The Children's Cabinet Inc.
Sheila Leslie, Executive Director
1090 S. Rock Blvd.
Reno, Nev. 89502
(702) 785-4000
(702) 785-4020

Reno's "central control tower" for problems involving children and their families, this outstanding public-private partnership rates as one of the nation's most innovative and replicable model programs.

Established in 1985, The Children's Cabinet came about as the result of a businessman's dream, with the help of a family court judge and a caring community. When local developer Mike Dermody, who wanted to do something serious to help local youngsters, and Judge Charles McGee, who saw the deep problems troubling many of Reno's families on his court docket, put their weight behind an effort to make things changed, the community's welfare establishment and non-profits listened.

They started with a simple but brilliant concept that remains at the core of this model's success: Every major player in child and family services became a member of the board of a new non-profit, called "The Children's Cabinet" because, like a cabinet, it brought together the leaders of organizations to work together to solve problems.

Starting with a simple intake process to ensure that youngsters entering the system didn't fall through cracks, it quickly evolved into a multiple-service organization providing a score of programs, operated with remarkable efficiency through a high level of public-private partnership. Dermody, for instance, financed the director's salary for the first year; grants came from government and private sources; and the organization drew its staff from employees of the various local agencies, assigned to the Cabinet on a rotating basis. Now boasting a staff of 35 (and countless volunteers) and an annual budget of about $2.25 million, it works out of an impressive complex of three white buildings on a grassy "campus" in an industrial and commercial park on Reno's southeast side.

Here's a look at just a few of its innovative programs: