BHN Alliance
BEMONT-HARRISON-NOBLE
County Boards of Developmental Disabilities
What is the BHN Alliance?
The BHN Alliance is a collaborative partnership between the Belmont, Harrison, and Noble County Boards of Developmental Disabilities, the first partnership of its kind in Ohio. While each county board remains locally governed and focused on the needs of its own community, the three boards work together to share key administrative functions, strengthen services, and make the best use of public resources.
This shared approach allows the county boards to combine expertise in areas such as leadership, service coordination, early intervention, business operations, quality assurance, provider support, communications, information technology, and other essential functions. By partnering with one another, the boards can support consistency, innovation, and efficiency across the three-county Appalachian region of Ohio while continuing to provide responsive, person-centered services close to home.
At its heart, the BHN Alliance reflects a long-standing commitment to collaboration. It helps the boards learn from one another, respond to changing needs, and build stronger supports for people with developmental disabilities and their families throughout Belmont, Harrison, and Noble counties.
How the BHN Alliance Began
The BHN Alliance began in 1993 when the Belmont and Noble County Boards of Developmental Disabilities first shared a Superintendent. That partnership grew in 2003, when Harrison County joined the shared Superintendent arrangement. In 2009, the three county boards entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities to explore how shared services could strengthen operations beyond leadership.
In 2012, the BHN Alliance received the Visionary Leadership Award from the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities for being pioneers in the field of shared administrative services.
Today, the three county boards continue their work through 12 shared administrative functions that help the boards serve their communities in a more efficient and consistent way.