not only can our employees benefit, but our clients will also ultimately end up benefitting.”
Family Access Center provides child welfare services, mental health assessments, substance use and addiction evaluations and treatment, mental health psychotherapy, behavioral health intervention services, and Iowa Domestic Abuse Program services to residents in the tri-state region of Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
“I have a special place in my heart for BVU, because that’s where I got my BSW to become a social worker and had a lot of wonderful growth and learning opportunities.”
Family Access Center’s Supervisor of Substance Use Disorder Services Sara Staver, a 2014 BVU graduate
Focused on “Making tomorrow better than today,” Family Access Center has more than 100 employees at locations in Council Bluffs, Sioux City, and Spencer. The organization also contracts with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to provide child welfare in-home services in 30 counties throughout western Iowa.
“I have a special place in my heart for BVU, because that’s where I got my BSW to become a social worker and had a lot of wonderful growth and learning opportunities,” says Family Access Center’s Supervisor of Substance Use Disorder Services Sara Staver, who earned her bachelor’s degree in social work in 2014. “Education propelled me throughout my career, and I still use it today not only throughout my own work clinically, but with my work educationally, and my work with others.”
“Helping others smile is part of my dream,” says Family Access Center Family Centered-Services Supervisor Gabby Miller, who is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in human services through BVU’s Online & Hybrid Programs. “If I do this every day, my goal is complete.”
BVU has long enjoyed strong educational ties in and around Council Bluffs, Sioux City, and Spencer, home to Iowa Western Community College, Western Iowa Tech Community College, and Iowa Lakes Community College, respectfully, campuses that have collaborated with BVU for decades. Students enrolled in a program through Iowa Western, WITCC, or Iowa Lakes can seamlessly transfer their credits toward their bachelor’s degree at BVU. Students receive personalized support including admissions and enrollment counseling and academic advising right in Council Bluffs and Spencer through BVU’s offices on the Iowa Western, WITCC, and Iowa Lakes campuses.
“A partnership with Family Access Center, an organization that aims to empower others, provides opportunities to strengthen Family Access Center’s employees and their family members, as well as the communities we both serve,” says BVU Director of Strategic Partnerships Laura Todd. “We look forward to this Strategic Partnership with Family Access Center and the opportunities we are helping to create for many individuals.”
For more information about BVU’s Strategic Partnerships and partner opportunities, please visit the BVU website at bvu.edu/strategic-partnerships or contact Strategic Partnerships at StrategicPartnerships@bvu.edu.