Complex challenges require comprehensive solutions.
That is the message The Centers for Families and Children wants to get across to the Northeast Ohio community it serves. The Centers, which assists more than 23,000 clients annually, focuses not only on treating symptoms, but changing lives.
According to Elizabeth Newman, president and CEO of The Centers since 2015, the mission is to better the lives of those it serves through integrated behavioral health, primary care, early learning and workforce development and addiction services. With a staff of nearly 600 skilled professionals in 16 locations across Greater Cleveland, Newman says,
The Centers “is making an impact in reaching people where they are and providing holistic, comprehensive solutions for the entire family.”
Most of the population served by The Centers suffers from a mental illness and addiction or a chronic physical condition. Once an individual’s needs are evaluated, a comprehensive approach is taken to help them access the services they need. A client may obtain such integrated services as case management, counseling, medication management, pharmacy services, primary care, psychiatry and substance abuse/addiction services.
“The people and families we serve are often living in poverty, and they rarely come to us because of a single, isolated problem,” Newman says. “Their needs are complex and require comprehensive solutions — and solutions that touch the whole family, however that is defined, rather than just the individual.”
The following list of successes provides insight into how The Centers is making an impact:
1. It was named 2016 Organization of the Year by the National Alliance on Mental Illness Cleveland based on its efforts to advance an integrated model of health care.
2. It recently became an accredited community pharmacy residency program, which attracts students from around the country.
3. It integrated nutrition education and access to healthy food within its services. The Centers offers an on-site food pantry and meals services, seasonal mobile pantries (in partnership with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank), and cooking classes.
4. It expanded its infant and toddler capacity to provide needed care for growing families.
5. All seven of its learning centers are five-star-rated by the state of Ohio’s Step Up to Quality initiative.
6. It launched Hire Local, a workforce development program, in coordination with the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, which encourages local workforce development by facilitating a connection between local merchants and job candidates who live in the surrounding neighborhood.
“We are health and human services providers, but we view our work as economic development,” says Newman, who joined The Centers in 2012 as vice president for program strategy. “Every time we prepare a child to be successful in school, we are supporting our regional workforce pipeline. Every time we help someone get and keep a job, we are supporting our regional economy and helping to stabilize a family. Every time we stabilize an individual with severe mental illness, we are helping them to live a healthier life.
“The cumulative impact of our work is a stronger community. We welcome people across our community to become actively involved in The Centers’ mission, movement and life-changing solutions to help our entire community to succeed by volunteering, advocating for and donating to our organization.”
Earlier this year, The Centers completed a three-year strategic plan to help guide its efficiency, growth and expansion efforts leading up to its 50th anniversary in 2020. Newman believes the success of The Centers is due, in part, to its ability to remain focused on the needs of the people it serves, while continually adapting and innovating its approaches.
“We operate in an evolving environment, face ongoing changes in public health and human services policies and a shifting regulatory environment,” says Newman, who was hired after a national search. “This adaptability has been a hallmark of The Centers since its founding, when five organizations with deep roots in Cleveland’s social service landscape came together to better offer support to those in need. We are a large and stable organization, but we remain nimble.”
Challenges The Centers considers when forming its programs include:
1. More than 250,000 Northeast Ohioans live in poverty. Many are working more than one job.
2. More than 50 percent of the area’s poor are children.
3. There are roughly 2,000 days between birth and the start of kindergarten — this is a critical timeframe during which 90 percent of a child’s brain develops — which makes high-quality early learning services so important.
4. One in five adults living in Northeast Ohio lives with a mental health condition.
To adapt to the environmental changes, The Centers’ Board of Directors Chairman David E. Weiss says: “The Centers will need to continue to be creative in finding the resources to provide high-quality health and human services to meeting the growing demand.”
As the complex challenges mount, Newman remains focused on providing comprehensive solutions to help strengthen the community one individual at a time.
“We provide all these services and they are of the highest quality,” Newman says. “We are working to break down internal siloes that prevent coordination of these services so we can provide comprehensive, life-changing solutions to the people and families we serve. Integration of services is a huge part of our plan.”