Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries Officially Launches ValleyConnect, Strengthening Regional Collaboration and Access to Community Resources
YOUNGSTOWN – Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries, Inc. officially launched ValleyConnect Tuesday morning, introducing a regional network designed to strengthen collaboration among organizations and help individuals and families throughout Mahoning and Trumbull counties connect with the resources and services they need.
Community leaders and regional partners gathered at Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries’ headquarters to celebrate the launch and learn more about the initiative. Powered by Unite Us, the nation’s trusted technology partner for integrating health and community-based care, ValleyConnect provides a shared technology platform that helps participating organizations coordinate referrals, communicate across service systems, and follow up on connections to support.
The initiative is a core component of the Assembly for Workforce Solutions (AWS), a regional effort focused on addressing barriers to workforce participation and strengthening pathways to opportunity. ValleyConnect brings together organizations across healthcare, behavioral health, human services, workforce development, education, government, and other sectors.
“Our community is filled with organizations doing incredible work to support individuals and families,” said Carol Holmes-Chambers, Vice President of Community & Workforce Development at Goodwill. “ValleyConnect gives us another way to connect that work, strengthen partnerships, and help people navigate the resources available to them. By working together, we can create stronger pathways to wellbeing and opportunity throughout our region.”
While the Mahoning Valley has a wide range of community resources, individuals and families can sometimes encounter disconnected systems, repeated intake processes, and uncertainty about what happens after a referral is made. ValleyConnect is designed to help address these challenges by creating clearer pathways between participating organizations.
Through the platform, organizations can send and receive electronic referrals, communicate about service connections, and track referral outcomes. With appropriate consent and access permissions, participating partners can better understand whether individuals have successfully connected with the services they need.
ValleyConnect also has the potential to help the region better understand emerging community needs, identify gaps in services, and make more informed decisions about program development and resource allocation. By examining aggregated network information, community partners can gain insight into referral patterns and opportunities for greater coordination.
Importantly, ValleyConnect does not replace existing programs, services, or relationships. Instead, it provides shared infrastructure to help organizations work together more effectively while maintaining their individual missions and areas of expertise. The network is designed to support secure, consent-based information sharing, with access governed by appropriate permissions.
“ValleyConnect gives Mahoning Valley organizations an efficient and secure way to send referrals, share updates with consent, and track the outcomes of services delivered,” said Allison Esber, Community Strategy Manager at Unite Us. “We’re focused on bringing more community organizations into the network, so each one can keep doing what it does best while the whole community benefits. We’re proud to work alongside Goodwill and the Assembly for Workforce Solutions to make that happen.”
Help Network of Northeast Ohio, a longstanding community resource and referral organization, also emphasized the opportunity to build upon existing services and partnerships to expand the region’s collective impact.
“Help Network has long served as a trusted connection point for individuals and families seeking help throughout our community,” said Vince Brancaccio of Help Network of Northeast Ohio. “ValleyConnect gives us an opportunity to build on that role by strengthening the connections between people, organizations, and the resources available to them. No single organization can meet every need on its own. When we collaborate, communicate, and make it easier for people to move between services, we amplify the impact of the entire community.”
That emphasis on collaboration was echoed throughout the launch by community leaders, including State Representative Lauren McNally, Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell, and Maria Spencer of the Early Childhood Resource Center. Each spoke about the importance of moving beyond organizational and sector boundaries and working collectively toward the common good of the community.
Spencer also shared lessons from her organization’s experience with Unite Us in Stark County, noting that referrals more than doubled after the platform was adopted. Her experience offered a tangible example of what can happen when technology is paired with strong community partnerships, making it easier for organizations to connect individuals and families to resources while strengthening coordination across the broader service network.
The message reflected a central theme of the ValleyConnect launch: the technology itself is only one part of the work. The greater opportunity lies in how organizations use it together to strengthen relationships, improve coordination, and build a more connected system of support for the Mahoning Valley.
Goodwill and the Assembly for Workforce Solutions is leading the initiative in collaboration with regional coalitions, organizations, and community partners. The effort reflects a shared commitment to improving how the region responds to community needs and connects people with opportunities.
Organizations serving Mahoning and Trumbull counties are encouraged to explore participation in ValleyConnect. Eligible community-based organizations and other regional partners can learn more about onboarding, training, and participation by visiting goodwillyoungstown.org/valleyconnect.
As ValleyConnect moves forward, its success will depend on the organizations that join the network and the partnerships they build. Together, these connections can help create a more coordinated community where individuals and families have clearer pathways to the support, resources, and opportunities they need.
About Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries, Inc.
Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries is a nonprofit organization serving communities throughout Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Beyond its retail operations, Goodwill provides programs and services that support workforce development, education, employment, and community wellbeing. Through partnerships and mission-driven initiatives, the organization works to empower individuals, overcome barriers, and create opportunities for people throughout the region.
About Unite Us
Unite Us is the nation’s premier technology provider for integrating health and community-based care. Our proven product suite is used to proactively identify needs using advanced analytics, coordinate services between sectors in real-time, streamline referral and case management, and facilitate eligibility assessments and reimbursements across government, healthcare, health plans, and community organizations. The first of its kind, our closed-loop referral system prioritizes privacy and dignity and has integrated data and analytics tools used to measure impact, optimize programs, and shape policy. With over 2.1M services, we host the nation’s largest network of community-based health and economic services dedicated to improving whole-person health. Learn more at UniteUs.com and LinkedIn.
CUTLINE: (From left) Carol Holmes-Chambers, Youngstown Area Goodwill’s Vice President of Community and Workforce Development; Shelley Murray, Youngstown Area Goodwill CEO; Mary Brown, Unite Us Senior Customer Success Manager; and Allison Esber, Unite Us Community Strategy Manager.
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