Two well-respected institutions that have served the region for decades have now joined forces in an interesting partnership.

One of those institutions is Buena Vista University, which has its main campus in Storm Lake and a center on the Iowa Central Community College campus in Fort Dodge.

The other is Community & Family Resources, a substance abuse and mental health services provider based in Fort Dodge often known by its initials CFR. It has been providing care for more than 50 years and now serves Boone, Calhoun, Hamilton, Humboldt, Pocahontas. Story, Webster and Wright counties.

The new partnership will allow full-time employees of CFR to take classes at BVU at a reduced cost. The same benefit will be offered to some family members of fulltime CFR employees.

The university’s faculty will also be available to provide training to the CFR staff.

While this may at first glance seem like an arrangement that only benefits CFR employees and their families, having more people with higher levels of education will benefit the community as a whole. And having university professors provide training and workshops will help the CFR staff better serve the people who need its services.

We believe that this strategic partnership is worth trying with other organizations.

We also think this could be just the start of a growing relationship between CFR and the university that will benefit both of them, and the entire region.