by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
On Jan. 24, the Child Guidance Center, a 50-year-old mental health and social services resource for children and their families, submitted a heady, 38-page application to the United Way of North Florida outlining reasons why it should continue to receive private funding to provide treatment of emotional and behavioral problems for children in Jacksonville and beyond.
The application went into intricate detail about the gender and race of individuals served, past and present funding sources and the various programs offered. It contained personal anecdotes and success stories and exactly how — and in what time frame — the agency intended to meet its goals. There were volumes upon volumes of budget numbers and day-to-day expense reports and paragraphs on fundraising endeavors with various community groups. That application was then dropped on a pile with the United Way’s 78 other agency reports, which cover 122 different local programs for careful review by over 150 volunteers.
In other words, if the surgeon general’s statistic cited in the application is correct, and one out of every five children and adolescents does in fact suffer from some kind of mental illness, then the weight of the materials awaiting review by the United Way must have contributed to at least a temporary rise in the same disorder among adults.
It’s actually not quite that bad. Some United Way-funded agencies are on multi-year contracts and don’t come up for review annually. However, during a four-month period this year, 157 volunteers made 60 site visits to agencies encompassing 84 programs in five counties. About a week ago, preliminary recommendations were made to the United Way Cabinet, which includes the chairs of all the various teams. Following that meeting, final recommendations will be presented to the board of directors who, when they convene June 20, will either thumbs-up or thumbs-down the specific allocation of over $10 million for human-services programs in Northeast Florida.
Creating a Community Agenda: Indicators for Health and Human Services, a 110-page document created by the Jacksonville Community Council, Inc. (JCCI) for the United Way last year, defines five focus areas to help identify where the greatest unmet needs in the community are. The focus areas revolve around creating a brighter future for children and youth, building stronger families and neighborhoods, creating independence for the elderly and disabled, responding to personal crisis and disaster, and promoting wellness and protecting our health.
To that end, a 2002-03 resource management volunteer leadership chart was developed with the help of Susan Clance of the Duval County Public Schools as cabinet chair and Charlene Taylor Hill of the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission as vice chair.
Each agency was placed into a relevant category, which had its own chairperson as well as a staff member to serve as the liaison between the United Way and the agency seeking funding. The Child Guidance Center fell under “Children & Youth in Crisis” along with daniel, The Bridge of North Florida and the Youth Crisis Center. Other categories included Basic Needs, Victims of Abuse and Neglect, Positive Youth Development and Individuals with Disabilities and Special Needs. There were 17 categories total, including one called Volunteer Accounting.
Chuck Young, who wears a dual hat as resource manager and campaign division manager depending on the time of year, recruits volunteers simultaneously while out collecting contributions.
“The reason we have a United Way is so that people don’t get 79 appeals from 79 different agencies,” said Young. “We do the work so that every contributor can be confident that their money will be allocated in the best possible way.”
Each team was given a resource management volunteer manual and some encouragement. To relieve the pressure, they were told that the decisions they make would impact where and how well disadvantaged children in Jacksonville eat and sleep next year.
“We usually ask volunteers for a three-year commitment,” said Young, a former First Union banker. “Everyone in this role understands that they are stewards of the community, that they are spending other people’s money and that it is critical that we take that very seriously.”
In early March, before teams were sent out into the field, the United Way held an orientation and training session at the Radisson. It was there that the critical criteria was explained, the forms were dissected, policies were emphasized, ethical guidelines were reviewed and the timetable was distributed to all team members. Barbara Drake, a community activist and head of Main Recycling in Jacksonville, led the Children & Youth in Crisis team as they went on four site visits, one being to the Child Guidance Center.
The site visit
There are a total of five outpatient care facilities that encompass the universe of the Child Guidance Center, an organization with a $7 million annual budget that counseled almost 4,000 children last year — more than any local institution of its kind. The primary facility is on St. Augustine Road at University Blvd., and although the CGC has been receiving funding from the United Way practically since its inception in 1951, that doesn’t mean the staff didn’t get ready for their visit. They were asking for about $116,000, about a 40 percent increase from last year — to fund a staff person at their newly built Arlington facility.
The children who come to the CGC are suffering from depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, suicidal tendencies, delinquency, attention deficit disorder, recent parent divorce and, sometimes, severe emotional disabilities. There are licensed counselors on staff and one M.D. who travels from facility to facility. Most of the CGC’s funding comes from the Florida Department of Children and Families, Medicaid and the Jacksonville Children’s Commission. The United Way has traditionally made up about seven percent of their overall budget. The Duval County Public School system covers about three percent.
“Most of the kids who come through our door have been abused or neglected,” said Dr. Veronica Valentine, the executive director of the CGC. “But we have the best established program locally for helping to get kids back in school with fewer discipline problems.”
The CGC is equipped with rooms that resemble a child’s bedroom with stuffed animals, pictures, posters and toys. The only difference are the books on psychotherapy and the two-way mirror. During a preliminary tour of the facility, Karen Ivey, who has a master’s degree in counseling and works at the CGC, said she practices something called Play Therapy, where children will sometimes act out on a doll something that may haven happened to them, like sexual abuse, or an overcompensation of nurturing tendencies to replace attention they never received.
The United Way’s team members asked a lot of tough questions — implementing the protocol for modern philanthropy that requiires everything run like a business. Some were concerned that unless there were actual psychiatrists on staff, how could a clinical diagnosis be made about whether a kid has attention deficit disorder. Doctors from Hope Haven, the CGC assured them, in addition to their own medical doctor, are available in cases where children need medication.
The sophistication of the questions surrounding the appropriate age, for example, in which it was legal to diagnose personality disorders, implied that some of the team members had dealt with similar issues with their own kids.
After the half-hour tour, at 2 p.m., Dr. Valentine gave an overview of the agency that, with the coming of the new century, outlined a new strategic plan with an increased focus on client needs and improving access to services. The most recent annual report notes that with an increase in funding in 2000, the CGC was been able to expand its services in meaningful ways. The opposite was true in 2001. Practically every state-funded agency was the victim of cutbacks last year, and the CGC was certainly no exception. What Valentine also mentioned is that two years ago, private psychiatrists decided to no longer accept Medicaid, adding to the agency’s burden.
The overall presentation, which included Valentine’s report, along with budget experts outlining expenditures, and parents who provided anecdotal information about how the CGC helped their child, was a time for boasting.
“The racial make-up of the children we help is practically identical to the racial make-up of Jacksonville,” explained Valentine. “In addition, we measure performance based on customer satisfaction and right now that’s 99 percent.”
Valentine told the group that in October, the CGC received the highest accreditation status from the state possible.
Jane Chafin, the CGC’s clinical director standing in front of a colorful powerpoint slide projected on the wall, explained that suicide is the second leading cause of death for children and adolescents in Jacksonville, and that only through programs like the ones offered at the CGC, can that number decrease. She went on to explain the comprehensive service the CGC offers, the parental involvement and the personal attention that helps eliminate suicidal tendencies.
But the United Way’s bank account is not bottomless and hard choices have to be made. According to Young, often one of the questions the United Way will ask when contemplating an increase in funding is, “What will you do if we can give you the same amount of money as last year, but no more?”
In the case of the CGC, that would mean that the Arlington facility, which is grossly understaffed, would either close or cut its hours. The CGC made a point to mention that they have eliminated waiting lists for children with critical needs, which often means staff works overtime with no compensation — they’re just those type of folks.
At 3:35 p.m., the staff of the CGC left the room and the seven-person Children & Youth in Crisis team was left to discuss what they had just seen. During the presentation, they were supposed to fill out a Funding Criteria Worksheet that ranks from 1-3 how well the particular agency accomplishes what they say they do. Issues such as whether the program is a logical derivative of its mission, how they follow through with recommendations from previous allocation processes and whether they are keeping costs down, in addition to “critical criteria” such as whether they clearly meet an unmet community need, are all checked off either 1, 2 or 3.
The room was silent while the numbers were totaled. The discussion proved lively. One volunteer thought the CGC needs a more active board that is involved in fundraising. Another said there is a greater need for clerical support — are there interns? There must be licensed psychiatrists that can help out, remarked another. Do they recruit these volunteer doctors? daniel is also going to ask for an increase in funding, by the way. Maybe the only option is to shut down the Arlington facility.
The numbers came back. Out of a total of 42 points, the CGC received a 30, 31, 33, 27, 35, 39 and 25. Not bad, but not great. In mid-April, the team reconvened for its wrap-up meeting.
Final decisions
About six weeks ago, the Children & Youth in Crisis team, which could spend $525,454, had its wrap-up meeting, and because the Youth Crisis Center, one of the categorys’ four agencies under review this year, only asked for level funding — the same amount it received the year before — YCC received its funding.
The team was highly impressed with the Bridge of North Florida, which put on what Young called “a very slick presentation,” including testimonials from board members. They had asked for a four percent increase in funding for a neighborhood enhancement project downtown — they got it.
For the remaining funds, it came down to daniel and the Child Guidance Center. daniel wanted a 50 percent increase for new staff members, just like the CGC.
“We weighed the two agencies to determine who best fulfilled the particular mission of children and youth in crisis category,” said Young. “And because daniel served older kids and mostly facilitated job placement, we went with CGC.”
daniel, instead of 50 percent, received a five percent increase, and the United Way made detailed recommendations about how they could improve for next year. The Child Guidance Center received $91,000 — up about 12.5 percent from last year — not enough to staff another person in Arlington but the biggest increase of any of the four agencies.
“When we increase funding but not to the extent they want,” said Young. “We ask them to redo a budget and that could change a lot of things.”
In June, the Cabinet will make its formal recommendations to the Board of Trustees. Then, by July, they’ll start to write the checks.