SUCCESS STORY: TWO RIVERS OUTREACH

When Brian McIntyre began working with the Illinois Small Business Development Center at the Starved Rock Country Alliance he was not sure of the direction his business, Two Rivers Outreach, was heading. Rocking an age well beyond sixty and dedicated to operating a business working with often marginalized populations, Brian found himself focusing on his challenges more than his opportunities.

Two Rivers Outreach offers counseling services to people who have experienced the loss of their driving privileges due to driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Offering adult outpatient treatment is an experienced staff of three counselors plus a part time administrative person. Extending their services to intervention and DUI risk assessments, the staff assists its clients to address their issues, satisfy their penalties, evaluate the success potential and ready their testimony and paperwork for their State Hearing Officer.

During the meeting with the SBDC, Executive Director Amy Lambert asked Brian what he wanted his legacy to be. This shift in thinking stunned Brian and energized his passion for achievement. When he returned for his next session, he expressed his desire to reinvigorate Two Rivers Outreach. The team begin using GrowthWheel to identify their strategy, observing the need to rebrand the organization from its beginnings before Brian’s leadership, refreshing their website and considering additional services the organization could grow to deliver.

His team and the Illinois SBDC set upon these tasks and soon relaunched www.tworiversoutreach.com within a platform that was affordable to their small organization’s budget and very easy to use. Illinois SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) mentor Michelle Proksa was also been a valuable resource in the pursuit to securing Two Rivers Outreach’s capability to accept insurance as payment. The organization put forth a plan for action and took on new solutions like NARCAN distribution within their service area.

Working with the SBDC, Brian and his team rebranded Two Rivers Outreach to match the new vision. In June 2018, they put their marketing plan into action and built and launched www.tworiversoutreach.org to better market their services and sessions.