One area in which visitors to Stark County have intense interest is "how did you moved to pooled funding?" Often county representatives are confused by this question because pooled funding is not a recognized end in this county. As mentioned earlier, one of the unique aspects of Stark County involves the Executive level buy-in and ongoing activity regarding System of Care Development. At that level, Executives realize that their relationships with each other are as important as the relationship between a family and direct service provider. Early on in the development of the county's infrastructure, Executive level participants began to realize how important this trust is. They realized that in order to create a cooperative culture in which joint risk-taking could occur, System Executives would need to get to know each other apart from their roles, nameplates and desks. One parent in Stark County summed it up when she described her first retreat with system level executives. In describing it she indicated that it felt just like a parent support group.

In order to get to know each other Stark County System Executives committed time together in planning retreats. Ranging from several hours to two days, these retreats were a neutral place where participants came together to discuss values and develop a common vision. Participants spent time getting to know each other as people. For example, at one session they set aside time to talk about what it is like for them as parents in Stark County rather than solely focusing on their work roles. This allowed a basis for getting to know each other in a fundamental human way and set the tone for follow-up commitments. The retreats also set the stage for cross system values clarification which has become the template for policy level decision making. It is important to note that the retreats had trained facilitators with clearly stated goals (Appendix U). The policy level retreats created a mechanism for developing common vision. The next step was to trust each other enough to have a practical conversation about what resources were needed to actualize that common vision.

Joint risk taking became easier once Executive level people knew who they were taking the risks with. Those risks included the decision to pool funding, jointly manage deep end care as well as create a publicly recognized infrastructure which would be accountable for joint decision making. In the case of pooled funding, Executives from each system recognized that they had joint resources they could put on the table if they trusted their partners from other systems enough. Building the trust was time consuming and represented a tremendous commitment on the part of System Executives. Getting to know each other on a personal level was a critical step towards risking to trust each other. Without the heavy investment of time to get to know each other, Stark County would not have been able to move to the next level of creating an infrastructure with a common vision and clear structures. The trust eventually built at the Executive level also created the opportunity for other stakeholders to join in continuous review of guiding principles. All other system structures are only important when seen in the light of the common vision. This was accomplished through a strategic and intentional attempt to get to know each other and build trust.

This initial investment in building trust allows the Stark County Family Council to weather difficult times. For example, in recent months, one of the Executives had to reduce his financial participation in the pooled fund. Because of the relationship built in the early years of development, other Board of Trustees members were able to plan around this financial situation until he could stabilize his funding internally. This would not have happened without the opportunity for these players to get to know one another and develop a high level of trust. The level of trust allowed the Family Council to avoid a fiscal crisis.

In the end, pooling funding is an activity which many counties have successfully been able to accomplish. What makes Stark County unique is that pooling funding is only one activity within a larger culture of cross system trust building. This has allowed the county to do more than simply create a pooled fund which can become quickly overtaxed in a complex service system. By focusing on trust all resources within all systems can be considered in developing a responsive system for children and families. This has allowed Stark County to experience a dynamic process in which participants can stay at the table.