Urban Ministry partners with InnVision Urban Ministry partners with InnVision (August 22, 2001)

**Services for needy to broaden; current director resigns.

By Bill D'Agostino

Urban Ministry of Palo Alto, which provides services to the homeless and needy, recently began partnering with San Jose-based InnVision, a similar but larger social services agency.

The move is designed to bring stability to Urban Ministry, which has been struggling for years with leadership turnover and funding problems.

The new partnership comes with the recent resignation of Ross Winetsky, Urban Ministry's fifth executive director in five years. Mr. Winetsky held the post 11 months.

A singer-songwriter who plays the piano and guitar, he said he left Urban Ministry to pursue a musical career in Nashville, Tenn.

The success of a recent fund-raising push made the merger possible, said Urban Ministry board chairman Gerry Sarnat. "We became a much more attractive partner when we could pay our own way," he said.

According to Mr. Sarnat, none of Urban Ministry's services will be altered by the arrangement, except to potentially gain the assistance of InnVision in areas where it has more expertise and staff, such as drug and alcohol services and job training.

Bill D'Agostino is a staff writer for the Almanac's sister paper, the Palo Alto Weekly.