President's Message

We have spent a great deal of focus this past year on reaccreditation efforts.  Preparing for our COA site visit included reviewing agency policies and procedures to ensure our compliance with their high standards and gathering documents to demonstrate our consistent compliance.  Although this is a tedious undertaking that involves Board members, employees from executives to line staff, service recipients, foster parents and community partners, it is extremely rewarding.  The act of compiling this vast amount of information serves to remind us of our constant desire to improve the quality of our existing services.  This objective is abundantly clear when reviewing services over time and seeing the creative shifts and changes made to more effectively address the needs of children and families in Duval County.    It is reinforcing to read satisfaction surveys from reunified families that tell us how our counseling services have helped them understand how to be a positive parent and utilize healthy coping skills when feeling stressed.  Foster parents satisfaction surveys indicate a 97% high satisfaction rating with our licensing, support and training services.  Foster parents have commented that they are willing to hang in there with a difficult child due to the support provided by Boys’ Home.  Community partners refer their clients to us knowing they can rely on Boys’ Home staff to make prompt contact with a family.  Our April site visit from two COA Peer Reviewers went extremely well with high compliments given to our programs.  I was enormously proud of Boys’ Home’s staff and their commitment to excellence.  

Like many other nonprofit agencies, we have experienced the financial pinch as a result of the skyrocketing cost of living.  Also, like many others, we have not seen an increase in funding to provide services for children and families.  In fact, as a result of Florida’s budget deficit, we are left trying to figure out how we can continue to provide the same quality of services with less compensation.  We have had to scrutinize our budget to decide what can be cut out or reduced without compromising quality.  With an already lean financial budget, this is a challenging task. We have been forced to lay off employees, redistributing responsibilities to staff who are already stretched.  Out of town trainings have been eliminated, travel is minimized, program activities for kids are scaled back, thermostats are set higher, office supplies are rationed, copying machines are shared between buildings and coffee is no longer a perk.  Our therapists who work with families in the home observe parents who are struggling to provide for the basic needs of their children.  In the past, we have always helped families out with food, supplies and clothing.  We no longer have a budget for this type of assistance.  It concerns me to think what kind of fallout we will see from these tough financial times. 

We need your help more than ever.  There are many ways you can contribute to help us continue to provide help for children and their families .  You can donate money to supplement program costs and help with operating expenses.  You can act as a liason between Boys’ Home and foundations/corporations that care about the lives of children and families.  Include Boys’ Home in your estate planning.  Donate supplies or services.  Take an active role in advocating for children’s funding.    As a nonprofit service provider we are reaching out to the community to help us meet these needs.

On behalf of the children and families that we serve, thank you for your continued support.  We appreciate everyone who is willing to share their resources to provide critical assistance to those who need it most.  We couldn’t do it without you.

Sincerely,

Robert G. Brown, Jr.
President/CEO
Boys’ Home Association Family Services