How Community Partners Strengthen Michigan's Safety Net

June 29, 2026·9 min read

Why No Single Organization Can Catch Everyone, and How We Catch More Together

Picture a safety net. The kind that catches someone before they fall too far.

Now picture the holes in it. The gaps where people slip through. A family that loses their housing and does not know where to turn. A senior who needs care but never finds the program that could help. A student who drops out over a bill nobody knew they were struggling to pay.

Every community has a safety net, and every safety net has holes. The question is not whether the gaps exist. The question is who works to close them.

At The Information Center, we have an answer we believe in deeply. We close the gaps together. Not alone, and not by accident, but through real partnerships with the hospitals, clinics, churches, schools, nonprofits, and neighbors who serve the same families we do.

We call it mending the safety net. And it is some of the most important work we do.

This blog is for the people who help us do it. The community partners who already share our number, and the ones who have not heard of us yet. If you run an organization that touches the lives of older adults, people with disabilities, families, students, or anyone facing a hard moment, this is for you.

Want to become a referral partner? Call us at 734-282-7171. We will tell you exactly how it works, and yes, we refer back to you too.

Why No Single Organization Can Do It Alone

Here is a truth that anyone in this work already knows. No single organization can meet every need.

A hospital can stabilize a patient, but it cannot furnish their apartment when they leave a nursing facility. A church can offer food and fellowship, but it cannot navigate a family through Medicaid eligibility. A school can notice a student is struggling, but it cannot pay their rent. A nonprofit focused on one need cannot solve all the others that come tangled up with it.

Real people do not come with one tidy problem. A caregiver who calls about her father might also be facing her own job loss. A student who needs food might also need mental health support. A senior who needs home care might also need transportation, and meals, and someone to help with the paperwork.

That is why the safety net only works when its pieces connect. When the hospital knows who to call for the transition. When the church has a number to share for the family in crisis. When the school can point a student toward real help. When every organization knows it does not have to be the answer to everything, because it knows who the other answers are.

That is what partnership does. It turns a collection of separate organizations into something that actually holds.

What The Information Center Brings to the Net

So where do we fit? The Information Center is a community-based nonprofit that has served Wayne County, Downriver, and Monroe County for decades. We connect people to care, and we run several programs that fill some of the most common and most stubborn gaps in the net.

When you refer someone to us, here is what we can help with.

• In-home care for seniors and adults with disabilities. Through the MI Choice Medicaid Waiver Program, we help people get the care they need to stay in their own homes instead of a nursing facility.

• Help moving home from a nursing facility. Through Community Transition Services, we help people leave nursing facilities and rebuild their lives in the community, including housing, furniture, and food to start over.

• Free help finding any resource. Through our Community Navigation team, we connect people to housing, utility assistance, food, healthcare, legal aid, and more, even when it is not a service we provide ourselves.

• Long-term care options counseling. Through MI Options, we offer free, unbiased counseling to help anyone in Michigan's Lower Peninsula understand their long-term care choices.

• Student support. Through the Student Assistance Program, we help Wayne County Community College District students stay enrolled by removing barriers like food, housing, and bills.

• Employment help. Through Michigan Works! One Call, we connect job seekers and employers with career resources and training.

In other words, when you do not know where to send someone, we are often a good place to start. And if we are not the right fit, we will help you find who is.

Partnership Works Both Ways

Here is something we want to be clear about. A referral partnership with The Information Center is not a one-way street. We refer back to you too.

When someone comes to us with a need that another organization is better suited to meet, we send them your way. The food pantry. The legal aid clinic. The housing nonprofit. The mental health provider. The workforce program. We know the value of the work our partners do, and we want the people we serve to benefit from all of it.

That is what makes a real partnership. Both organizations get stronger. Both serve more people. And the families in the middle get more complete help than either organization could offer alone.

The goal is simple. Fewer people falling through the cracks, because more organizations are working together to catch them.

When a partner shares our number, they are not just passing along a phone number. They are making sure someone does not fall through. And we treat every referral that way.

Who Makes a Good Community Partner?

If you serve the same families we do, you are probably a good fit. Our partners include a wide range of organizations and people across the region.

• Hospitals and health systems

• Skilled nursing facilities and rehab centers

• Physical therapists and home health agencies

• Churches, mosques, and other faith communities

• Clinics and community health centers

• Schools, colleges, and student services teams

• Other nonprofits and community organizations

• Senior centers and aging services

• Elected officials and their constituent services offices

• Social workers, case managers, and discharge planners

If your work puts you in contact with people who need help, you have something to offer the net, and so do we. The connection between us is what closes the gap.

What We Offer Our Partners

We try to make partnership easy. Depending on what would help you most, we can provide the tools that make referring simple and reliable.

• A direct line to a real person. When you call 734-282-7171, someone picks up. You are not navigating a phone tree to find help for the person in front of you.

• Clear information about our programs. So you know exactly when we are the right fit and what we can do for the people you send our way.

• Reliable follow-through. When you refer someone, we take it seriously. We help them, we keep them from getting lost, and we do not leave them in a queue.

• A partner who refers back. We send people your way when your services are the better fit. The relationship goes both directions.

If there is something specific that would make it easier for your organization to work with us, tell us. We would rather build the partnership around what actually helps you than assume we already know.

What This Looks Like in Real Life

Partnership is not an abstract idea. It shows up in real people's lives all the time.

Think about a man living in a nursing facility who wants to go home, but has no idea it is possible. A friend tells him about The Information Center. He calls, and a transition navigator helps him find an apartment, furnish it, and move back into the community. That is what happened to a real client of ours named Lawrence. One connection, passed from a friend, changed his entire life.

Or think about a family caring for a father with Alzheimer's, watching the cost of his care climb past what they can manage. Someone mentions The Information Center. After a simple screening, he qualifies for help that lets him stay where he is. That is what happened for a family we worked with too.

In both cases, the thing that started it all was a connection. Someone who knew about us, and said so. That someone could be a hospital social worker, a pastor, a neighbor, or a fellow nonprofit. The point is that the connection is what makes the help possible.

Every partner in the net is a potential starting point for a story like that. That is why we care so much about building these relationships.

How to Become a Partner

Becoming a referral partner is simple, and there is no formal application or cost to get started.

1. Reach out. Call us at 734-282-7171 or email info@theinfocenter.org and let us know you would like to connect as a community partner.

2. Learn what we do. We will walk you through our programs so you know exactly when and how to refer someone our way.

3. Get the materials you need. We can provide referral cards, one-pagers, and information to share with the people you serve.

4. Start catching more people, together. Send people our way, and we will do the same for you. The net gets stronger with every connection.