Impact 2011 by The MENTOR Network

impact A R e p o r t o f T h e M E N TO R N e t w o r k C h a r i ta b le Fo u n d a t i o n F Y 2 0 1 0

PROOF:

Transforming human services through evidenced-based research When is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do? Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy famously posed these philosophical brain teasers in his 1903 short story “The Three Questions.” In that tale, the powerful Tsar creates a deep connection with his enemy by unwittingly saving his life. Today, literature reaches across time and space to capture the practical dilemmas of the modern human services delivery system. These same three questions nag at caregivers. They nag at policymakers. And they nag at family members. Finite resources, quality concerns and professional ethical imperatives to deliver the best care add a sense of urgency to finding the answers. Consequently, there is a new push to research and document evidenced-based practices. “The whole move toward community-based services has evolved,” explained Sally Bachman, Associate Professor at Boston University’s School of Social Work. “As that evolution has occurred, practitioners in the field are asking the question: ‘How can we do this better?’ There is an acknowledgement that there is something to know.” But acknowledging a need and being able to meet it are often two different things. Enter The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation. Seeing an opportunity to have a significant impact on the field, the Foundation is funding a landmark study of the policy and financing trends of communitybased child welfare services in all 50 states.

Conducted by Boston University’s School of Social Work, The 50 State Guide to CommunityBased Child Welfare Services will offer policymakers, service providers and advocates up-to-date information on programmatic and financing trends in each state with an emphasis on best practices. Professor Judith Gonyea will serve as the principal investigator and Bachman as the co-principal investigator. “For the first time, states will have the ability to benchmark their own services against those of other states and explore what innovations are happening around the country,” said Dwight Robson, President of the Foundation. “This data will help them move forward with new models of care and service delivery. The Foundation is thrilled to be a catalyst for that kind of change.” The study will place a special emphasis on state financing for children in therapeutic foster care. “Therapeutic foster care provides an important and nuanced intersection of children who are quite vulnerable,” explained Bachman. “They receive services in the child welfare system, and they also have complex needs that require placements in therapeutic settings.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

impact A Report of The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation FY 2010

These children also provide good case studies of a new trend in human services: According to Bachman, policymakers and providers have a history of thinking about children in need of therapeutic foster care as being part of the foster care system exclusively. In reality, they have special health care needs that are funded through different state agencies and funding streams. Connections among these agencies are finally being made, and this study will draw those connections more clearly.

emphasis in this proposal on dissemination.” Gonyea explained that the team will attend conferences, host webinars and utilize other electronic and print tools to ensure wide usage of the guide.

“For the first time, states will have the ability to benchmark their own services against those of other states and explore what innovations are happening around the country.”

Gonyea noted that evidenced-based practice was once focused exclusively on the clinical level, but it has moved to the policy arena.

—Dwight Robson, President, TMNCF

“Information about these children is very hard to come by,” said Bachman. “Making this information more accessible will promote best practices.” Gonyea, Bachman and their research assistant, Whitney Rudin, will work with two types of data: First, they will comb through existing databases so as not to duplicate effort; and second, they will compile information they collect from interviews with key stakeholders in each state, including leaders in child welfare agencies, Medicaid programs, federal agencies and organizations like the Child Welfare League of America. An advisory committee will connect them with the right sources and assist with dissemination once the guide is complete in the spring of 2012. “This is not going to sit on a shelf,” stressed Gonyea, literally and figuratively (the guide will be a web-based document). “There is a strong

“If you talk to any state policymaker, they want to know right away what other states are doing,” said Bachman. “They are looking for evidenced-based practices that improve the quality of care and maximize the effectiveness of their dollars.”

“It is the idea that we have an ethical responsibility – a fiscal responsibility – to put forth interventions that we can demonstrate lead to the desired outcome,” she explained. “But it’s not a linear relationship. Practice and policy inform research.” Bachman also noted that their team is approaching their investigation fully aware of the enormous fiscal pressures states are facing. “We are going into it thinking that states are doing the best job they can with the resources they have.” It is a strategy developed with an eye toward the future. “If people know we are a safe and trusted resource,” said Bachman, “we can become a repository of this information.” Updating the guide every two to three years is a goal. Bachman and Gonyea credited the Foundation with seeing the need for this data and funding its collection. “The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation is stepping up at a time when other foundations have had to retract. It says something about the Foundation that they are willing to do this project at this particular time,” offered Bachman.

impact A Report of The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation FY 2010

innovation

Connecting is just a CLiC Away The counties of southwestern Virginia are defined by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Located in the heart of Appalachia, these peaks and valleys form geographic and cultural touchstones, providing livelihoods with their vast coal deposits, while at the same time, isolating residents from the rest of the Commonwealth. This isolation is particularly acute for the 18,000 individuals struggling to recover from brain injuries. Southwestern Virginia covers a daunting 11,000 square miles. Comprehensive rehabilitation services are few and far between, particularly those offering neurocognitive and neurobehavioral therapies. Access to day programs is limited by transportation, cost and availability. Motivated by this need, the Brain Injury Services of Southwestern Virginia (BISSWVA) developed a “high tech, high touch” solution. Enter the Community Living Connection – or CLiC – an innovative Internet-based program that provides services and fosters relationships among brain injury survivors. Two three-hour sessions per week offer highly interactive social and rehabilitative networking moderated by a group facilitator. Participants develop prevocational skills; they practice life skills; and they share their experiences with people who are meeting similar challenges. BISSWVA launched CLiC in 2009 as a 12-month pilot project with 10 participants, five engaged consistently. BISSWVA worked with nearby Virginia

Tech and Radford universities to design the technical aspects and provide ongoing assistance. Participants were given a computer if they didn’t have one, along with a microphone and software. “The program is structured to allow the group to make decisions about what they’ll talk about and what they’ll do,” explained Helen Butler, BISSWVA’s Executive Director. During the pilot phase, participants created three newsletters, writing articles and organizing content. They also formed a book club and read a memoir about brain injury. The author was contacted, and she logged on for their discussion. Program evaluations, including neuropsychology tests conducted every three months by Radford University, offered hopeful signs. “The CLiC Program has vastly improved my quality of life,” wrote one participant. “I’m thinking more quickly,” wrote another. “I can tell the difference. I can stay more focused.” “We concluded that we need to push forward and disseminate this to a bigger group,” said Butler. Using the $5,000 initial investment from The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation, BISSWVA managed to leverage an additional

CONTINUED ON PAGE 43

impact A Report of The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation FY 2010

$172,00 in support to expand into a three-year rollout for the most remote areas of Southwest Virginia. In addition to The Network, partners include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Collis-Warner Foundation, the Verizon Foundation, and several private donors. The next phase of the program will begin this summer and will also assess possible replication in other places. “This is a community of fellow brain injury survivors,” offered Butler. “It is hard to find peers, but CLiC gives them people to count on.”

“The CLiC Program has vastly improved my quality of life.” “I’m thinking more quickly, I can tell the difference. I can stay more focused.” –CLiC participants

Grant Guidelines and Application Process Grant applications are available online at www.thementornetwork.com/foundation. Community Champion applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Stepping Stones applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Community Partner applications are accepted and reviewed quarterly. The deadlines for submitting grant requests for FY11 are as follows: Fiscal Year 2011 (October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011) Q1: December 15, 2010 Q2: March 15, 2011 Q3: June 15, 2011 Q4: September 15, 2011 Organizations are eligible to re-apply for funding every twelve months from the date of the initial grant. Successful re-submissions will demonstrate measurable progress and outcomes from the previous funding cycle.

Our Community Partners are change agents within human services that are either delivering innovative care or developing new ideas and models for doing so. They are results oriented, leveraging resources and knowledge to positively impact individuals and communities and transform society’s vision of and approach to its most vulnerable members. The Stepping Stones Fund helps those we serve through grants for job training and readiness activities, vocational and higher education, and other programs that lead to self-sufficiency and independence. Whether they are transitioning out of the foster care system, graduating from one of our therapeutic day schools or receiving other services, many young people served by The Network lack the resources and support necessary to build productive, fulfilling lives. Because community service is The Network’s way of life, the Foundation created the Community Champions program to recognize our employees who devote extraordinary amounts of time and energy to local charities. Champions receive recognition throughout The Network, and their chosen nonprofit receives a gift of $500.00.

impact A Report of The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation FY 2010

illumination

Solid as a rock:

A Q&A with Roca’s Molly Baldwin Roca is a performance-based, outcomesdriven organization committed to moving disengaged and disenfranchised young people out of violence and poverty. For many of these young people, gangs are family; they’ve been in and out prison; school is a distant memory or about to become one; and some as young as 12 are parenting their own children. There are immigrants too, far from home, left with memories of unspeakable violence. Working in Chelsea, Revere, East Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts, more than 60 fulland part-time Roca staff promote a theory of change centered on young people becoming re-engaged in positive, intensive relationships. When that happens, they are able to overcome their environment and gain competencies in life skills, education and employment. The Foundation was pleased to help support Roca’s expansion into Springfield, Massachusetts – the fourth largest city in New England and one of the country’s most dangerous urban centers. IMPACT sat down with Molly Baldwin, Roca’s Executive Director, to further discuss the organization’s unique model and impressive outcomes. IMPACT: For starters, what does Roca mean? MB: We chose it years ago. Roca means rock in Spanish. Our goal is to serve as a foundation for change – a foundation that’s as solid as a rock. To

change lives and communities you have to be pretty strong in the core. IMPACT: And how exactly are you doing that? MB: We stand for certain values – truth, trust and transformation. We speak the truth about young people and the community; we build trust through our long-term relationships; and we work to transform lives. Transformation is our intended purpose: Young people living out of harms way. To get there, we run a three- to five-year intervention model where we build relationships with young people who don’t do well in other programs. The idea is to draw them into activities around life skills, education and employment. We run work crews, GED programming, carpentry, cleaning, culinary arts and other education and certificate programs. We create opportunities for them to build their skills to succeed. IMPACT: That sounds terrific, but aren’t other organizations doing the same thing? How is this different? MB: There are many great organizations in Boston. But the young people we’re working with aren’t ready to show up and participate on a regular basis, yet. We’re working with them to get them to get them to that point so that they can participate in a meaningful way. We’re helping them get to the starting line.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 65

impact A Report of The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation FY 2010

months to get them in the door. If we meet you, and you start showing up every day, you don’t need to be at Roca. You don’t show up, you’re in. It’s a little counterintuitive. IMPACT: How has this approach been received by professionals and policymakers?

IMPACT: What is the starting line? MB: For these young people, it means being engaged in unsubsidized employment and arrest-free for six months. To put it in perspective, it can take someone up to 18 months to get to the point of showing up for 60 days straight of transitional employment. We have a set of programming based on commonly accepted stages of behavior change. Basically, we build in that they’ll relapse. From there, we place young people in unsubsidized employment or a higher training program. They receive less intensive support, but

“Our goal is to serve as a foundation for change – a foundation that’s as solid as a rock. To change lives and communities you have to be pretty strong in the core.” –Molly Baldwin

we’re following them. At that point, they develop life goals. They don’t know how to imagine themselves working. IMPACT: How do these kids get to Roca? MB: We find them. They’re referred to us. Youth workers meet them on the street. We use a cognitive behavior model. There are phases to relationship development. It can take up to nine

MB: The world is now talking about high-risk youth and funding for them, but they still think everything can happen on a tiny timetable. The work comes in the relapsing. Roca has a highly monitored tracking system or outcomes, so we lead with that stuff when talking to people. We also have outside evaluators. For public policy, this group is very expensive and very dangerous. If you spend more time getting to the starting line and set up programming that accommodates relapses, it’s a lot less expensive in the end. It’s not an easy sell, but that’s what it is. More and more people are interested in our model, which is positive. IMPACT: Roca started in 1988. How have young people changed since then? MB: Some things change and some don’t. There are different groups on the street – different immigrants. The economy is different. Those things have changed. But young people are like the rest of us. They have a heart and dreams – whether they know how to get to them is another matter. IMPACT: What’s your favorite success story? MB: We have a number of staff people who have grown up in the organization. Watching them work with young people is awesome. I also love it when people surprise me. You try to be open minded, but we’re human. We all get judgmental. Then you watch someone do great things over time, and you say to yourself, “I was so wrong!”

impact A Report of The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation FY 2010

inspiration

Miracles on horseback:

Equine therapies transform lives in and out of the saddle It was a normal work day on Haven Horse Ranch in St. Augustine, Florida. Kids were learning to ride. Some were getting ready for equestrian competitions. Others were cleaning out the barn and feeding the horses. A group of children with physical disabilities arrived for their lessons. That wasn’t unusual, according to Ric Lehman, owner of the ranch. Groups came from time to time. Ric relished the joy in kids’ eyes when they experienced the freedom of riding a horse for the first time. What came next was unusual: One of the girls in the group was catatonic. She had been in this state every one of her 14 years of life. She had never made a sound – no laughter, no words, no cries of anguish. On this particular day, she mounted the horse and sat. One minute passed. Two minutes. Finally, three. Perhaps this won’t work, thought her counselors. And then they heard it: A cooing noise. A sound of joy. This 14 year-old was showing emotion for the first time in her life. “Her counselors sobbed like babies,” recalled Lehman. “That was the day I knew there was something to this.” People who run equine-assisted activities and therapies (EAAT) report similarly amazing outcomes for kids and adults living with a

host of challenges, which is why The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation continues to take a special interest in supporting them. Lovelane Special Needs Horseback Riding Program in Lincoln, Massachusetts serves 110 kids from the ages of 18 months through 24 years-old. They are living with a wide range of challenges including autism, Cerebral Palsy, genetic disorders, Down Syndrome, and developmental delays. They also serve kids battling cancer and other lifethreatening diseases. Activities are customized depending on the rider’s individual therapeutic goals, whether it’s to improve trunk strength, speech, cognition, motor skills or social skills. “At Lovelane these children find a place where they can succeed as athletes and enjoy a freedom of movement they might otherwise be denied,” said Debby Sabin Lovelane’s Founder and Executive Director. “They feel proud when they trot for the first time, are able to steer a horse around cones or ride in the woods on our therapy trail.” Such positive outcomes motivated Lehman to transform his business into a nonprofit in the late 1990s. He made another bold move last year: Haven Horse Ranch offers all equine therapy for free.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 87

impact A Report of The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation FY 2010

FY 10 Community Partner Grant Recipients • Adoption and Foster Care Mentoring • Best Buddies of Arizona • Best Buddies of California • Best Buddies of Masssachusetts • Best Buddies of Pennsylvania • Big Brother Big Sister of Central California • Big Sister Association of Greater Boston • Boston Children’s Chorus “There are too many kids who need us,” said Lehman.

• Boston Debate League

In 2010, his goal was to complete 1,150 hours of therapy. He and his three paid staff exceeded that by 820 hours for a total of 1,977. So, he set this year’s goal even higher: 2,250 hours of service. Lehman expects to exceed that too. These numbers don’t include the prep work that goes into each session, which averages two and a half hours per rider.

• Codman Academy Charter School

With his staff dragging under the strain, Lehman is focused on growing the organization and raising his $200,000 annual budget from foundations and individuals.

• Lied Discovery Children’s Museum

Like Haven Horse Ranch, economic hardship is never a barrier at Lovelane. Forty to forty-five percent of their riders receive tuition assistance. They have a waiting list of 200 young people. Lovelane’s heated indoor ring, outdoor ring and skill-building riding trails give kids the chance to receive their 30-minute weekly instruction in any weather. Therapeutic riding instructors are joined by more than 100 volunteers, who tack up horses, sidewalk in lessons and greet riders when they arrive.

• Bottom Line • Community Boating Center • Family Diversity Project • Foundation for the Challenged • Haven Horse Ranch • Kingdom Living Outreach Services • Lovelane Therapeutic Horseback Riding • Minnesota Stroke Association • Roca • Special Olympics of Minneapolis • Villa Esperanza • YMCA of Orange County, CA

Doctors told the family of one Lovelane rider that in addition to his other challenges, he would never walk. Today, at age 24, he is upright and mobile. Ask him to say something about himself, and he will offer one thing: “I ride horses.”

impact A Report of The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation FY 2010

Wiki Update

Disabilities Leadership Site Goes Live Get ready to add a new bookmark to your web browser: A multimedia site detailing the history of the developmental disabilities movement has gone live. Run – don’t walk – your fingers to www.disabilityhistorywiki.org. Armed with a grant from the Foundation, the University of Minnesota’s Research and Training Center on Community Living (RTC) compiled this resource, which covers the momentous changes that have taken place in the developmental disabilities movement since the 1800s. The site also offers profiles of key leaders and a Wiki repository for personal experiences, stories and archival materials. The RTC is hopeful that established leaders and historians will add their own information via the site’s Wiki function. “We envision the web site as a tree,” explained Charlie Lakin, RTC Director. “It presents an overview course on disability history; that’s the trunk of the tree. But to make it a living tree, we need branches and branches off those branches.” An important goal is for the site to become a link between generations. Noting the retirements occurring among older leaders, RTC is working to preserve their institutional memory for those yet to come. “I have often heard from others whose roots in the field date to the dawn of the deinstitutionalization that today’s leadership seems to have lost some of the passion that helped to drive so much change on behalf of individuals with intellectual and developmental

disabilities,” said Greg Torres, a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. “Especially for those new to the field, this project hopefully will underscore how much progress had been made while energizing all of us to continue to push the movement forward toward a day of full equality and integration for those we support.”

313 Congress Street, Fifth Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02210 617.790.4800 foundation@thementornetwork.com www.thementornetwork.com/foundation Board of Directors Linda DeRenzo Kathleen Federico Denis Holler Sarah Magazine Ned Murphy Bruce Nardella Dwight Robson Greg Torres Community Champions Committee Steve Baraban David Davenport Christine DiGiampaolo Shelley Hansen-Blake Kathy Ludban Maria McGee Carla Parker Claire Williamson

Community Partners Committee Jim Ashby Valery Bailey Neil Brendmoen David Doth Robert Efford Jane Ketcham Juliana Knox Lisa Pakkebier Robin Ray Stepping Stones Committee William Allen Dana Delman Shelley Hansen-Blake Gary Jeter Patricia Maguire Connie Menne Viviane Ngwa Kate Novak Glenda Peters