New York Nonprofit Review April 2016: Front-line Heroes

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PRIVATE FUNDERS SHOULD TAKE ON PROGRAMS’ FULL COSTS

AIMÉE SIMPIERRE Editor-at-Large

NYNmedia.com

Welcome to New York Nonprofit Media’s Special Edition Front-Line Heroes journal. On the following pages you will find condensed profiles of the individuals who make up our first class of front-line heroes, along with some original articles from our New York Nonprofit Review writers (starting with my op-ed on this page).

In an industry that’s full of compassionate employees, it was tough to select just 25 heroes! Yet these individuals emerged as some of the most dedicated, empathetic and industrious individuals working in New York’s nonprofit sector.

It was NYN Media’s distinct pleasure to speak with them.

Throughout our interviews, several telling themes emerged that could serve as calls to action for the nonprofit community as a whole. Many of our heroes called for greater recognition of and appreciation for the potential of their clients, whether they are elders who still have so much to contribute or young people who have the resilience and talent to excel despite challenging circumstances.

Other heroes called for more patience and respect for the individuals they serve. They asked that we all take the time to listen to clients’ stories and to approach them with an understanding of the myriad institutional challenges they have faced throughout their lives. Lastly, there was a call to treat others the way we would want to be treated and to recognize that any one of us could find ourselves seeking out the services they deliver.

These are “heroic” values. May they inspire us all.

There is an opportunity that is being overlooked as we identify and discuss the strains on the human services sector that led to the downfall of FEGS. As we challenge government to fund the full costs of the services they hand off to nonprofits, we should also challenge private grantmakers to fund the full cost of the nonprofit programs they sponsor.

When foundations, corporations and individual philanthropists sponsor projects that nonprofits implement, they should allow more of the granted money to cover administrative as well as direct expenses. Underfunded project grants starve nonprofits just as effectively as underfunded government contracts.

Let’s recall that these project grants help private funders move the needle on the causes they care about the most, and help them achieve their most targeted, socially responsible agenda items – from building financial skills among low-income youth in a certain geographic area to innovating new forms of therapy for individuals with special needs.

However, costs like building an endowment, paying competitive salaries, making capital improvements and purchasing equipment – often disparaged and labeled “overhead” or “indirect costs” – are not sufficiently supported within government contracts or project grants, even though they are essential to an organization’s sustainability and ability to achieve its promised outcomes.

Nonprofits are just as concerned about being sustainable as funders are. No one wants to run themselves out of business.

Nor do nonprofits expect that one funder should be asked to support all of their administrative costs; that would be too risky for all parties involved. But some programs will not survive unless the organizations that run them are supported more deeply.

Nonprofits must be freed to negotiate an indirect cost rate in their project budgets that is realistic and inclusive of all real expenses, including overhead and administrative costs. Funders also need to be encouraged to offer more general operating grants providing the flexible dollars that can be used to shore up an organization’s stability.

What with a minimum wage increase potentially hiking up the cost of overhead, charitable giving by individuals stuck at 2 percent of GDP for more than four decades and the expectation by government agencies that nonprofits turn to private funders to supplement what their contracts do not provide, it’s all the more imperative that we press private funders to loosen their purse strings and direct more project funding to supporting nonprofit capacity building efforts and general operating costs.

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SIBLINGS BY THE NUMBERS: ONLY CHILD, MIDDLE CHILD, ELDEST OR YOUNGEST?

23%

Middle Eldest

Only

Youngest

31%%

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15%

31%%

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“… working in a factory cutting clay that went in the box with a Pocahontas toy.”

MY FIRST JOB...

“ … making pizza at a biker bar on the beach in Asbury Park, N.J.” “ … Burger King: I was in the dining room washing the tables.” “… doing Christmas work at the post office.” “ … pumping gas.” “ … doing salad and sandwich prep.” “ … working as a cashier at JCPenney”

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“ … in a factory moving boxes.”

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“ … famous, known.”

WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE...

“ … an ice skater.” “ … the typical, athlete or entertainer.” “ … a ‘Charlie’s Angel.’”

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“ … a medical examiner – I was an avid watcher of ‘Quincy M.E.’”

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PAULA L. GAVIN

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New York City Chief Service Officer

In a career that spans 40 years of leadership and executive management, Paula L. Gavin possesses a unique combination of business, education and nonprofit experience, focused on youth, community and leadership development.

On March 31, 2014, Gavin was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio as the New York City chief service officer. She is responsible for NYC Service, the agency that promotes, engages and supports volunteer service in New York City and connects volunteers and service year members to the city’s greatest needs.

Gavin served as the executive director of New York City’s Fund for Public Advocacy from July 2012 to December 2013. The Fund for Public Advocacy is a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Office of the Public Advocate.

Gavin served as president of National Urban Fellows from 2007 to 2012, and was responsible for the overall vision, leadership and management of the organization. From 2004 to 2007, Gavin served as the founding executive director of the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence, a nonprofit organization that promotes the development and continuing quality of charter schools. From 1990 to 2004, Gavin worked as president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater New York, where she directed the city’s largest youth-serving nonprofit agency and the nation’s largest YMCA. Prior to her position with the YMCA, Gavin held multiple executive positions with AT&T. As vice president of network operations, she supervised business planning, finance, and personnel and training for AT&T’s operational unit of 60,000. A graduate of the University of Delaware, Gavin is a board member of the YMCA of Haiti. Gavin is an adjunct professor at the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and previously taught nonprofit management courses at the New School and Columbia University. Gavin is of Venezuelan descent and lives in New York City with her husband, John Gavin.

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Director of Community Engagement and Partnerships, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service

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NANCY WACKSTEIN

Following a long career in the New York City nonprofit sector, Nancy Wackstein became director of community engagement and partnerships at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service in February 2016.

Wackstein served from 2002 to 2015 as executive director of United Neighborhood Houses, the federation of New York City’s 38 settlement houses and community centers.

Previously, she was the executive director of Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, a Manhattan settlement house, for 11 years.

Wackstein served as director of the NYC Mayor’s Office on Homelessness and SRO from l990 to 1991 under Mayor David Dinkins and was senior policy advisor for human services in Dinkins’ office from l986 to l989, when he was Manhattan borough president.

She received a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Social Work. In 2013, Wackstein was awarded an honorary doctorate from her alma mater Binghamton University.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

DA: When I was younger, I always wanted to work with people.

I always just wanted to be helping everybody. I’d look in magazines like the J. C. Penney catalogue and pretend I had $20,000 to buy something for all of my friends and everybody I met. We used to laugh about it, but my friends still remember that I’ve always wanted to help.

Children and Youth Services Coordinator, The Osborne Association Diana Archer provides supportive services for the children of incarcerated parents through recreational activities, and she is in charge of planning two trips a year for 15 to 25 children to upstate New York to reunite participants with their incarcerated mothers. Diana coordinates the youth programs at The Osborne Association, where young people discuss and practice life skills. The program participants explore and process the feelings they encounter as children of incarcerated parents.

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

DA: There was a client who had passed away, a young youth, through gun violence near where he lived. One of the hardest things was helping his mom get money for a suit for him. I had always facilitated prison visits between him and his dad. To go from that to facilitating money to get the suit for his funeral was very hard.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

DA: I wish that people would really recognize this population.

There are children with parents who are incarcerated, and the children who have been with us are doing so well because they have this support, but many people don’t think about the children when they think about adults being incarcerated.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

DA: I think that if you are incarcerated and you do have children, you should be close to your family. Our kids live in New York City; it’s a 10-hour drive to get near the Canadian border where many of their parents are. We should have these parents close to their families. I took a little girl who is 8 years old for her very first visit with her mother.

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DIANA ARCHER

NYN: How did you become interested in helping children?

DA: I went to school to teach, and I actually taught third grade and universal pre-K classes. But when I was teaching, I realized that what I was really interested in was the children themselves and the trauma they were facing, and not necessarily teaching a curriculum. I felt like it was almost impossible to teach the curriculum when the kids were going through so much, so I decided I wanted to change my focus and work with social service agencies.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

TB: The love came for it, just getting in front of a group of kids and running activities. I was just somebody who had the kids screaming and bugging out and just following behind me. I had a real good connection with them, as far as just leading them.

If you’ve got a 14-year-old kid with just a group of kids behind him, then you’ve got your own army, you know? It begins to mean a lot to be in that position. It felt like leadership.

TREQUAN BEKKA Advocate Counselor, Good Shepherd Services

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

TB: There’s so many changes I feel need to happen. The biggest thing though, I would say, is perception and the mindset of some of the population that we deal with. I think that has to change. But I think it can change through the programs and through politics as well. I think the population I deal with has been through a lot of adversity that has helped shape their mindset. So, how can you really unshape it without reversing that adversity and getting some kind of assistance? I don’t want to generalize, but the population that is struggling, their expectations have to be lifted, their confidence has to be built, and they have to find an identity that’s not destructive for themselves.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

TB: I think the world knows about the kids that I serve; I think the world just forgets. I think if you look through history, you’ll see how certain things have helped shape people to where they are today. I just wish the world wouldn’t ignore that. My population and mainly the black culture that we serve in Red Hook, ... if you look at the black culture in itself, it’s a very young culture. (As Nas said,) we’re basically like teenagers in this world. We’re very young, and during our short venture since freedom we’ve been through a lot of adversity.

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Trequan Bekka has been part of the Good Shepherd Services family since he was a young boy, ascending through the Ladders for Leaders training program and eventually becoming a full-time staff person. He was recognized for his outstanding ability to connect to young people and help them reach their full potential. Trequan was a founding staff member of the Brooklyn Frontiers High School, serving at-risk youth. Currently, he is the assistant director of the Miccio Cornerstone Community Center.

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done?

TB: I helped to open up a school (Brooklyn Frontiers High School). That was me moving from just talking to people ... to actually getting something done.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

CB: First, I wanted to be a lawyer because my dad was a lawyer.

Then I wanted to be an architect. But then it turned out that I really have no artistic talent, so then I went back to wanting to be a lawyer.

CAROLINE L. BERSAK Assistant Director of Legal Services, Legal Wellness Institute at The Family Center Caroline L. Bersak earned her law degree from the New York University School of Law and received her bachelor’s degree in community health and public policy from Brown University. In her work with The Family Center, she serves New Yorkers affected by serious illness, disability and crisis.

NYN: How did you become interested in legal services?

CB: I ended up studying community health and public policy, and that was the first time that it occurred to me that there are jobs aimed at helping the less fortunate and trying to make the world a more equal and just place. When I went to law school, I knew that I wanted to work in public interest law and work with marginalized and vulnerable populations. I also have a deep interest in health and in medicine, and did health care research before I went to law school, so I wanted to do something that brought that knowledge and interest in.

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

CB: I tend to work in a lot of different areas of law; I’m often representing the same client in a housing court matter, in a family court matter, and sometimes in a Social Security disability hearing - making sure that I’m effectively representing people on multiple fronts. Emotionally speaking, we often work with people who are at the very end of their lives, and because of the way that we do our work, I really get to know our clients. When we do lose clients, which unfortunately happens with some frequency, that can be very emotionally challenging.

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NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

CB: It is just by chance of fate that our clients are on one end of these services and not in my position. The people I work with face more challenges, more difficulty and stress - personally, financially, medically - than I can ever imagine. And they face that, pretty much without fail, with real dignity, courage and grace.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

CB: We could really work on our social safety net, in terms of financial and medical benefits. What I see over and over is people who are doing OK for most of their lives, and then something dramatic happens and things just fall apart. If you can’t work reliably in this country, you don’t have much of an option. The few social safety programs that we have really aren’t enough to sustain people.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

MB: I think it’s just been me; I came from a large family. I just loved being with my family, and I think it just happened.

Social Worker, Graham Windham (retired) Marie Beuns has been a social worker at Graham Windham for over 30 years. She genuinely cares for every family she works with and keeps in close contact with most of them. Many families stop by to say hello, and a number of them exchange phone calls with her years later, just to catch up. Marie has also been a great support to her team. She is always willing to assist her colleagues in any way possible.

She has a certain understanding that allows her to connect to her families and build strong, supportive relationships with them. “Mrs. Beuns inspired me to be a better social worker in the way she carries herself and works with her families,” said her manager, Amrita Raju.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

MB: If there were more services for the family - the birth family, the birth parents - if they could have more services in place for them.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

MB: The people who I work with are very nice people. Family oriented, Graham Windham is a very good agency, and that’s why I stayed there for 30 years. I have worked with different families, and some of them are very nice, some of them are very angry; it varies. But I understand the reasons why they are so angry, so I try to be very understanding and not judgmental.

And I try to be very helpful to them.

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MARIE BEUNS

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

MB: For me the most rewarding things - the things that make me feel rewarded and happy - are when the family is reunited together. I was an adoption worker, so when the children get permanency, they have a permanent family, to me that’s rewarding. Whenever a child gets reunited with the family or relative or the adoptive parents, I feel very happy for them. I feel that I did something good.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

JC: My family was full of lawyers. It was kind of a question about whether I’d want to do law. (I was) teaching religion in a Catholic high school in Baltimore, where I was teaching the Beatitudes. And I said, “You know what? I would be better off - rather than teaching religion - trying to live the Beatitudes better by practicing law for the poor.”

Director and Attorney-in-Charge, Mercy Advocacy Program, Mercy Haven, Inc. Since 1997, John Castellano has served as director and attorneyin-charge of the Mercy Advocacy Program (MAP) at Mercy Haven, an organization that provides housing and support services for people who are homeless, living with mental illness or living in poverty. MAP provides low-income individuals free representation for their civil legal emergencies. To date, MAP has opened more than 2,500 cases under John’s direction. During his time at Mercy Haven, John has also promoted systemic reform through class-action suits that have had a positive impact on the poor across New York state. John is a graduate of Holy Cross College and the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. His colleagues say his life’s work is “based on the premise that individuals who are poor should have equal access to justice.”

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

JC: A right to housing. We’ve come a lot closer with a right to health care. It needs to be appreciated that there’s a huge role for government to support - in our social contract with the poor - their dignity. And affordable housing is an enormous need that Mercy Haven tries its darndest to provide.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

JC: They cope with demands that most folks in the middle class would be crushed by. ... It’s stunning what our folks go through.

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JOHN CASTELLANO

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

JC: I had a veteran who was trying to get disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs - service connected. And he was denied. He was harassed by the military police in his unit ... classic bullying, if you will. That was one more trauma he experienced, aside from having a persistent and serious mental illness. So I argued the case and got it reopened. I went to the VA on Seventh Avenue, met the claims representative, sat at his desk, went through the facts, and I felt the guy - upon having the story told - got it. On my wall right now is this guy’s check. Occasionally, one can make a big economic difference in the lives of people who are destitute.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

JC: I volunteered at Lighthouse Guild and liked helping people with visual impairments. Also, my father was visually impaired.

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

JC: Each student is individually challenging, and you have to continually change your methods to meet their needs.

JEAN CHUN Instructor, Catholic Charities Community Services, Catholic Guild for the Blind

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

JC: More awareness of what “legally blind” means, and more accommodations to assist this population.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

JC: That they can be independent if given the opportunity and training.

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While doing volunteer work at the Lighthouse Guild as a reader for blind and visually impaired students, Jean Chun decided to change her career path. After having started her career in the business world, she went back to school and attained her master’s degree in special education from Hunter College. Chun has been working at the Catholic Guild for the Blind for the last 11 years as a vision rehabilitation and orientation and mobility instructor, teaching legally blind students of all ages to safely travel and engage in the activities of daily life. Jean was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from Baruch College with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

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ON THE FRONT LINES: MARISA RODRIGUEZ, URBAN PATHWAYS

By Jeff Stein

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MARISA RODRIGUEZ

For many of the residents at Urban Pathways’ Hallett’s Cove supportive housing complex in Astoria, Queens, their new apartment isn’t simply a roof over their head; it’s the first step toward rejoining society.

Many of Hallett’s Cove’s clients come directly from local homeless shelters or Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, where needs like medication and food were constantly monitored. Staff members aren’t simply providing safety and clean facilities; they are helping to form a nascent sense of community.

“It’s about really reintroducing them to the world,” said Rubernette Chavis, operations director at Hallett’s Cove. “It’s reacclimating them to how much a gallon of milk costs, using a MetroCard, washing clothes and walking to the store. Oftentimes, people will ask if it’s okay to go outside. We’re here to reacclimate them to being in the community.”

Given these needs, Marisa Rodriguez views her job at Hallett’s Cove’s front desk as so much more than monitoring security and answering phones. In many cases, Rodriguez is the glue that holds clients’ support systems together.

“I know all of the clients here and everything that is going on in their lives,” said Rodriguez. “Oftentimes, clients will come and talk to me when they need help or they’re feeling vulnerable, and I give them advice just to make sure that they keep making progress. I know that they came from hard times, and I don’t want to see them fail. I want to see them be the independent (people) that I know they can be.”

Rodriguez says that much of her role is going beyond her baseline duties, such as performing security checks on each floor of the building every hour, or assisting clients with their medication after they get home from treatment programs. The real crux of her role, Rodriguez says, is instilling in clients the sense that they can turn their lives around.

“Most of our clients have been on the streets for a long time, and they’ll feel down and think that nobody cares, nobody hears them, nobody can provide for them,” Rodriguez said. “I try to keep them in that positive mindset that you can do it, you can keep going.”

Despite being the first and last person that clients see each day, serving as the first line of response in case of an emergency and forming unique and lasting bonds, Rodriguez makes much less than the forthcoming New York City $15 minimum wage.

“We work so hard just to live off of our paycheck,” Rodriguez said. “Sometimes we do have to live paycheck to paycheck. When I first came here, I was working seven days a week, sometimes three or four double shifts.”

Rodriguez says that lawmakers and advocates should continue to fight for higher wages for workers like her so that she can better support her two children, and so that she can continue to do the job she loves without having to worry about how she will make ends meet.

“Sometimes people will say, ‘I work so hard and this is all that I get,’” Rodriguez said.

“And we’ll lose good people because they can’t make this work. But I love this job, and I love working with the clients here.”

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

SC: I wanted to be a nurse, but when I did an externship, we had to do hours at the hospital. One of the little kids there was very sick, and I got really attached to her. Seeing her sickness every day helped me decide to switch to social work.

Solution Based Casework Coordinator, Sheltering Arms Children and Family Services Samantha Curtin works for the children who fall through the cracks, get lost, or are erased. “Women and children are constantly vulnerable to people who are tainted from their own personal demons and have no moral center, and sometimes they just need help through hard times,” Samantha says. “This work brings us together with diverse families, and if we are lucky, we leave them better than they were when they came.

I love people and enjoy being able to be helpful to them. Obviously, there are challenges that come with the work as well. Those things only encourage me to keep going, even though they hurt. I am thankful that I am able to get to do the work that I’ve aspired to do my whole life: take care of people, especially children.”

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for clients?

SC: I think it’s been learning how to listen and not have any bias in trying to push my beliefs and values on the parents that I engage with. Just listening to their stories, their past, and then helping them make a future.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

SC: They definitely need more access to services in their own communities. Some parents live in Brooklyn, but the services they really need are in the Bronx.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

SC: That everyone can change. You have to believe that people can change in order to help them change. If we can set aside our biases and really learn to work with people on areas where they need help, I think we’d get a lot more done.

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SAMANTHA CURTIN

NYN: How did you become interested in working with children?

SC: I have a nephew who was in foster care, and we had a really good experience with that foster family. Having that experience helped me decide that social work was for me, just because of the dynamics of how that family treated my family. It wasn’t like a foster care placement; it was like gaining more family.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES Congratulations!

NYN Front Line Hero Winner and

Staa Member

Samantha Curtin We honor your commitment, innovation, and advocacy on behalf of the families we serve. Your work makes a diierence in the lives of New Yorkers every day.

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Congratulations to our own Jadrien Ellison, one of the first Front-Line Heroes!

Thank you for all that you do, every single day.

You’re an inspiration to our kids, and to all of us at 20

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

JE: We have a young person here … she’s been an active member of the arts program for about three years now. She had an aspiration: She’s a senior right now, and she just recently applied to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, AMDA, and solicited our support in the application process.

I was able to link her in with our college office and get her a college advisor. I then in turn was able to write her a very strong reference letter. And she was accepted. She’s getting a full scholarship. We’re just over the moon right now!

Supervisor of Arts Program, The Door - A Center of Alternatives For Jadrien Ellison, the arts have opened up many doors of selfdiscovery and transformation.

Jadrien’s artistic training began at age 12 at the Rosa L. Parks School of Fine & Performing Arts in Paterson, New Jersey, where he specialized in dramatic arts. Jadrien completed his undergraduate coursework in Africana studies at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. He earned his master’s degree in contemporary performance making at Brunel University in London. He currently works with young people ages 12 to 24, empowering them to reach their potential through the support of comprehensive youth development services. “He is a constant burst of energy,” said his coworker Lauren Nye.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

JE: We work with high-risk or at-risk populations. Dealing with any of those labels, you can definitely walk in with some preconceptions or with some preconceived challenges about working with these groups. But when you hear someone open their mouth and belt out a song, or when you look at a portrait that someone just concocted in less than a half hour, and know that that was coming from a very raw place, that ... in spite of all of their challenges - this has come from one of their very few places of belief and confidence, you are able to then appreciate what you’re seeing or what you’re looking at that much more.

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JADRIEN ELLISON

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

JE: In dealing with young people who are in this stage of inquiry - whether it’s through their identity or whether it’s in their abilities - there are a lot of questions on the table, and rightfully so. It would only (help) them for us to be a little bit more compassionate in dealing with them and not having the bar set so high that it’s unattainable. They always say meet people where they are; I disagree a little bit. I can afford to challenge someone to raise their standards a bit, but again not at the point where the bar is now insurmountable; I don’t think that’s productive either.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

PF: As a teenager, I was really into getting in trouble, running the streets, denying my parents - so I could relate to some of the things they go through, as far as the peer pressure, the pressure of the streets. I could relate to them. And I know that going that route is not a good route for them to go. So I talk to them with experience; I talk to them from the heart.

PHILLIP FOSTER Youth Counselor, Leake & Watts

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Phillip works with groups, develops treatment plans, provides counseling and supervises youth at Leake & Watts’ nonsecure placement facility for adjudicated youth in the Bronx.

Colleagues say Phillip’s compassion has made him a person who youth in crisis seek out for help processing their emotions.

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

PF: Every day is a new challenge. When you come in, you’re dealing with 12 kids - and it’s 12 different personalities, 12 different situations. If you can just help that day, tomorrow the challenge will be different. So it’s always a different push; it’s always a different strategy. A lot of the kids who we deal with, they don’t have positive male role models in their lives.

So sometimes when you sit and you talk with them, you let them know: “I came from where you came from; I’ve been been through what you’re going through; I came from that. You can make it.” It gives them hope. You let them know: The streets don’t have anything to offer; education is the key. You keep pushing and pushing until they get it. Every day, I’m rewarded with something. If I come in and one of them says, “I got an A on my test,” or “I went to school today,” then I feel like every day is an accomplishment for me.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

PF: You’ve got to take your time with them. Often these kids hold in bottled-up issues. That would be my advice to anybody in this field. Don’t just come to work to do the job; come to work and get to know the residents - get to know them for the people that they are.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

PF: I like the fact that with this program it’s more or less not locking them up but giving them a second chance, and that probably is the biggest change that could ever happen for them.

As adolescents and teenagers, when they do something for the first time and you lock them up with no therapeutic answer to their problems, you’re just creating adult criminals. Keeping them here, instead of sending them away and locking them up and giving them hard sentences, is probably the best thing that could have been done for them.

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CARMEN GONZALEZ

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

CG: We had this parent with a child. … He came at nine months. He was not crawling and always drooling and his fingers were very long. We saw that something was not right with the child but the parent was in denial. ... It was challenging because the parent didn’t see the need for receiving services. So building that relationship and making the parent see for themselves what is needed for that child (was challenging). I used to do therapy with the child and the parent, and then he saw the need for the child to be at the same level with other children. ... The child is now 4 years old, and he’s autistic. He goes to a center.

The parent just called me the other day and said, “Wow, I want to say thank you.”

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

CG: A lot of people don’t know about our programs. If they would know that we are here to serve them, that the earlier they start the better it is for their children and for themselves.

Carmen Gonzalez came into the Children’s Aid family in 1994. She joined “Padres Presentes y Futuro” (Parents of the Future and Present) at P.S. 5 Ellen Lurie community school in Inwood as a parent and rose through the ranks to become education director. Carmen holds a master’s degree in education from Lehman College. She is also a certified doula.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

CG: I think it’s giving them more education, educating our parents about the services, about their rights, and for them to know that they can count on an agency like us, that we’re here for them. I do it for them. I have received so much while being here, but that’s what I would really like, to share and help parents to grow.

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Education Director, The Children’s Aid Society, Early Childhood Division

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up?

MG: I knew I would be helping people by lifting their spirits. I mean, if you had asked me back in the day, I would have said that I wanted to be Michael Jackson.

NYN: How did you get interested in community health issues?

MG: I had family members who had to deal with chronic illness - cancer runs in the family - so I really wanted to get into the field to help. The AIDS epidemic hit really hard, and that’s when I decided to start working on these issues, became a caseworker and began my journey of just helping.

MICHAEL GOODHOPE Coordinator, Health People, Kids-Helping-Kids Mentoring Program

NYN: What changes do you think would most help the people that you serve?

MG: More advocacy, more people caring, and more people taking interest in helping children. There’s always so much more that people can do, because the children need it. As Hillary Clinton said, “It takes a village.”

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people that you serve?

MG: That they just need a little bit of TLC, and they really are a joy to work with. That everybody needs a pat on the back and their spirits lifted sometimes.

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Michael Goodhope is the coordinator of Health People’s KidsHelping-Kids Mentoring Program in the South Bronx. In this unique mentoring program, older teens with missing, deceased or ill parents learn to become mentors for younger children facing the same challenges.

It takes steadiness and understanding to help kids in very difficult situations establish high standards for their current behavior and expectations for their future. Under Michael’s direction for 10 years, the children - about one-third of whom are in foster care - have achieved a remarkable level of accomplishment.

Above all, Michael shows the children how to work together, enabling them to always have a place of support and encouragement with their peers - no matter what else happens. This record reflects Michael’s total dedication and his knack for establishing structure and norms while knowing how to be flexible and empathetic.

NYN: What do you think is the most challenging thing that you’ve done for a client?

MG: Telling a loved one that his or her loved one has passed on, that’s really difficult. Back when we were at the height of the epidemic and people were dying really frequently, that was something very common for HIV caseworkers, and always very challenging.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE Congratulations MichaelHEROES Goodhope &

Kids-Helping-Kids on your Front Line Hero Award!

Congratulations Frontline Hero Tashawnee Guarriello and all the staff at Brooklyn Democracy Academy for helping transform our students’ lives.

RONALD E. RICHTER Chief Executive Officer

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www.jccany.org jccany @jccany

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up?

TG: Besides being a superstar, I actually wanted to be a teacher.

So I guess my dreams came true in a certain way.

TASHAWNEE GUARRIELLO

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Advocate Counselor, Brooklyn Democracy Academy For most of her high school career at Bedford Academy High School, a pilot institution started by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Tashawnee Guarriello didn’t view education as a priority. She went to class only because she was “supposed to.” Now, she works as an advocate counselor at the Brooklyn Democracy Academy and feels her life has come full circle.

“I was inspired by some of my teachers and mentors and want to do for other students what they did for me,” said Tashawnee.

Unlike most high schools in New York City, the Brooklyn Democracy Academy exists as a last resort for teenagers who have failed out of other high schools in the city. From town crier to cop to cheerleader, Tashawnee is whoever her students need her to be. In the morning, she gives some of the 35 students she works with wake-up calls to remind them they’re expected to come to school. During the school day, she walks the halls, badgering students to get to class. And in one-onone meetings with students, she discusses their long-term and shortterm goals and dreams, coming up with individualized game plans for success.

NYN: When did you first become interested in teaching?

TG: When I was in high school, I really enjoyed tutoring my classmates. I always felt like I had a good way of delivering the lesson to other kids, even better than some of the teachers. But it wasn’t until my senior year in college when I decided that I needed to be working full-time in education. I knew I wanted to give back to the community, because I had so many mentors who had given so much to me.

NYN: What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?

TG: I think that the work that I do is challenging across the board. I have to be so many roles in one: a friend, a supporter, a policeman. I have to really make sure that they are making the most of their opportunities here. It’s not a 9 to 5. It’s a 9 to forever.

NYN: What changes do you think would most help your students?

TG: My students’ needs are so deep-rooted; it’s going back so many years. I think of the communities that my students come from: They’re from rival gangs; they face challenging circumstances. We need more of an investment in these communities and more community centers where kids can feel safe to go and just be kids.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about your students?

TG: That they are brilliant. That they are resilient. They have so much to offer, and they just need opportunities to succeed.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES

FROM SOCIAL WORK TO C-SUITE: ADVOCATING FOR SOCIAL WORKERS AS NONPROFIT LEADERS

By Michelle Arnot “Over the past 20 years there’s been a sea change in the field: Social workers have lost ground in leadership roles.”

This is how NYU Professor Linda Lausell Bryant, a former executive director of Inwood House, described the nonprofit landscape at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service’s March 18 panel entitled “Strengthening Communities Through Social Work Leadership for 100 Years.” As nonprofit boards become more corporate in composition, social workers have been relegated to the trenches rather than the helms of organizations, Lausell Bryant said.

In addition to Lausell Byrant, the panel included Joseph Girven of James Lenox House and Carnegie East; Maria Lizardo, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corp.; Michelle Neugebauer, Cypress Hills Local Development Corp; and Shelley Wimpfheimer, The Community Chest of Englewood - all executive directors with social work degrees.

In her welcoming remarks, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services Dean Debra McPhee encouraged students not to undervalue their potential to hold executive roles.

“It’s important for nonprofits to see that due to the more complex skills required of social workers today, (they) are equipped to take on leadership roles,” McPhee said.

Those skills include tracking and managing data, as well as handling broader fiduciary responsibilities.

Moderator Nancy Wackstein, the new GSS director of community engagement and partnerships, talked about the increasing pressure on nonprofits to achieve outcomes regardless of limited resources. While this kind of operating climate can be problematic, it’s the type of challenge that social workers are particularly adept at handling due to their ability to combine critical thinking and problem solving.

Lizardo, who became an executive director just last year, cited her favorite T-shirt slogan: “I’m a social worker, what’s your superpower?”

As a Dominican immigrant, Lizardo added that she is aware that holding her position makes her a de facto role model. “When people tell me they want to speak to the boss – that’s me,” she said. She values the effect that has on those around her. “I grew up in a settlement house so I’m very connected to the community.”

Each panelist also referenced the personal satisfaction they derive from the ability to perform community advocacy within their leadership position.

“Social justice is the end game,” said Lausell Bryant. “It’s bigger than a job: We need to understand people within the context of systems and make our voices heard to make necessary changes.”

Wimpfheimer who is also an executive coach, stressed the importance of selfreflection and owning up to weaknesses. “Those who struggle as EDs don’t self-assess well,” she added.

Girven pointed out that it’s key to have a strong support system since running a nonprofit can be a “lonely job.”

But the real bottom line, according to Neugebauer, is “fighting for justice and remaining in the vanguard of social change.”

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in community organizing and affordable housing?

RG: I think it goes back to the days when I was living in my original country, Honduras. There was so much social and economic injustice going on, and I learned that true, meaningful change only comes when community members are very active in making decisions that affect their reality.

ROLANDO GUZMAN Deputy Director for Community Preservation, St. Nicks Alliance

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Rolando Guzman oversees a team of community organizers, housing counselors and resident service coordinators who provide housing counseling to low- and moderateincome families. His team also supports community leaders, works against displacement and predatory equity, and provides social services and case management. Originally from Honduras, Rolando has over 20 years of experience in community organizing, with a focus on human rights, immigrant workers’ rights, housing and environmental justice. He has degrees in law and anthropology, is active in community gardens and other local organizations, and is a board member at his local credit union, the Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union. Rolando is a fan of hiking, camping and fly-fishing.

NYN: When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

RG: I always had passion for social interactions. Originally, I wanted to study anthropology to interact with community members.

NYN: What was your first job?

RG: My first meaningful job was providing legal services to street children during my last year of college. I was working with Covenant House, back in Honduras.

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

RG: The most challenging part of my job is when I work with families who are facing imminent displacement and are at immediate risk of being homeless, sometimes within hours. So, figuring out how to deal with that and at the same time initiate the process of empowerment and engaging that person to become an agent of change.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

RG: First of all, I wish that everyone would recognize simple human dignity. Also, that everyone has strength and large assets of knowledge from their previous experiences. And at the same time, that everyone has the courage to survive, to fight, to move forward in life.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

RG: I think having more protection for low- to moderateincome families in New York City is important, as well as having more legal protections around their housing rights and more access to health services. I also think that the city should invest in processes in which people not only receive services but also become empowered to take an active role in their life and in their community.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES

Director, Safe Horizon, Brooklyn Community Program Kimmi Herring provides comprehensive services to victims of violence and abuse. She also supports staff, represents the agency on several task forces and coalitions, and is an advisory council member for the New York State Office of Victim Services. Born and raised in Queens, Kimmi received a bachelor’s degree from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1989.

Kimmi’s colleagues describe her as “the essence of righteousness and humility,” and they celebrate her ability to “turn the ordinary into extraordinary.”

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

KH: There’s so much victim blaming that exists, and I think that sometimes we believe that crime only happens to certain people. Just the recognition that it can happen to anyone and there’s no cookie-cutter approach as to who is a victim of crime. And there are many reasons why people perpetrate crimes. How do we think about what the needs are, rather than trying to screen people out from the resources? How do we figure out ways to meet the needs, rather than ways to restrict or determine who should receive what?

NYNmedia.com

KIMMI HERRING

NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

KH: Coming from a family in which many of my relatives worked in corrections, I knew that wasn’t me because I couldn’t see myself being confined in that way. But my first job out of college gave me a taste of it, in the sense that I worked in Queens central booking interviewing defendants before their arraignments. I have to say, it was really just a job. I didn’t see or understand the value in that role. ... It wasn’t subjective. I felt like I’m not necessarily helping this person, because as long as they meet certain criteria, I check off a box. I started exploring other things. I started working with the MRDD (Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities) population in residential settings. I still felt like something was missing, and I couldn’t understand what. One day - it was called victim services back then - I saw an ad for an open house. They had a number of positions available and one that really struck a chord with me was working in the Families of Homicide Victims program. I felt like - wow - if I’m successful in getting the position, it will afford me an opportunity to engage with all the systems that I had developed an interest in as a child. I can’t imagine myself anywhere else. Not to say that the work isn’t difficult, because it definitely brings forth its challenges, but the best reward that I have is being able to see the value in support, and understand that it’s not about what I perceive as successful but what is truly success for that client.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES

3

For those of our front-line heroes planning to take a vacation, here are their top spots for re-charging this summer:

Goose Creek, South Carolina

2

Bahamas 4

1

NYNmedia.com

15 1. Cayman Islands 2. Bahamas 3. Goose Creek, South Carolina 4. Berlin 5. Greece 6. Negril, Jamaica 7. Appalachian Trail 8. Israel 9. Texas 10. Panama 11. Dominican Republic 12. Argentina 13. Brazil 14. New Orleans 15. Martha’s Vineyard 16. Las Vegas 17. Mexico

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9 17

14

7 3 2 1 6 11

Cayman Islands

10

13

12

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES

1. Rachelle Karmin, Cayman Islands “I’ve travelled the world and I’ve never been there. It kind of strikes my fancy.”

2. Doris Lee, Bahamas “I’m actually getting married this summer.

It’s going to be a small wedding on a cruise ship to the Bahamas.”

4

Berlin

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3. Sadine Richardson, Goose Creek, South Carolina “I go visit my 94-year-old grandmother, that’s my vacation, in Goose Creek, South Carolina.”

5 8

Greece

4. Jadrien Ellison, Berlin “I hope to get to Berlin, it’s partially work related, for a digital music exchange with young people in Berlin.”

NYNmedia.com

5. Thomas Kamber Antiparos, Greece “I was a Classics major in college.

I majored in Latin, I’ve never been to Greece.”

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES

Congratulations

to the Frontline Heroes recognized by NYN Media especially Barbara Hughes and Shyvonne Noboa and the tens-of-thousands of other frontline heroes who do some of the most important work in the city.

NYNmedia.com

Thank you for everything you do, every day.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

BH: I was in the restaurant business for a long time and had worked my way through to being an executive chef. One of my friends saw a posting for a job as an instructor in a culinary program that was here at Project Renewal. On a whim, I applied for the job. I’ve always been obsessed with food. It brings up the same passions that you can have for music. It’s an art.

Director, Project Renewal’s Culinary Arts Training Program (CATP) and Comfort Foods Catering Barbara Hughes was born in Camden, New Jersey, and graduated from West Chester University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in music. In 1992, Barbara helped to develop the Culinary Arts Training Program at Project Renewal. This award-winning program, now in its 21st year, trains low-income New Yorkers and helps them maintain employment in the food-service industry. In 1998, Barbara cofounded Comfort Foods Catering, a social enterprise that is now a full-service catering company employing more than 40 people.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

BH: Money is a huge issue - being able to live in the city and pay your bills. A lot of our folks have things that they have to pay for that they’re correcting from their past. I think that minimum wage is going to really help. I think that’s one of the most important things I see coming down the pike.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

BH: That they’re just like everybody else. They need opportunities. Unfortunately, they need opportunities that are beyond a job. They need everything to come together so that they can move forward. They need their family to be OK. They need their apartment to be as stable as their job, and that’s really, really difficult to get all of those things together. They’re just like everybody else in the middle and working class, trying to keep it together.

NYNmedia.com

BARBARA HUGHES

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

BH: We’re all about trying to put people back to work. There’s always that wonderful feeling you have when people graduate from your program. But there’s also the wonderful feeling of being at a graduation and somebody shows up who’s been out there working and you don’t even know it. They’ll say, “Remember I graduated five years ago. I’m still at such-andsuch and so-and-so, and I’m doing really well.” Or someone will pop up out of nowhere and you’ll find out they’re a chef somewhere or a manager at one of the kitchens. We also have a social enterprise called Comfort Foods, a full-service catering company. As of last month, we have more than 40 employees.

Our mission is to create jobs for people, and we’ve done that, and we’re doing it, and we’re continuing to do it. That makes my day - any moment of the day.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

TK: I’ve always just been very interested in social change and in do-gooder, make-the-world-a-better-place type of things.

After I got my Ph.D., I started looking at technology as an area to do that work. An older woman in her 80s called me up one day randomly and asked if I could teach her how to use the computer, and I started volunteering with her every week for a year. We became really good friends, and she encouraged me to start a nonprofit to help seniors in technology. That was 12 years ago.

THOMAS KAMBER Founder and Executive Director, Older Adults Technology Services (OATS)

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Tom Kamber is an award-winning social entrepreneur, educator and activist who has created new initiatives in the realms of aging, technology, affordable housing and the arts. As founder and executive director of Older Adults Technology Services, Tom has helped over 20,000 seniors get online and created the country’s first technology-themed community center for older adults.

NYN: What is the most rewarding thing you’ve done for a client?

TK: I was in Bedford-Stuyvesant at the Quincy Senior Residences, where we had built a free computer lab. They were really excited, and they recruited all the residents and neighborhood seniors to take our classes there. It was for 10 weeks. It’s very arduous: People go twice a week; it’s pretty serious stuff. At the end of the class, at the graduation, we were there. There was a 93-year-old woman, and when they started announcing the graduates she began to cry. And the director of the center threw her arms around her and said, “Why are you crying?” And she said, “I’m 93 years old, and I’ve never graduated from anything in my life before.” That was really rewarding for me. I’d never thought about the sense of accomplishment that people feel from taking a computer class.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

TK: I think the biggest thing that would really help seniors in America right now is if the country really started taking the problem of ageism seriously. If there was a national campaign to help people recognize and end ageism. I think that’s the root of a lot of the problems we have today with older people. We just don’t recognize the negative stereotypes that we are carrying with us and perpetuating. If you don’t really respect people enough to see them as your equal, then it’s difficult to carry out real change to help them.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

TK: I wish people knew how awesome and fabulous it is to work with older people. Seniors are just walking around with so much possibility for contributing to their communities and helping us understand our world better and making a difference. It’s like the hidden secret of cool social projects.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

RK: As an adolescent, we all kind of go through our own experiences, and I was looking at my peers in junior high and wondering why they were doing some of the the things they were. I saw a lot of bullying. It just made me interested in understanding why people behaved the way they did.

Director of Quality Improvement, St. Christopher’s Inc. Born and raised in New York City, Rachelle received her bachelor’s degree from SUNY Oneonta and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Adelphi University. A longtime resident of Westchester County, Rachelle has spent more than 25 years developing and evaluating treatment programs for adolescents in residential care. “Probably the most important aspect of her impact on the positive growth of our organization has been how levelheaded she is during tough times. She is always a person that anyone can turn to for honest advice. Although she is brilliantly smart, she is extremely approachable and welcomes anyone to come to her for assistance,” said her colleague Tracy Potkay.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

RK: I think there need to be more supports for adolescents in the community once they’re discharged from residential care.

Certainly in terms of jobs, clinical support, I think they often aren’t ready to navigate out in the community. And while they’ll reach back to the agencies, I think there needs to be a more formal structure when they’re out there, so that they have some contacts. I don’t think that’s set up as well as it could be.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

RK: That they are a lot more resilient and courageous than I think anybody who doesn’t work in the field can really understand.

NYNmedia.com

RACHELLE S. KARMIN

NYN: What are the most challenging or rewarding things you’ve done for a client?

RK: I helped a young person who had no permanent family or contacts set up his own apartment once he was discharged. He kind of reached out to me and didn’t know the first thing about what he needed in a kitchen. We went shopping together and helped him buy a set of pots and pans and just kind of set up his household.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES

Congratulations to Dr. Rachelle Karmin for being honored as a Front Line Hero!

!

With Love and Pride from Your Friends at St. Christopher’s, Inc.

Office of Global and Lifelong Learning

UPCOMING EVENTS CONFERENCES » Sí Se Puede®: Social Workers United for Latino Advancement April 25-27 16.5 approved CE hours » Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Overview and Application for Social Work Practice May 20 at St. Thomas Aquinas College 7 approved CE hours » The 38th Annual Symposium of the International Association for Social Work with Groups June 15-18

SEMINARS FRIDAYS AT SILVER ON THE SQUARE » May 13 | Trauma-Informed Care for Refugee Populations: Building Awareness, Skills and Knowledge » June 10 | Fundamental Social Work Skills for Working with Refugee Populations

WEBINARS » Becoming a Non-Profit Executive (Self Study) 2 approved CE hours

» May 19 | Social Work in Social Justice: Innovations, Implications and Applications, Part III (Live Webinar) 1 approved CE hour

POST-MASTER’S CERTIFICATES OPEN HOUSES » May 16 | Clinical Approaches to the Addictions, Child and Family Therapy, Advanced Assessment and Diagnosis, and Palliative and End-of-Life Care » May 19 | Advanced Clinical Practice, Clinical Supervision, and Clinical Practice with Adolescents » May 24 | Integrated Primary and Behavioral Health

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3 approved CE hours for each seminar

For more information, visit socialwork.nyu.edu/ogll16.

The Silver School of Social Work is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0012.

This organization (NYU Silver School of Social Work, 1415) is approved as a provider for social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) www.aswb.org through the Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. NYU Silver School of Social Work maintains responsibility for the program. ASWB Approval Period: 11/11/15 - 11/11/16. Social workers should contact their regulatory board to determine course approval for continuing education credits.

New York University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES

CITY COUNCIL RE-EXAMINES NONPROFIT PROCUREMENT POLICIES

In response to calls from New York City nonprofits to revisit procurement policies that they say have contributed to a harsh and threatening operating environment, the City Council’s Committee on Contracts held an oversight hearing to discuss potential improvements to how the city does business with nonprofit human services providers.

The hearing came just weeks after the release of two comprehensive reports - one by the Human Services Council, a consortium of 170 nonprofit providers, and another from SeaChange Capital Partners, a merchant bank serving the nonprofit sector – that painted grim pictures of the sector’s health.

HSC’s report highlights the need for city contracts to pay the actual cost of providing services - including so-called indirect costs, such as human resources and technological support and the escalation of wages and rent over time - and to disburse payments in a timely manner, unlike the lengthy delays that have become common. The report also urges city agencies to codify cooperation with nonprofits earlier in the contracting process, so that potential bidders can inform government partners about the true costs of services before requests for proposals are issued.

“I think that the recommendations that they lay out are a great roadmap for the city as we think about procurement reform,” said Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal, chairwoman of the Contracts Committee.

Rosenthal also highlighted a double-standard in the city’s contracting policies, which seem to offer more favorable conditions for the private sector, including construction firms, than for nonprofit providers.

“When the city decides to build a $40 million bridge, they hire a construction company with that expertise,” Rosenthal said. “Contractors might complain that the payment for the contract takes too long – and human service providers have the same concern – but the city would never say to a construction company, ‘We’re going to pay you $35 million. Try to get philanthropy, foundations, or other jobs that you do to pay for the remaining $5 million.’”

Rosenthal also pressed Michael Owh, director of the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, on a common complaint from nonprofit providers: the recurrent need to take out lines of credit with private lenders in order to stay afloat while organizations wait for government funds to disburse, despite the efforts of the city’s Returnable Grant Fund to provide gap funding for nonprofits.

In later testimony, nonprofit leaders continued to highlight the significant difference between overhead rates set by the federal Office of Management and Budget and those agreed to by city agencies, which often provide a much lower rate that becomes increasingly less meaningful as costs rise over the term of a contract.

“We get, initially from the city, 10 percent on most contracts, but because contracts last so long, that 10 percent rate that we start with is usually 3 percent or 5 percent later on in the contract, because all of our other bills have to be paid,” said Marla Simpson, executive director of Brooklyn Community Services.

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NYNmedia.com

By Jeff Stein

NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES

NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

DL: I was out of work, and I saw a sign on the train for New York City Teaching Fellows, and I said, “I’m going to be a teacher.” I hadn’t really thought about going into education because I’d had such bad experiences. … We were really poor, and they didn’t have uniforms, so we didn’t have nice clothes.

The kids really made fun of me and bullied me, and the teachers weren’t that nice either, so it just wasn’t pleasant. … When I saw that sign on the train, I don’t know what happened; I heard a voice in my head, and I applied, and I got in, and I was really good at it - a natural.

DORIS LEE Founding principal, Village Academy

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

DL: I think the mindset. And I think it starts with how we educate our teachers, and making sure that anyone who is a teacher understands that every child can be successful, and when they’re not successful, it’s not them, it’s us. And understanding different cultures, being aware that the way that you were raised is not necessarily the way that our kids were raised; it’s not necessarily the way that parents do things. And that doesn’t make them a bad parent or a bad student, it’s just that we have to be flexible to meet them where they are.

NYNmedia.com

Doris Lee built a family-oriented school from the ground up. She serves as a mentor to her staff and partners with countless community organizations to support her families.

Doris has raised more than $2 million to improve her school’s facilities. She provides opportunities for her students to experience the world through annual college tours and a rich arts program. Doris is also a parent and a candidate for a doctoral degree focusing on the role of poverty in education.

NYN: What’s one of the most challenging things you’ve done for a participant?

DL: One of my students, “Ernest,” was 14 and wasn’t able to read. I met with his mom, and his mom was like, “Ms. Lee, just help him; just let him graduate; just let him get out of this school.” … I felt like that’s not the way it should be. I just felt like the kids who people think are never going to do well have experienced a lot of failure; their parents have experienced a lot of failure. ... I thought it was important to build relationships with the parents and give everyone an opportunity to be successful - find something that they’re good at and be patient. … And it works. “Ernest” is a grown man now. He has two kids.

He’s my Facebook friend. I think it was seven years ago, he called me and he was like, “Ms. Lee, guess where I’m at?” I’m like, “Where are you?” He’s like, “At the library!”

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: What was your first job? When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

LBM: I’m from Philadelphia originally, and my first job was in nursing. I always wanted to work with clients on a more longterm basis so that I could build a deeper relationship.

NYN: How did you become interested in working in foster care?

LBM: I knew (the opening at The Children’s Village) would be consistent with my interests. I’ve always had a passion for helping people progress to a better place and move forward through health and life challenges.

Health Care Director, Adoption/ Foster Care Department, The Children’s Village For the last 16 years, Leslie Mack has worked at The Children’s Village with youth and families to promote healthy habits and overall well-being.

She was a leading advocate in the establishment of a health care clinic within the program, bringing a better continuum of care to participating children and helping parents better understand their children’s health.

Leslie created a new position for a nursing student to work on special projects and help educate families on health. She also developed a health passbook that children can use to track their exercise and nutrition. Leslie has worked tirelessly to address inequity and systemic racism.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

LBM: These youth have so much potential and so many strengths. Unfortunately, when people see that a mistake has occurred or that there’s something that they perceive as bad happening, that resonates so much more than everything that these kids have to offer. There is just so much good in every youth we work with, but there isn’t that perception. I want people to see the talents, the strengths and the potential, and not to have people write them off because of their circumstances.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

LBM: They need everyone to treat them with respect and dignity, and we work really hard to do that at Children’s Village.

They need to be provided with guidance and opportunities, as well as housing when they age out. They need support as they move forward. … In many cases, parents are still able to support their children at 21 - if not financially, then at least emotionally.

But many of our youth don’t have that infrastructure in place.

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

LBM: Through the years, working with families that really struggle with taking care of the things that are necessary to keep their children safe. One family comes to mind that struggled to get their kids to medical appointments, and I made sure that they would get there. I’d go to their home and realize that it’s so much more than not being able to make appointments - there are so many barriers and poverty presents so many problems. It’s so hard when they don’t have resources.

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LESLIE BOBB MACK

NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

EM: Growing up, I came from humbling beginnings, and one thing that I’ve always known - especially as a young person growing up in New York City - appearance and how you look and what you have plays a part in young people’s development.

So that is something I strive to always make sure that … young people have a certain level of appearance, and it helps with the self esteem. So I’ve gone above and bought sneakers; I’ve bought clothes.

Group Leader, SCO Family of Services

NYN: Out of your own pocket?

EM: Yes. I’ve bought suits for graduation, haircuts. With the adjudicated youth, I’ve gone as far as staking out a young person who had AWOL’d from the program. I staked out his house for 24 hours in an agency car to bring him back to the program because I felt that he needed it and he needed to be safe.

Edwidge Michel majored in criminal justice at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and he has worked with youth in day care, day camp, teen leadership groups and, now, in the juvenile justice system. Ed is a group leader in the Close to Home program at SCO Family of Services.

Close to Home is a residential program for court-involved youth.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

EM: I think we need to go back to having more meaningful after-school programs. I think our young people are pigeonholed into the same programs: either it’s going to be basketball or we’re going to do a mural. ... I coined the phrase, “the Hood Bermuda Triangle.” Our young people often know three things; it’s a triangle: corner store, liquor store and Chinese store. And they get lost in that.

EDWIDGE MICHEL

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NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

EM: I think that they know but they don’t accept it. They were young too, and they made mistakes too. … The behavior is just a symptom of an issue that a young person has and doesn’t know how to deal with. If they can find someone to actually have that conversation with them and not give up on them, they will be fine. I wasn’t the greatest young person. I wasn’t very academically inclined. But my mother always had those conversations with me that allowed me to be who I am today.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for someone you serve?

DM: I think the work I did with “Bella.” She was dealing with some emotional setbacks and things, due to experiences that happened as well as from things that were diagnosed. She was having difficulty making appointments and going to GED class.

Since we started working together, she’s been very consistent with that, and she’s been really opening up, and developing a lot of other interests in creative fields. Being an artist, it’s really easy for me to help her (expand) on that. … We’ve been able to develop a lot of compatibility. … She’s been doing really well in general, and she’s opening up and becoming a happier person.

In-Home Caretaker, Job Path Dario Mohr has worked as a teaching artist with Starlight Studio, as a residential counselor and as a Compeer counselor for youth. He also serves as secretary on the board of the at-risk youth charity Project YEAH. Dario has a bachelor’s degree in fine art and philosophy, as well as internship experience in art therapy.

“He frequently works with individuals outside of traditional service hours, on nights and weekends, so that the people he supports can go to music festivals, photo shoots, poetry slams, conferences and panel discussions,” said his coworker Lillian Sobrado.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

DM: People could just be trained in appropriate ways to speak with individuals. You know, in the field I’m sure everyone’s witnessed a lot of people sometimes treating them (individuals with disabilities) like they’re children, yelling at them.

Sometimes people get frustrated; they don’t always know how to handle themselves. … It’s understandable, but I think there could be a little bit more training.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

DM: They’re just like everybody else. There are just certain levels of comprehension of different things. Just because in some facet we find that someone may need a little extra help, doesn’t mean that they don’t excel in other areas. So we all need to acknowledge that we all have different levels of capabilities. In general I think the term “developmental disabilities” is a very isolating term; I prefer “alternative capabilities.” They are capable in ways that we don’t even realize.

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DARIO MOHR

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

SN: I became interested in social work first because of the help that I provided to my grandparents. They are natives of Ecuador, and growing up I would always help translate, interpret. I would go with them to the doctor, do troubleshooting at the pharmacy, and I realized how challenging it is for older adults to really navigate macro systems. I was really passionate about advocacy for older adults.

SHYVONNE NOBOA Program Director, Care NYC, Sunnyside Community Services

What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

SN: Life doesn’t end with this diagnosis. Through this disease, you as a family now have an opportunity to cherish moments.

The resilience that caregivers have - they’re really the unsung heroes. We are just here to provide them with the support that they need to continue doing this work. Because it’s work. But at the same time, for them, it’s something they do because it’s family, and you’re there for family.

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

SN: Paid family leave - that’s so huge. If there was a change that I would love to see state to state, nationwide: Help them support their loved ones. I’m passionate about it. It will help support so many families caring for someone who’s ill. It’s not only for Alzheimer’s and dementia.

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Shyvonne Noboa is the director of Care NYC caregiver support services at Sunnyside Community Services.

Her work focuses on caregiving, older adults, and Alzheimer’s and dementia advocacy. Shyvonne received her master’s degree from New York University Silver School of Social Work, and in 2015 she was selected as a Hartford Change AGEnts Policy Institute scholar. She was previously a 2008-2010 fellow of the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education with a clinical placement at St. Vincent’s Hospital.

She is from Corona, Queens.

Shyvonne has helped hundreds of caregivers access culturally sensitive services such as individual and group therapy sessions, educational resources and respite care.

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

SN: One of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had is when, two years ago, a woman came to me after finding out about our program in the community. She had been forced to retire to care for her husband, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. For her it was particularly devastating, because she had planned to retire and travel with him. So when she connected with me, we talked a little bit about what it was she was trying to accomplish. She wanted to reclaim her self worth and preserve the dignity of her husband. She joined my support group and connected with a network of peers. She realized she wasn’t alone. It’s been amazing - I see her everyday - to just see her smiling now. ... It was amazing for me to see her sort of blossom again.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

SR: I started drinking a lot, and I didn’t know I had a mental illness. I self-medicated, ended up in a hospital and ended up in New York. I was in a shelter in Mastic, and I needed a job, and (I ended up) working as a house manager for a year or so. My sponsor’s partner wanted me to speak on how I maintained my recovery, and I spoke, and she liked what I had to say. She was the director of the Assertive Community Treatment team at the time, and when a peer specialist position came up, I applied for it, and I got it.

Peer Recovery Specialist, Federation of Organizations Sadine Carida Richardson has worked at Federation of Organizations for more than a decade. She facilitates support groups at inpatient psychiatric wards, engages clients in the community and serves as a facility representative at subcommittee meetings. Sadine is a motivational speaker who shares messages of hope and inspiration by sharing her own personal recovery story. “Sadine has saved many from the brink of despair, addiction, even suicide. Sadine changes lives simply by being herself,” said colleague Ron Gold.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people that you serve?

SR: It’s not always about treatment. It plays a part, but there are very talented people, and they need a place where they can tap into their talent. If there was a place that they could come consistently on a regular basis to practice or even to get involved with some of their talent, they would have a purpose.

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SADINE RICHARDSON

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

SR: We had that big storm last year in February. I had a group to run at Southside Hospital. I’m sitting in the lobby, and I got the phone call: “Oh, Sadine, you don’t have to do group. Go home.” I said, “No, since I’m here already, I’ll do group.” There were only two people, and one young lady’s name was “Karen.”

And I spoke and did what I usually do in groups. I told them, “If you ever need anything when you get out of the hospital, just give me a call.” And maybe a month later, her mother calls, and her mother says that for the first time in probably 10 years she saw a glimmer of hope, and it had something to do with me.

Now she was back in the hospital from an overdose, and could I go up and see her and talk to her? And I did. I went up there and spoke to her. She went off to rehab for a couple of weeks; I helped her get into our program. She’s been consistent with the program. She just graduated in February. She just got hired as a companion for our program. She just celebrated a year of sobriety.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

DR: I wanted to be an astronaut. That idea fell by the wayside when I learned that my eyesight wasn’t good enough to be in NASA, and this was before Lasik surgery was proven tried and true, so I didn’t think there was any hope.

DIEGO M. ROMERO Director of Community Outreach, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City Diego Romero holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology, a certificate in business management and an honorable discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps. Diego also volunteers on the board of the Sigma Lambda Beta NY Alumni Network and The Green Batti Project, a mentoring program in Mumbai, India.

NYN: How did you become interested in community outreach?

DR: When I was an undergrad, I did an internship with the Boys and Girls Club, and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I quickly changed my major to sociology; I wanted to learn a little more about the community and what people are trying to do to help it. I really believe in the grassroots level approach to things. I think that collectively there’s a lot of talent and resources everywhere, and if we’re able to mobilize it, then we can do a lot of good things.

NYN: What is the most challenging thing that you’ve done for a client?

DR: The most challenging aspect of my position is really to get enough people to volunteer. We have a long wait list of kids who have reached out, who actively want a mentor, but we just don’t have enough volunteers. So it’s really convincing New Yorkers in general that they do have enough time and the ability to help a child who just needs a positive adult in their life.

NYN: What changes would most help the people you serve?

DR: I think that making sure that we’re invested in education is paramount. We work a lot on the psychosocial skills, the soft skills, that help to develop good character in kids. We’re trying, but we don’t have the resources to really make the impact we want to academically. We know that we’re making a difference in helping kids graduate high school, but they often struggle once they get to college. We have to make sure that every child not only has access to a mentor, but also enough educational support to set them up for success in the future.

NYNmedia.com

NYN: What do you wish people knew about your clients?

DR: I wish people knew that all of the kids really, really want to be a part of our programs, and just how much fun they are.

Mentoring a kid is one of the best experiences you can have in New York City.

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LET’S SUPPORT “LOCALLY GROWN” SOCIAL SERVICES There is no trend more significant in today’s food and restaurant culture than “local.”

There is a growing consensus that being a “locavore” and eating food grown, raised or produced locally – usually within 100 miles of the point of consumption – is good for local economies, good for health and good for the environment by reducing fuel consumption associated with transportation.

I would argue that it’s time to reorient New York City social services delivery back toward a locavore model as well: locally delivered, locally staffed, locally supported when possible – maybe even produced within one mile of the consumer! As with the food supply, there was a time not long ago when residents of a particular neighborhood knew their local social service agency and community center, whether a settlement house, a Y or a storefront information center. People looking for assistance did not have to travel out of their neighborhoods to get the help they needed, or to socialize, learn or simply have fun together. Nor did they want to.

Clearly, social services were locally sourced! And here, too, the benefits were obvious: familiarity and comfort, proximity and reduced travel time and continuity, sometimes over generations.

However, as with the food industry, over the last few decades “progress” and “modernity” overtook the social services sector. Nonprofit agencies were exhorted to model themselves on corporations: the only path to sustainability was through growth, and more growth. And a prevailing ideology emerged: scale automatically equals efficiency.

Agencies were urged to consolidate and merge so more people could be served and larger catchment areas covered, sometimes even covering entire boroughs or the entire city. Underpinning the growth and consolidation trend was often the belief that there were just too many nonprofit providers, resulting in redundant programming and overlapping areas of service.

Trends in city government funding embraced and supported this ideology. Contracts for services began to privilege larger and larger social service providers in the name of efficiency. Requests for proposals were designed to identify agencies that could serve larger geographic areas containing larger numbers of people. Why contract with 90 different smaller nonprofits when you could contract with five larger ones? Wouldn’t doing so save the the taxpayers money?

“Progress” has brought us to 2016 New York, where ever-larger nonprofits dominate the landscape of social services delivery. Have we created our own agribusiness right here in New York City that will inevitably drive out the family farms? And if so, what has been lost if we have? Will it even matter to consumers?

In the food industry, when the niche producers began to disappear, our food became generic, homogenized and even flavorless. (Ever tasted those winter tomatoes?) The “local” movement developed as a response to overcentralization, outsized scale and sameness.

If we don’t want local organizations with unique competencies and strong neighborhood ties to go the way of family farms, I believe it’s time to rethink service delivery. Yes, New York City is huge, but it also is a city of unique neighborhoods that should and could be enriched by locally based and locally determined services.

I’ll eat to that!

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By Nancy Wackstein

NYN -friend FRONT-LINE HEROES Congratulations to our longtime and colleague!

Dr. ALAN SHAPIRO

From everyone at Children’s Health Fund

“

From his tireless efforts to bring vital medical services to New York City’s most vulnerable children to his innovative work with unaccompanied immigrant youth, Alan Shapiro is truly a hero on the front lines of pediatric health care.

KAREN REDLENER

Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Children’s Health Fund

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”

NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: What did you want to be when you grew up?

AS: When I was very young, I wanted to be a farmer, because I grew up in Queens behind probably the last farm in Queens.

I still am a bit of a farmer, but not on the scale that I was thinking. But I had a sense pretty early on that I wanted to work with children and be a pediatrician. At one point, maybe because I had braces, I thought I could be an orthodontist. But I remember thinking not long after that, “Why not just be a doctor?”

Senior Medical Director, Children’s Health Fund Alan Shapiro is senior medical director for Community Pediatric Programs, a collaboration between The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and the Children’s Health Fund. Its programs include a homeless health care program serving New York City’s family shelter system and a community health center in the South Bronx. In 2013, he cofounded Terra Firma, a medical-­legal partnership program focused on the needs of immigrant children. He has been an advocate for improving access to health care and for the rights of immigrants and other vulnerable children.

NYN: What is one of the most challenging things that you’ve done for clients?

AS: When I finished residency, I went immediately into a homeless health care program and worked on a mobile medical unit with children living in homeless shelters and homeless street youth. I was very influenced by those experiences and was eventually able to develop a much larger homeless health care program for street youth, which I did for 24 years.

Eventually I was able to develop the Terra Firma program, which has been an incredibly moving experience, working with children who have experienced unspeakable violence and lack of protection in their home countries and have not had the chance to live normal childhoods. Being a part of their process of becoming citizens and finally having the opportunity to have access to services that they need has been incredibly challenging and rewarding.

NYN: What changes would most help the population that you serve?

AS: All children, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or economic status, need to have equal opportunities. Until that happens, there will never be equal justice and there will never be the chance for some kids who are so bright to reach their full potential.

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DR. ALAN SHAPIRO

NYN: How did you become interested in children’s health in particular?

AS: I think I’ve always been focused on the vulnerable. I grew up at kind of the end of the 1970s, at the tail end of the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movement. And even though I was too young to participate, I think it deeply affected me.

Coming from that period of time, I was always moved by the idea of injustice and inequality. Children are often the most vulnerable, so I was particularly drawn to them.

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NYN - FRONT-LINE HEROES NYN: How did you become interested in this field?

JW: Through early experiences tutoring. Many people suggested that I should teach.

NYN: What is the most challenging thing you’ve done for a client?

JW: I attended the funeral of a young person who had passed their GED and been accepted into college. The remorse is overwhelming.

JAMES WILKS

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Educational Coordinator, Brooklyn Community Services’ Youth Stand United: Employment and Education Program James Wilks considers himself to be a true son of Brooklyn; he grew up in East New York and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School.

Wilks paid his way through college by tutoring math at William H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School’s after-school program.

After graduating from Baruch College with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, he moved to Long Island and thought he had “achieved the American dream.” His first job was at one of the largest accounting firms in the world. After that, he held positions at Citibank and American Express but never felt like he belonged or was doing something significant. Helping young people get their GED certificates has at times proved to be difficult, stressful and emotionally draining, but Wilks writes that it has been the “most rewarding job I have had in my entire employment history. When my students graduate and go on to a decent job or to college, I become a proud parent all over again.”

NYN: What change do you think would most help the people you serve?

JW: More funding. There are so few resources for these kids.

Some of them are homeless or living well below the poverty level. They must not be forgotten. If we help them solve their problems, we will have fewer criminals and a stronger country.

NYN: What do you wish people knew about the people you serve?

JW: These kids are someone’s son, daughter, niece or nephew.

They are loved, or, if not, they should be. They didn’t ask for a hard life and should not be considered disposable. When we have low expectations for them, they have low expectations of themselves.

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BRIDGING THE GAP: HELPING TRANSFORM FOSTER CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL FUTURES

“Johnny” is 5 years old. He lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side with his well-educated parents. His mother is a book editor and his father works in finance.

Johnny is struggling to read. He attends school in District 3, where 76 percent of the students are proficient in reading. The school has an active parent fundraising effort, which provides for teaching assistants in kindergarten as well as a reading intervention program for first- and second-grade students. His parents have hired a private reading specialist for individual tutoring in a multisensory language approach. With this additional support, Johnny has made significant strides by the end of second grade and is now at grade level. He is on track for graduating high school on time, then eventually college and a successful career.

“Alex” is also 5 years old and struggling to read.

He lives in the South Bronx with his grandmother (who is also his foster parent). He attends District 7 in the South Bronx. The school is significantly underperforming: 3 percent of the students are proficient in reading, 29 percent are in special education and 46 percent are English-language learners. Alex’s school offers tutoring help for struggling readers and after-school enrichment, but teachers have difficulty meeting the intense needs of students like Alex because they are helping so many students and families meet basic needs. Alex’s grandmother cannot afford private remedial reading instruction. As a result, Alex has not learned to read fluently by third grade. He struggles in school and becomes discouraged. He starts to act out in class and is referred for special education services. His family finds the application process for middle school to be overwhelming; Alex is enrolled in a low-performing middle school, where he fails to progress. He cuts classes and develops shame around his inability to learn. Alex has never learned to read - so he can’t read to learn. By the time he enters high school, the chance to turn his situation around has passed.

Because of race, class and zip code, the futures of Johnny and Alex look profoundly different.

The gap in knowledge, achievement, education, career choices and income between kids like Johnny and Alex will be incomparable – and that gap is only getting wider.

With the support of a generous grant from The New York Community Trust, JCCA is about to launch an early literacy pilot program which, we believe, is the first intensive multisensory reading program for foster children in New York City. The goal of the program is to help 6- to 8-year-old children learn to focus and read by the third grade.

We urge the Department of Education to create a uniform policy that would implement the most successful inschool reading programs citywide so that race, class and zip code no longer factor so heavily into the success of New York City’s “Alexes” and “Johnnys.”

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By Ronald E. Richter, CEO, JCCA

Congratulations Michael McNee and the Nonprofit and Government Group of Marks Paneth congratulate all of the Front Line Heroes.

We’re especially pleased to acknowledge our clients who are being recognized: Diana Archer, The Osborne Association Trequan Bekka, Good Shepherd Services Jean Chun, Catholic Charities Carmen Gonzalez, The Children's Aid Society Kimmi Herring, Safe Horizon Leslie Bobb Mack RN MSN, The Children's Village Shyvonne M. Noboa LMSW, Sunnyside Community Services James Wilks, Brooklyn Community Services

We applaud all of you and those who support you.

It all adds up.ÂŽ