Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman, the Association of Community Services (ACS) and more than a dozen nonprofit agencies recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the county’s new nonprofit center. The center, called the NonProfit Collaborative of Howard County (NPC), is located at 9770 Patuxent Woods Drive, in Columbia.

“We are thrilled to have this facility available to serve Howard County residents,” Kittleman said. “The center has allowed us to consolidate services, increase collaboration, improve space efficiency and enhance visibility of these organizations. It’s located on a public bus route so residents can come to a single location to access multiple services.”

The NonProfit Collaborative is the realization of a concept that has been discussed for 20 years, said ACS Executive Director Joan Driessen. Although the project came close a couple times in the past, it did not become a reality until the county committed resources to help with startup costs and to subsidize leasing costs over a 10-year period. The Association of Community Services will manage the Collaborative.

The NPC houses 14 organizations.

• Association of Community Services of Howard County

• Bridges to Housing Stability

• Camp Attaway

• Compass Inc.

• Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center

• Heritage Housing Partners

• HopeWorks

• Howard County Autism Society

• Howard County Housing Commission

• Howard EcoWorks

• MakingChange

• Mediation & Conflict Resolution Center

• United Way of Central Maryland

• Volunteers of America Chesapeake

Kittleman plans to build on the concept of housing human service organizations together by creating the Howard County Community Resources Campus, relocating several county departments into the same business park. Plans are to move the county’s departments of Community Resources and Services and Housing and Community Development, as well as the Office of Human Rights and the Community Action Council of Howard County, to the campus by the end of the year.

The state’s Department of Human Resources also has committed to moving the county’s Department of Social Services from its current location in Columbia Gateway to the Community Resources Campus.