Human Service Chamber of Franklin County and Michael Corey, Executive Director
With a mission to unleash the power of human potential through every act of human service, the Human Service Chamber of Franklin County (HSC) strives to enhance system efficiencies and effectiveness in order to develop one voice for the human service system. It does this by promoting, enhancing, and advocating for human service organizations and the clients they serve in central Ohio.
Established in 2010, HSC was conceived by local leaders who realized that the human service sector needed to create an entity that would represent the sector as a whole. HSC helps facilitate collaborations to address complex, systemic issues, provide useful professional learning opportunities, and achieve economies of scale through shared services and pooled resources. Under the current leadership of Michael Corey, HSC has seen tremendous membership growth, from less than 50 to more than 90 members, and is still growing. With close ties to governmental programs, HSC helps promote collaboration and growth in the human service sector.
HSC’s membership includes key human service organizations in our community—including Catholic Social Services, City Year, Goodwill Columbus, Habitat for Humanity Mid-Ohio, Mid-Ohio Food Collective, Netcare Access, and many more. It also serves as a valuable resource for new and smaller organizations including Besa, Center for Healthy Families, Community Refugee and Immigration Services, Freedom a la Cart, and Local Matters.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, HSC has been instrumental in helping human service organizations and our community adapt, stay healthy, and meet the needs of vulnerable community members. From communicating with appointed and elected officials about COVID funding and shaping the public funding response, to helping disseminate needed PPE and educating people about the Payroll Protection Program loans/grants and other efforts to stabilize operations, HSC has been on the front lines of this pandemic response since the beginning.
For the critical role it plays in our nonprofit community, and in turn the impact it has on the clients our nonprofits serve, The Columbus Foundation awards the 2020 Columbus Foundation Award to the Human Service Chamber of Franklin County.