The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly changed the eating habits of many families. It’s also changed how many community-based organizations are helping residents with food access and education in healthy eating.

Over the last year, Episcopal Community Services in Philadelphia has pivoted its health and wellness programming to a virtual model. 

As video conferencing and virtual activities have become the norm over the last year, community-based organizations are maximizing the opportunities to help families build their knowledge and skills around healthy eating. In its move to virtual programming, Episcopal Community Services is creating a customized, nutrition-focused version of the Food Network with cooking demos, salad competition, and more.

Healthy For Life® , an online portal from the American Heart Association, developed in partnership with Aramark, makes it easy for community-based organizations to offer health and wellness programming. This full suite of resources, including a complete curriculum, facilitator guides, videos, icebreakers, and more, comes ready to share. 

Q&A with Episcopal Community Services

We connected with Pamela Egleston, Director of Health and Wellness Programming at Episcopal Community Services, to learn more about how they’ve adapted over the last year and their program’s successes. 

What is your community’s favorite Healthy for Life Educational Experience and/or recipe and why? 

The introductory session, “Feed Your Potential ” is usually a fan favorite.  Participants are pleasantly surprised at the recommended servings per day of fruits and vegetables to have a healthy diet.  The apple nachos recipe is the recipe most remember and say they will definitely try at home with their family.  Senior club members often comment that they will use this recipe for a healthy snack.  You can’t go wrong with staples like apples and peanut butter.

What is something you have done over the last year to ensure your community members have access to fresh food/groceries? 

After hearing from others in the Healthy For Life Group calls regarding the success they have had incorporating Healthy For Life educational experiences with Food Pantry participants, Episcopal Community Services is looking to expand our food pantry to an open market/food choice model.  We are excited to offer and include the educational component to this service.  Our target to begin is this spring and it may be a hybrid experience with the pantry pick-up in-person and the educational experience virtual pending safety guidelines around social distancing and number of participants who can gather in a designated indoor space. 

What is one thing you have learned regarding offering virtual programming to the community? 

The virtual experience offers convenience and potentially could reach a broader audience as the participant would not have to leave their home.  Although we tried encouraging participants to prepare the recipe along with the facilitator by sending the recipe in advance, it did not work out that way.  Nevertheless, our facilitator is very engaging and makes the educational piece of the experience interactive with pop quizzes in the chat etc.  The last half can be liken to a cooking show on TV.  The participants watch as the facilitator demonstrates how to prepare the recipe.  There is always banter back and forth as participants muse if only they could smell and taste the recipe.  So what we have learned is that if the facilitator is engaging the program works.  

If you could do it all over again, what’s one thing you would do differently when implementing a virtual/remote program? 

I would find a practical way to get the ingredients for the recipes to participants in advance so that they can prepare it, if not during the session, afterward to share with their families.  We did build in credits for attending each session in the form of grocery store gift cards as an incentive.  We are planning a “Salad Competition ” at the end the series with prizes like an air fryer, blender or slow cooker.  Another lesson learned is to give participants choice around prizes as some established household may have some of those essential items.Do you think you will continue with any of the changes you made once people are able to gather again and why?  

We will continue to have the “competitions”.  It is a fun way to engage participants and let them show off their culinary skills.  Who doesn’t like winning a prize?  We are definitely looking forward to engaging new participants from our newly expanded food pantry.

Access Healthy for Life Resources

Visit Healthy for Life® portal  to get started. Complete the facilitator orientation, access the welcome toolkit and curriculum, and join the online community.

Looking for guidance on how to start a Healthy for Life program in your community? Register now for the webinar Healthy for Life – Steps for Success , to be held June 17 at 1 p.m. CT. It will provide information on your role as facilitator and resources available.

Jody Levison-Johnson Named President and CEO of New Organization

Washington D.C. (Jan. 6, 2021) – The merger of the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and the Council on Accreditation has been approved by the boards of both organizations and by a majority of voting members of the Alliance. The vote capped a year-long exploration and four-month due diligence process overseen by both organizations, which share a long history and vision, with the Alliance serving as one of the original founders of COA in 1977.

Until the merger is approved by the state, Jody Levison-Johnson, currently the president and CEO of the Council on Accreditation, will serve as president and CEO of both organizations. She will serve as the inaugural president and CEO of the new organization, which will be headquartered in Washington, D.C., once state approval is granted. Susan Dreyfus, will serve as senior advisor to the CEO.

“The merging of our two organizations will bring together a vast range of knowledge, assets, and resources that allow us to more meaningfully support the human and social services sector,” commented Jody Levison-Johnson. “Through a shared set of values and a lens of equity, our new organization will spark a current of integrated and iterative approaches that connect the research and literature, field-experience, practice and policy in a way that catalyzes the voices of the social sector. This is a tremendous opportunity to leverage the collective intelligence of the Alliance, COA, and all of our organizations and partners to spur new thinking that advances our field and sector. It’s an honor and privilege to be entrusted with leading the Alliance and COA into its next chapter and creating this new organization.”

“This merger accelerates us forward at a critical time in our country,” noted Susan Dreyfus. “As our nation responds to the demands of a nationwide pandemic and economic challenges, we have the opportunity and the imperative to lead on behalf of the field and sector, as we have done throughout our history, to respond to the challenges of today and be prepared for those of tomorrow. I am honored to pass the mantle of leadership to Jody, whose expertise, experience and passion are uniquely poised to strengthen the reach and influence of our respective fields and the social, health and human services sector as a whole.”

Jody is a licensed clinical social worker with nearly 30 years of experience in the field of human services. A longstanding champion for systems change, Jody is deeply committed to advancing policy that equips communities to thrive and ensures equitable access to quality services and supports. Prior to joining COA, Jody served as the assistant vice president of Practice Improvement at the National Council for Behavioral Health, where she oversaw the organization’s consulting portfolio and a large, privately funded adolescent mental health initiative. She has also served as the chief clinical officer for a multi-state children’s care management organization, as the deputy assistant secretary of the Louisiana Office of Behavioral Health, and as the vice president of Coordinated Care Services, Inc. (CCSI), a non-profit management and consulting services organization. Jody holds a Master of Social Work degree from Syracuse University and a Master of Arts and PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University.

The new organization will engage a multifaceted and larger cross-sector network of partners (beyond existing COA-accredited organizations and current Alliance members) with a diversified range of offerings that contribute to the reach and influence of the human and social services sector. These will include peer exchange groups, learning networks and collaboratives, accreditation, certification, policy support across key focus areas and ongoing development of solutions and opportunities for addressing systemic racism and promoting equity, diversity and inclusion so that all people can thrive.

More details will be forthcoming about the offerings and pathways to engagement the new organization will provide for human and social sector community-based organizations, foundations, state associations, government entities, and all of those who make up the human and social sector ecosystem.

Media notes: To schedule an interview with Jody Levison-Johnson, please contact Jennifer Devlin at 703-966-3241 or jennifer.devlin@cox.net.

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About the Newly Merged Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and Council on Accreditation
The new organization will convene and catalyze a dynamic inclusive multifaceted network of human and social services organizations and passionate allies who are committed to creating a just and equitable society where all people and communities flourish. Using the collective experience of the field coupled with research, we will offer a range of assets and opportunities that support the health and human services sector in their quest for continuous evolution and improvement and equip them to solve for the social problems that plague our communities and undermine the fabric of our nation. The new organization will provide a range of offerings informed by the field, learnings, and literature to actively shape the future of the sector through policy, advocacy, knowledge exchange, certification, accreditation, connection, and ongoing iterative and reflective interactions.

On Wednesday, March 10, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act and it is expected to be signed by President Joe Biden this week. The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and Council on Accreditation (COA) has been advocating for key policies for numerous months, and we were pleased to see many of our priorities have been included in this bill. 

This new $1.9 trillion legislation includes many important provisions for our sector and the communities we serve. These include (but are not limited to):

• Nonprofits with more than 500 employees will now have access to the Paycheck Protection Program after being shut out of earlier relief funding and lacking access to critical support.
• The $350 billion in state and local funding will enable our sector to continue critical partnerships with government to respond to the changing needs of communities.
• The child care sector, which has experienced tremendous disruption, enrollment drops, and added costs, will see nearly $40 billion in child care stabilization funding.
• The $350 million infusion into the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), which is a significant and historic investment in front-end prevention and support for families, will help keep children out of the foster care system and at home with their families. 
• Direct payments to working class Americans, supplemental unemployment benefits, and the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit will provide relief for individuals and families who are working hard to weather this storm and continuing to give back to our economy.
• A newly expanded Child Tax Credit that will significantly increase resources for families with children under the age of 6. The families with the least financial resources will get the full amount. This funding will be distributed monthly, so families have a regular flow of dollars coming in to cover basic needs. This policy is expected to cut America’s child poverty rate in half.
• Additional investments, like expanded health coverage, nutrition programs, and new dollars for rent and utility assistance will give individuals and families the support to move toward full recovery.

There are many other important provisions included in the bill, which are outlined below. 

For the Alliance and COA’s response to this legislation, read our statement. 

State/Local Aid

State & Local Budgets

• $350 billion in emergency funding for state, local, tribal and territorial governments to ensure that they can keep front line public workers on the job and paid, while also effectively distributing the vaccine, scaling testing, reopening schools, and maintaining other vital services.
• Establishes that states will receive, at minimum, the amount of funds they received under the CARES Act and specifies the funds can be used for:
  • Small businesses and nonprofits;
  • Tourism, travel, and hospitality industries;
  • Investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure; and
  • “Premium Pay” for essential workers, defined as workers needed to maintain continuity of operations in protecting the health and well-being of residents.
    • Up to $13 dollars per hour, capped at $25,000 per worker.
• $195.3 billion for states and Washington, D.C.:
  • $25.5 billion equally divided among states.
  • $169 billion distributed based on the amount of unemployed in each state.
  • Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has the authority to withhold 50% up front depending on the state’s unemployment rate.
• $130.2 billion for cities and counties:
  • $65.1 billion for municipalities.
  • $65.1 billion for counties.
• $10 billion for the Treasury Department to distribute to states for capital projects.

Financial Relief for Nonprofit Organizations

Paycheck Protection Program for Larger Nonprofits

• $7.25 billion for nonprofits and small businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program, with eligibility expansion to mid-size nonprofits with less than 500 employees per physical location. Now midsize nonprofits who have multiple sites and more than 500 employees will be eligible, so long as no one physical location exceeds 500 employees.
  • This increases the total program level to $813.7 billion.
• Establishes a new eligibility category for “additional covered nonprofit entity” which includes nonprofits not listed as 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6), or 501(c)(19), receives and spends less than 15% of its receipts and expenses on lobbying, spends less than $1 million on lobbying, and employs no more than 300 employees.

Unemployment Insurance Reimbursement for Nonprofits

• Extends the subsidy for costs incurred by nonprofit employers who provide unemployment benefits on a reimbursable basis, rather via tax contributions (self-insured). Increases the subsidy from the CARES Act level of 50% to 75%, for weeks beginning after March 31 and continuing through Sept. 6. 

Employee Retention Tax Credit

• Extends the employee retention tax credit through Dec. 31, 2021. Allows hardest hit organizations to count all wages paid on qualifying wages, not just those wages paid to employees that are not providing services. 

Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Advance

• Provides an additional $15 billion for the Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Advance program and directs the Small Business Administration to make $5 billion of any remaining funding available for supplemental grants for severely impacted organizations that have suffered an economic loss of 50% or more and have ten employees or less. Exempts EIDL grants from taxes.

Paid Leave

• Extends the paid sick time and paid family leave credits created by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act from March 31, 2021 through Sept. 30, 2021. 
• Increases the amount of wages for which an employer may claim the paid family credit in a year from $10,000 to $12,000 per employee and increases the number of days for which self-employed individuals can claim the credit from 50 to 60. 
• Expands eligible leave to include time taken to receive or recover from a COVID-19 vaccine.

Child & Family Well-Being

Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA)

• Funds the CAPTA program at historic levels, for a total of $350 million.
• Title 1 Grants to states are funded at $100 million.
• $250 million for Title II community based (CBCAP) grants, which will be available through Sep. 30, 2023. 
  • 100% of dollars will be divided by using a population formula of children under the age of 18. 
  • The state match is fully waived.
  • Dollars will be subject to existing rules under current law (aside from the formula and state match provisions). 

Home Visiting 

• $150 million for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. 

Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA)

• $450 million for the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) for formula grants, the national domestic violence hotline, and support for survivors of sexual assault.

Health & Behavioral Health

Health Care Coverage

• Increases coverage in the federal COBRA health insurance program from 85% to 100% to help workers who lost their jobs retain health insurance; available through Sept. 30, 2021.
• $35 billion to make health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace more affordable.
  • For 2021 and 2022, premiums would be eliminated for individuals below 150% of the federal poverty level (FPL), and cap premium costs at 8.5% of income for all other households (including households above 400% of the FPL, which were previously ineligible).
  • Premiums would be eliminated for individuals living below the poverty line and receiving unemployment benefits in 2021.
• Provides incentives to states to expand Medicaid by increasing the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) by five percentage points for two years.
• Includes one-year FMAP increase from 7.35% to 10% for home- and community-based services.
• Provides the option for states, for five years, to expand Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility to pregnant women for 12 months postpartum.

Public Health Workforce

• $9.1 billion in public health workforce-related support:
  • $7.66 billion for establishing, expanding, and sustaining the public health workforce.
  • $100 million for the Medical Reserve Corps.
  • $800 million for the National Health Service Corps.
  • $200 million for the Nurse Corps.
  • $330 million for teaching health centers that operate graduate medical education.

Behavioral Health

• $3.5 billion for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment and the Community Mental Health Block Grants.
• $100 million for behavioral health workforce education and training. 

Child Care & Education

Child Care

• $24 billion emergency stabilization fund to help hard-hit child care providers, including family child care homes, to cover costs and operate safely.
• $15 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program for child care subsidies to families.
• $1 billion for Head Start.

K-12 School Funding 

• $123 billion for K-12 schools to help upgrade ventilation systems, reduce class sizes, purchase personal protective equipment, and hire additional staff.
  • 20% must be used for summer enrichment, after-school programs or extended-day or extended-year programs.
  • Two $1.25 billion set asides for evidence-based summer instruction and afterschool programs.
• $3 billion for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, with $550 million set aside for programs for preschools and infants and toddlers.
• $800 million for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund to identify and support homeless children and help them participate in school.
• $7.2 billion for E-Rate program to make telecommunications and information services more affordable for schools and libraries.
• $2.75 billion for the Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools program.

Higher Education Funding

• $39.6 billion for colleges and universities, at least half of which is for emergency financial aid grants to students to help with college costs and basic needs, like housing, food, and health care.

Student Loan Relief

• All COVID-19-related student loan relief, discharged December 2020 through January 2026, will be tax-free.

Food Assistance

Nutrition Assistance

• Extends the 15% Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit increase through Sept. 30, 2021. 
• $490 million to increase Supplemental Assistance for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) benefits by $35 per month for four months.
• Increases the age limit for meals at home shelters from 18 to 25.
• $37 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program to provide food for seniors. 

Emergency Food and Shelter

• $510 million for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program under the Federal Emergency Management Administration. These funds will deliver services to the homeless; support food banks; and provide rental, mortgage, and utility assistance. 

Rental and Housing Assistance 

• Extends the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums and continues applications for forbearance on federally-guaranteed mortgages until Sept. 30, 2021.
• $21.6 billion for emergency rental assistance for renters and small landlords.
  • Eligible for households that qualified for unemployment benefits, received an eviction notice, or whose household income doesn’t exceed 80% of area median income.
• $9.96 billion for homeowners to pay for mortgage payments and utilities.
• $5 billion for emergency Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers to shelter the homeless.
• $5 billion for provide non-congregate shelter, like motels, to the homeless.
• $4.5 billion for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, plus $500 million for low-income water assistance.

Economic Mobility & Supports

Direct Payments (Stimulus Checks) 

• Gives families a $1,400 per-person check (including both full-time students younger than 24 and adult dependents), in addition to the $600 stimulus checks provided to families in December, for a total of $2,000.
• Individuals and couples earning up to $75,000 and $150,000, respectively, will earn the full rebate.

Unemployment Benefits

• Extends $300 weekly federal unemployment insurance benefits until Sept. 6.
• Extends emergency unemployment insurance programs through September 2021, easing access for workers who are not traditionally included in the unemployment insurance program or who have exhausted regular benefits.
• The first $10,200 in 2020 benefits is non-taxable for households making less than $150,000.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

• $1 billion for states to cover additional cash assistance that Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients needed as a result of the pandemic crisis.

Tax Credit Assistance

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

• Raises the maximum Earned Income Tax Credit for childless adults from roughly $540 to close to $1,500, by increases the credit percentage from 7.65% to 15.3% and raising the income level at which the credit begins to phase out.
• Reduces the age minimum to receive benefits from 25 to 19 and eliminates the age cap so that older workers can claim the credit. 

Child Tax Credit

• Expands the child tax credit to $3,000, from $2,000, for each child 17 and younger. Children under age six would be eligible for $3,600.
• Makes the tax credit fully refundable for 2021 and eliminates the existing $2,500 minimum earnings requirement.
• Individuals earning less than $75,000 and couples earning less than $150,000 will be receive the full credit amount.
• Half of the credit will be distributed periodically throughout 2021, while the other half will be available through 2021 tax returns.

Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC)

• Expands the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) to cover 50% of care costs up to $8,000 for one child and $16,000 for two or more children.
• Families earning up to $125,000 are eligible for the full credit and phases out for higher incomes.
• The credit would make the CDCTC fully refundable so that the lowest-income families can benefit.

View more public policy news  and sign up for the weekly Policy Radar e-newsletter online.

Support This Work: Donate now to help us continue voicing sector concerns.

By Jody Levison-Johnson, president and CEO of the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and Council on Accreditation

It’s hard to believe it has been one year since the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic and our world, as we knew it, changed.

There have been many heroes of this pandemic—the health care workers who persevere through long hours, personal protective equipment shortages, and unimaginable tragedy; the teachers who transitioned to virtual learning and continue to inspire their students; and the many essential workers who went about their daily jobs delivering packages, serving meals, and fighting fires despite the pandemic raging around them.

There is also another category of unsung essential workers that deserve our recognition and our accolades—our nation’s social workers. March is designated as National Social Work Month and this year’s theme from the National Association of Social Workers is Social Workers Are Essential. 

Social workers are social heroes. They play a vital role in our communities—ensuring food availability, securing adoptions and forever homes, providing medical and behavioral health services, and helping ensure that all individuals and families have the opportunity to feel happy, healthy, and a sense of belonging.

Social workers connect communities to vital resources and in many cases, sit in roles where they address ongoing systemic and policy needs. They have had to adapt throughout this pandemic to continue to provide these services both virtually and in-person. And, with the spread of the pandemic, the need for social workers has grown even greater.

Across our nation, social workers have met these challenges in unique, creative, and heart-warming ways. At times putting aside their own needs and those of their families, social workers have offered essential care to people in need, whether dropping off food donations to families on fixed incomes, securing laptops and tablets to allow communications between seniors and their families, or advocating for state and federal policy to ensure people were cared for during this most critical time.

The demand for social services has dramatically increased while initially resources available to provide their services plummeted. Thankfully, with passage of the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan Act where social workers were active advocates, many of these challenges will be met. Midsize and larger social sector organizations who had been shut out of earlier relief funding will have access to critical support. The $350 billion in state and local funding will enable social sector organizations to continue critical partnerships with government to respond to the changing needs of communities. The child care sector, which has experienced tremendous disruption, enrollment drops, and extra costs, will see $40 billion in childcare stabilization funding. A new Child Tax Credit Expansion that economists predict will cut childhood poverty in half is included that will provide for the basic needs that enable all families to thrive.

These measures will have a tremendous impact on shoring up support for social workers who have done so much for our communities over the past year. These measures were also advanced by social workers, amidst all else required of them this past year. 

This March, let’s all celebrate the essential work of social workers who support individuals and families and answer their needs, not just in times of crisis, but every day.

Bridging Micro and Macro Social Work

Families and communities are stronger when they have access to the vital building blocks of health and well-being. Social work as a discipline and a methodology has been essential to the development and delivery of those building blocks and is most effective when grounded in the intersectionality of research, practice, and policy at individual, community, and systems levels. This bridging of micro and macro is what actualizes whole-person, whole-community aspirations into genuine and measurable impact. 

Learn more about these approaches in Families in Society, the Alliance and Council on Accreditation (COA) social work research journal. The articles featured below for this month’s observance demonstrate the essentialness of micro and macro social work. Alliance and COA network partners can access all 100+ years of journal content in the online library as part of their network benefits, while others can select access options on the journal website.  

• Seeking Champions for Change: A Positive Deviance Approach for Social Work
  Given growing interest in and need for social innovation, social workers will benefit from knowing about positive deviance (PD), an approach that capitalizes on community creativity and individuals’ strengths in solving intractable problems in local neighborhoods.
• Revisiting the Relationship between Micro and Macro Social Work Practice
  Within the context of the shared mission of social work, there is a need for common ground that identifies the different ways that the two forms of practice can inform each other. Of particular importance are the core competencies relevant to intersectional interventions, collaborations, and partnerships.
• The Life Course Perspective for Social Work: Bridging the Micro and Macro Worlds for Social Workers
  This empirical perspective looks at how biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors act independently, cumulatively, and interactively to produce great diversity in life course journeys and shape people’s lives across family generations. This understanding can lead to more effective practice interventions and policy solutions.
• Re-Envisioning Macro Social Work Practice
  To counter a generational trend of disinvestment in macro social work practice, 21st century strategies can support the historic vision of the social work profession as equally responsive to the needs of at-risk and disenfranchised populations and the organizational, community, and policy roots of social injustice.

About the Author

Jody Levison-Johnson, PhD, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker with nearly 30 years of experience in the field of human services. She currently serves as president and CEO of the newly merged Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and Council on Accreditation.

Community-based organizations need to be innovative to identify models and approaches that can create sustainable change. By actively listening and recognizing their community’s needs, organizations can advance their missions more effectively through equitable solutions. 

The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and Council on Accreditation (COA)’s Commitments of High-Impact Nonprofit Organizations is a strategy framework that guides organizations in building key competencies that will position them to accomplish greater outcomes. BakerRipley in Houston, and Holy Family Institute in Pittsburgh are two organizations that have been able to authentically engage children and families to help them achieve their full potential.

Learn more about how these organizations leveraged the Commitments to further their missions by reading the case study or watching the video of their story.

BakerRipley Uses Appreciative Community Building to Understand Community Needs

BakerRipley has been committed to creating solutions with their neighbors for 113 years. Today, they serve more than half-a-million people across 60 locations in Houston. By connecting with their community members firsthand, BakerRipley has been able to better understand their strengths and aspirations in order to build upon what’s working. The organization uses a unique model called Appreciative Community Building (ACB).

After embedding ACB into the Gulfton community in Southwest Houston, BakerRipley moved forward with building a new community center in 2010. Boliver “Bo” M. Fraga, senior community engagement developer, explained, “Our approach in working with the Gulfton community was not that we need to help these people with needs and gaps, it was we want to partner with this great community that has so much potential.”

By co-creating with their communities, BakerRipley can better approach the inequities the people of Houston are facing.

“When we invest in people, no matter where they are in their journey, that’s an investment in the community,” said Claudia Aguirre, president and CEO. earn more by viewing this video case study about BakerRipley’s commitment to Co-Creating with Community. 

Learn more by viewing this video case study about BakerRipley’s commitment to Co-Creating with Community.

Holy Family Institute Advances Equity through Nazareth Prep

Through its variety of services, Holy Family Institute (HFI) positively impacts the lives of over 35,000 children and families a year. The heart of its mission is education and community building. When HFI recognized that access to high-quality education was not available to all students in Pittsburgh, it worked toward an equitable solution. In 2014, HFI opened Nazareth Prep, an affordable and innovative Catholic School based on the belief that every student, regardless of race, religion, or economic status, should be able to reach their full potential through high-quality education.

This includes offering multiple pathways for students after graduation, understanding that not all students fit into one mold. Nazareth Prep’s career preparedness internship program allows students to be exposed to a variety of career opportunities after graduation.

“We are really focused on allowing students to pursue a pathway that makes sense for their interests,” said Michael Sexauer, executive vice president and COO of HFI. “We strive to provide a rigorous education that will allow them to pursue any path after graduation.”

At Nazareth Prep, students are given the building blocks to realize their potential and contribute to a stronger community.

Learn more by reading this case study about Holy Family Institute’s commitment to Advancing Equity. 

About the Commitments in Action Celebration

In celebration of the release of the Commitments framework more than five years ago, the Alliance and COA are showcasing 14 community-based human serving organizations, including BakerRipley and Holy Family Institute, that have embraced this proven strategy playbook for success and influence. The Commitments celebration recognizes and elevates the powerful stories of the organizations whose ingenuity, innovation, and vision, as part of the Alliance’s Strategy Counts initiative, helped establish the Commitments framework. 

Thank you to the Commitment in Action Celebration sponsors.

Community-based organizations are a critical contributor to the human services ecosystem, which also includes public entities, philanthropic organizations, academic organizations, and the business community. By working together, organizations can establish a web of services that maximizes their strengths and addresses the complexity of challenges people face.

The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and Council on Accreditation (COA)’s Commitments of High-Impact Nonprofit Organizations is a strategy framework that guides organizations in building key competencies that will help them to partner from a position of strength to realize even greater outcomes. The Village Network in Wooster, Ohio, and Beech Brook in Cleveland, Ohio are two organizations that have been able to multiply their impact by collaborating with other organizations.

Learn more about how these organizations leveraged the Commitments to further their missions by reading the case study or watching the video of their stories.

The Village Network and Knox County Build Brighter Futures for Ohio Youth

The Village Network seized an opportunity through the Knox County Department of Job and Family Services, which was looking for an organization to run a group home. In committing to a 20-year lease to utilize the new facility that Knox County would create, The Village Network gave the county the financial security they wanted while gaining the opportunity to implement the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT). The new model had a profoundly positive effect, resulting in a 97% reduction in use of physical restraints.

“Our partnership with The Village Network has worked out better than we ever could have imagined,” said Matthew Kurtz, director of the Knox County Department of Job and Family Services. “The way that they continue to be so progressive in the way they approach children and care of children, and the way they continue to learn and grow and be innovative, has really taken us to the next level in terms of treatment we’re able to provide to the residents of Knox County. We couldn’t have ever done that on our own.”

In realizing their organizational potential through innovation, this work has opened additional doors including with foundation and corporate partners. In addition, Dr. Bruce Perry, NMT pioneer, has deemed The Village Network a flagship organization.

Learn more by reading this case study about The Village Network’s commitment to Partnering with Purpose.

Beech Brook’s Innovative Police-Assisted Referral Program

According to the Commitments framework, organizations should look to collaborate across systems and sectors. If aligned with the same vision, academic, corporate, and public sector partners can bring helpful expertise and help increase impact.

Beech Brook found success in an effort that did just that. It worked to establish the award-winning Police-Assisted Referral (PAR) Program, which brought together a diverse group of invested constituents including social services, law enforcement, community leaders and academia to reimagine law enforcement’s role in promoting safe and healthy communities.  Through the program, officers are equipped with referral cards. Within 24-48 hours, the recipient is contacted by a human services organization like Beech Brook that is part of the PAR program.

“The fact that we’ve been able to maintain and sustain our commitment to PAR for over a decade is miraculous,” said Tom Royer, president and CEO of Beech Brook. “It’s really a testament to the partnerships we’ve built. We’ve faced countless challenges, but nobody’s walked away from the table. Everybody has remained committed to the program and to delivering this service regardless of what barriers get in our way.”

Results of the program include that 93% of individuals who are given a PAR referral card by a police officer found the officer to be respectful and helpful, while 91% found the referral card itself helpful. Additionally, 43% of program participants have reported having an improved opinion of law enforcement following their PAR experience.

Learn more by reading this case study about Beech Brook’s commitment to Partnering with Purpose. 

About the Commitments in Action Celebration

In celebration of the release of the Commitments framework more than five years ago, the Alliance and COA are showcasing 14 community-based human serving organizations, including The Village Network and Beech Brook, that have embraced this proven strategy playbook for success and influence. The Commitments celebration recognizes and elevates the powerful stories of the organizations whose ingenuity, innovation, and vision, as part of the Alliance’s Strategy Counts initiative, helped establish the Commitments framework. 

Thank you to the Commitment in Action Celebration sponsors.

All decisions affect our futures in some way. But how can you make sound decisions in a field where the only thing constant is change? That’s the situation many community-based organizations must stay on top of in order to ensure critical success outcomes that are transforming the child welfare system to a child and family well-being system. 

One of the tactics that informs effective service transformation is trend analysis, which can be a powerful tool in strategic planning by creating credible illustrations of what the future might look like. Based on that, child welfare leaders and their cross-sector partners can align community priorities and resources to reform child welfare by sustaining a shared family and community responsibility to keep children safe, as analyzed in the 2021 Trend Brief. 

Designing Useful Trend Inquiry

Before searching for the best trends data that can inform activities like strategic planning, risk assessment, and opportunity mapping, it’s helpful to first understand the origin of trends information that can be useful to child welfare organizations. The typical methodology is based on two types of research: primary and secondary. 

Primary research is first-hand research using methods like interviews with consumers and participants, employees, community leaders and advocates, academic subject matter experts, regulators, policymakers, funders, and other stakeholders in the child welfare ecosystem.

Secondary research uses available data and information found in reports and databases from diverse industries, which can be used as sources for trend determination. Examples can include demographics and other census tract information, local asset mapping, state and federal child welfare data (e.g., Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System [AFCARS]), and more.

Although there are many complexities to thorough trend investigation, the essential process is about asking the right questions about the right things. These can roughly be divided into three areas, with examples of questions below:

• Identification of trends: What are the trends we should follow? Are there any associated systems and disciplines we need to understand better before determining trend relevance? 
• Analysis of the effects and possible projections: In which directions can a trend lead? What impact can a trend have on our strengths and weaknesses? Can we expect more or less support from partners and collaborators?
• Analysis of the implications: What do these trends mean for our community? How will family well-being and child safety change as a result? Do we have adequate organizational resilience in relation to this trend?

Understanding the Field with the 2021 Trend Brief: Primary Research

Both an art and a science, the ability to synthesize primary and secondary research requires a lot of knowledge, experience, analytical objectivity, and creative thinking. An example of primary research is from Tom Woll of the Strategic Change Initiative and Bill Martone of WPM Consulting, who jointly develop an annual trends brief for child welfare leaders. Pulling from their pool of experts, consulting collaborators, and advisors, Woll and Martone typically interview around 300 people each year through a Delphi-like method resulting in an end-of-year brief that can be used for the subsequent year’s strategic planning. In early 2020, the partners began their usual trends identification cycle. Then a global pandemic hit. 

Download the 2021 Trend Brief to spark your strategic planning.

“Our approach for developing the 2021 Trends Brief was different,” says Woll. “Bill and I weren’t traveling, though we were still consulting via phone and Zoom. We knew that 2020 would be a game-changing year, so we changed the focus of our efforts. Each of us turned to about 20 of the leaders who had been expertly advising us through the years and asked them to help us deconstruct the events of 2020.” 

Woll and Martone note that the major differences between ongoing annuals trends and 2020 events were very strong pivots toward:

• Incorporating equity, diversity, and inclusion at individual, organizational, and sector levels
• Responding to the implementation challenges of the Family First Prevention Services Act
• Installing trauma-informed principles and practices throughout all levels of an organization
• Redesigning the ways to train, support, and ensure the safety of child welfare and social services staff during the ongoing pandemic response and recovery
• Exploring the limits and possibilities of remote service delivery 

“Our field is rapidly becoming much more family-focused and much more community-focused,” Woll explains. “The emphasis on creating a change-ready workforce is and has been very strong. We must be able to change our organizational cultures to allow us to keep up with the rapid pace of change. The need for everyone to expand their funding sources and their service offerings is also very strong. And we are all being called upon to develop proactive mission-driven business models that our staff can understand and agree to join with us to become our full partners in the development of effective, collaborative responses to emerging community needs, especially family needs that are growing due to the impact of the pandemic.”

Woll and Martone also emphasize the movement away from traditional patterns of leadership and toward the adoption of change leadership methodologies, part of which includes established analysis and forecasting cycles of emerging trends in the field. Both consultants are fostering the associated skills and capacities which they recommend that organizations become competent in within three years. 

Child Welfare Ecosystem: Secondary Research

In addition to considering megatrends (i.e., a major movement, pattern or trend emerging in the macroenvironment), it’s recommended that child welfare leaders regularly consult data from these aggregated sources for context on their local trends, as well as to understand how other communities in the U.S. are faring with common indicators. Examples include:

• 2020 KIDS COUNT Data Book. The 31st edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT® Data Book describes how children across the United States were faring before the coronavirus pandemic began.
• The State of America’s Children® 2020. This Children’s Defense Fund report provides stories, statistics, and data in clear terms. 
• America’s Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2020. The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics fosters collaboration among 23 federal agencies and reports on well-being measures drawn from the most reliable statistics.
• Child Welfare Outcomes. Children’s Bureau research on child welfare issues includes a series of annual Child Welfare Outcomes reports to Congress. These reports include data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS).

Getting the Most Out of Trends and Scenario Development

Since no one can tell the future with 100% certainty all the time, developing robust scenarios can help bridge present circumstances with future requirements. The range and value of organizational opportunities based on trend analysis depend on scenarios that should include most of these criteria:

• Plausible: Logical, consistent and believable
• Relevant: Highlighting key challenges and dynamics of the future
• Divergent: Different from each other in strategically significant ways
• Challenging: Questioning fundamental beliefs and assumptions

By evaluating relevant trends compiled through primary and secondary research and using the analysis to explore governance and operational scenarios, the ability to create achievable pathways to a transformative child and family well-being system is strengthened. 

Download the 2021 Trend Brief now.

High quality education is a critical building block that enables all children to achieve their full potential, but many face barriers that can hinder their ability to focus and learn. Because of their expertise in mental health, building resilience, and more, human services community-based organizations are uniquely positioned to support students in the classroom.

Through comprehensive strategic planning and cross-sector partnerships, high-impact organizations can position themselves to deliver something greater than the individual services they provide and the singular interactions they have with children and families. 

The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and Council on Accreditation (COA)’s Commitments of High-Impact Nonprofit Organizations is a strategy framework that guides organizations in building key competencies that will help them to focus on their core competencies, build expertise, and partner to address the complexity of barriers faced by families and communities. Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services in Pasadena, California, and Starr Commonwealth in Albion, Michigan, are two organizations that have been able to partner to support educational success.

Learn more about how these organizations leveraged the Commitments to further their missions by reading the case study or watching the video of their story.

Hathaway Sycamores Incorporates School-Based Mental Health Services to Better Execute on Mission

According to the Commitments framework, organizations and their communities are best served when they focus on key strengths to deliver on a clear mission rather than diluting resources across disparate programs. The organizations that focus on Executing on Mission are those whose impact is truly felt and lasting.

With a 120-year legacy, Hathaway-Sycamores has extensive experience in mental health, and realized it could reach more children in a less-stigmatized setting by offering these services in schools. In 1997, the organization launched its first school-based mental health program, and it now impacts more than 1,100 students on more than 40 school campuses each year. In addition, it is now reaching younger children through Early Head Start and Health Start, special education students by creating therapeutic classrooms, and juvenile offenders through a grant to break the school to prison pipeline.

“Schools already have a vested interest in the well-being of their students,” said Shefali D’Sa, assistant vice president of school-based services and early education for Hathaway-Sycamores. “We already had the same purpose, so it didn’t make sense for there to be two separate systems. By coming together to support students with both their mental health and their academic success, we’re able to have a much larger impact.” 

Learn more by reading this case study about Hathaway-Sycamores’ commitment to Executing on Mission.

Starr Commonwealth Partners with Schools to Train Teachers on Building Students Resilience

While it’s critical for human services community-based organizations to focus on their core competencies, partnerships within and across sectors can be used to account for the complexity of challenges and the everyday realities of families’ lives. Because teachers interact with families on such a frequent basis, it makes sense to equip them with the tools to address students’ social and emotional well-being.

With more than a century of experience, Starr Commonwealth maximizes its expertise in behavioral health by training teachers and other child caring professionals in school settings to support students who have experienced trauma and help them build resilience.

“What we try to do is improve school culture, certainly through the training and coaching of educators and professionals in the school building but also through the development of curriculum and online education,” Caelan Soma, chief clinical officer at Starr Commonwealth. 

In partnering with districts, Starr Commonwealth looks to evaluate the schools’ individual supports and resources so that they can complement them with their expertise in behavioral health.

Learn more by watching this case study about Starr Commonwealth’s commitment to Partnering with Purpose. 

For a look at how Starr Commonwealth used its expertise in trauma-informed care and racial healing to support the merging of two racially different high schools, watch this video case study.

About the Commitments in Action Celebration

In celebration of the release of the Commitments framework more than five years ago, the Alliance and COA are showcasing 14 community-based human serving organizations, including Hathaway-Sycamores and Starr Commonwealth, that have embraced this proven strategy playbook for success and influence. The Commitments celebration recognizes and elevates the powerful stories of the organizations whose ingenuity, innovation, and vision, as part of the Alliance’s Strategy Counts initiative, helped establish the Commitments framework. 

Thank you to the Commitment in Action Celebration sponsors.

2020 presented a host of unforeseen challenges that required human services organizations to be agile and pivot to continue serving their communities. COVID-19 meant needing to rapidly put safety measures into place including accommodations for remote work, social distancing, and quarantining. In addition, increasing calls for equity, diversity, and inclusion within our workplaces, systems, and communities lead organizations to reaffirm their work to advance in their equity journeys.

While much of 2020 felt unprecedented, the need for human services organizations to continuously adapt in a rapidly shifting world is nothing new. Emerging technology and analytics, health care reform, advances in brain science, a pursuit for greater social justice, and a divisive political climate have already necessitated organizations to employ adaptive leadership strategies, engage staff, and innovate in new ways.

The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and Council on Accreditation (COA)’s Commitments of High-Impact Nonprofit Organizations is a strategy framework that guides organizations in building key competencies that will help them to be nimble and proactive so they can capitalize on emerging disruptive forces rather than being paralyzed by them. Villa of Hope in Rochester, New York, and Great Circle in St. Louis are two organizations that have been able to adapt amid uncertainty and change.

Learn more about how these organizations leveraged the Commitments to further their missions by reading the case study or watching the video of their stories.

Villa of Hope Quickly Adapt to Keep Employees Safe During COVID-19

When COVID-19 cases began climbing in the U.S. in March 2020 and states started issuing stay at home orders, many businesses and nonprofits across industries were caught flat footed, rapidly trying to support remote work where possible and continue providing essential services. Needing to pivot on short notice put organizations’ leadership to the test. Leading with Vision, one of the Commitments, urges organization to engage all staff in finding solutions to complex and nebulous challenges.

At Villa of Hope, leaders quickly mobilized around COVID-19 precautions to keep employees safe. One of its critical strategies was to ensure that all staff had the information they needed—from executives to those providing direct services. 

“I sometimes think leaders don’t give people enough credit for being able to handle information, but I think knowledge and information is power,” said Christina Gullo, president and CEO of Villa of Hope, in this video case study.

Being able to quickly develop and implement a plan that included a transition to remote work, personal protective equipment, and other safety measures for their essential workers in a matter of hours is a credit to consistent practice and trust in leadership. It also was made easier by the organization’s transformation from residential care to community-based and specialized residential services.

Great Circle Invests in Capacity with Robust Process Improvement Program

Leading with Vision is not only the job of an organization’s executives. It means empowering leaders at all levels through communication and collaboration. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it is possible with key investments in their development. 

Another one of the Commitments is Investing in Capacity, which Great Circle practiced as it sought a new means for making an investment in its ability to sustain change throughout the organization. They partnered with The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare to implement an organization-wide initiative called Robust Process Improvement.

“We’ve always been good at implementing solutions and doing it quickly as well,” said Jenna St. Cyr., chief quality officer at Great Circle, in this case study. “But, because we often deal with crisis, we can find ourselves easily diverted. And that’s often led to being reactionary about the work in front of us instead of focusing on maintaining or sustaining long-term solutions.”

The crux of the extensive four-year initiative included change management techniques and embedding the principles of Lean Six Sigma, which included training staff to become Green Belts and Black Belts. Throughout this process, staff have been meaningfully engaged every step of the way, reinforcing a culture where all employees are viewed as agents of change. Great Circle is seeing many positive results from this capacity investment. Key progress is being made on their internal scorecard and a class of Green Belt trainees is working to advance the organization’s equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. Rather than applying a top-down approach, this will help to embed values throughout the organization’ culture and processes.

Learn more by reading this case study about Great Circle’s commitment to Investing in Capacity. 

About the Commitments in Action Celebration

In celebration of the release of the Commitments framework more than five years ago, the Alliance and COA are showcasing 14 community-based human serving organizations, including Villa of Hope and Great Circle, that have embraced this proven strategy playbook for success and influence. The Commitments celebration recognizes and elevates the powerful stories of the organizations whose ingenuity, innovation, and vision, as part of the Alliance’s Strategy Counts initiative, helped establish the Commitments framework. 

Thank you to the Commitment in Action Celebration sponsors.

by Amy Templeman, director of the Alliance’s Within Our Reach Office

An essential resource for professionals in the child welfare field are the voices of those with lived experience who are willing to share their stories. Matthew Peiffer in Indiana is one of those heroes. Matthew’s resilience in the face of tremendous adversity has given him the passion and drive to speak out for system reforms even after facing some of the most challenging life circumstances. 

Matthew Peiffer and his two sisters were adopted at a young age. Their adoptive parents abused them physically and sexually for almost thirteen years. When they were finally removed from their adoptive parents, they were placed into separate foster care homes and institutions. Matthew, who is now 23 years old, aged out of the foster care system. His younger sister Emily did not make it out. She died by suicide at age 18.

The experiences of Matthew and his sisters are horrific and tragic and are shared by too many children in the child welfare system. In its groundbreaking report released in 2016, the federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities noted that, on average, between 1,500 and 3,000 U.S. children die from maltreatment every year. These numbers have remained constant for years because for too long, our systems have been geared to addressing child abuse and neglect only after harm has occurred.

A new and innovative demonstration initiative is aiming to change that. Child Safety Forward, supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, includes five sites across the nation who are utilizing comprehensive and evidence-based strategies to identify those children most at risk and develop targeted steps to strengthen supports and address those risk factors.

A key element to the strategy is the integration of the voices and experiences of youth and families involved with child welfare. 

As Jerry Milner, associate commissioner of the Children’s Bureau recently noted: “Young adults with lived experience are the experts in the child welfare system. Any meaningful change in the child welfare system must happen with youth and young adults as our partners.”

Matthew is one of the young adults helping provide that important perspective. He serves as a member of the Advisory Council for the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH), one of the five sites for the Child Safety Forward initiative. His experiences and perspective have been a valuable tool in the development of IDOH’s implementation plan to reduce child abuse and maltreatment.

For example, Matthew shared details of attempts that he and his sisters made to reach authorities to let them know of the abuse they were experiencing. As young children they were often locked in their rooms for hours and deprived of food. They were home schooled and rarely encountered other adults. Matthew would sometimes call 911 and hang up. He also managed to get out and vandalize his adopted parents’ car with the hope that the police would notice their plight and take them away. In both cases, law enforcement would show up but wouldn’t enter the house and would only talk to the children with the parents present, so there was no chance for the children to seek help.

In response, Matthew is providing training seminars for law enforcement today on what to look for when visiting a home where abuse might be suspected.
 
Matthew has also spoken out about the need for better data to address children at risk, a strategy which is receiving emphasis in Indiana’s plans for Child Safety Forward. As IDOH notes in its draft implementation plan, “The lack of standardization in investigation practices, including incomplete investigations, limits our understanding of the causes and circumstances related to child maltreatment related fatalities, Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUIDs), and youth suicide. It also leads to incomplete and inconsistent data. Quality and accurate data allow us to better understand and address risk factors.”

IDOH’s efforts to collect and analyze data, bring in the voices of those like Matthew with lived experience, and work collaboratively across the community to develop new models for addressing child fatalities and serious injuries from maltreatment will provide what has been sorely lacking in previous attempts – the identification and evaluation of evidence-based practices. 

Coupled with the federal government’s focus on preventing foster care and requirement of statewide fatality prevention plans in the Family First Prevention Services Act, these actions will add up to a new knowledge base on best practices and what works to reduce tragedies like those experienced by Matthew and his sisters.

Amy Templeman is director of the Within Our Reach office at the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities. Within Our Reach is supported by Casey Family Programs. A version of this article appeared on February 3, 2021 in Youth Today.

Disclaimer: This product was supported by cooperative agreement number 2019-V3-GX-K005, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.