After more than a decade of war in Afghanistan and years of combat in Iraq, thousands of returning service members struggle with injury, post-traumatic stress or other challenging problems. The lives of more than 6,200 families changed forever when they lost family members in these wars. The Rochester NY nonprofit Veterans Outreach Center, recognized as a national model, enlisted CGR as a partner to develop a replicable and scalable best-practice blueprint to be used by communities nationwide to build integrated systems supporting veterans and their families. NYS Health Foundation provided funding.

The United Way of Greater Rochester NY seeks to target community resources more strategically through a well regarded Blueprint for Change process. To provide more effective crisis and financial stability services in Rochester and Monroe County, CGR proposes 4 strategies for the United Way, identifies 15 promising programs that align with them, and also identifies what is needed for programs to succeed.

To help the Veterans Outreach Center serving the Greater Rochester NY region address veterans’ reintegration issues, CGR brought together 140 stakeholders in specially designed summits. Exposing veterans who had recently served in the military, family members and service providers to different perspectives, and having them work together to identify issues and craft solutions was powerful. The outcome is a “roadmap” for the community.

In a separate engagement, funding from Harris Beach law firm enabled CGR to conduct a day-long summit on veteran’s reintegration in the Syracuse area, drawing together veterans, family members, community-based and Veterans Administration-based service providers.  CGR's report details local priorities, service gaps and solutions suggested collaboratively by the almost 70 participants.

Dutchess County NY has engaged CGR many times over the years to help the county in its ongoing drive to integrate the human service delivery system and make it more effective. One of CGR’s reports for the county involved reviewing the Department of Mental Hygiene and the broad system of services it provides. CGR found no evidence of unneeded or redundant services or programs, but concluded that service delivery would be improved by providing expanded supervision, training and staff development support to the contract agencies that now represent the core of the service system. CGR also recommended instituting enhanced internal efficiencies and controls and improving use of data for management purposes.