by Bailey White
Staff Writer
An organization doesn’t survive for 119 years unless it’s doing something right. That’s one reason daniel, the oldest non-profit children’s organization in the state, is having a blow-out party today to celebrate its birthday.
“Everyone should celebrate their birthday every year,” said Jim Clark, daniel’s president. “We’re proud of what we’ve done.”
Originally established as an orphanage in 1884, daniel now provides services to troubled children and their families through a variety of programs,
“On any given day we’re responsible for between 600 and 700 kids,” he said. “We offer more than 20 different programs — preventative, educational and some residential. We’re a unique agency.”
Clark, who’s been with daniel for 12 years, first as vice president and as president for the last two years, said the organization’s focus on children’s mental health has established them as a leader in the human services field.
“Not all of our kids have been abused, though a significant number come from abuse and neglect,” he said. “A good deal of them have biological problems and others come from family dynamics that created issues.”
There are residential programs such as the Statewide Inpatient Psychiatric Program (SIPP), which places children with severe emotion problems into the care of daniel’s nurses, psychiatrists, behaviorists and teachers.
Whether on the campus, at a group home or in an independent living facility, daniel has about 100 children in residential care.
And daniel serves as the headquarters for the National Independent Living Association, providing support for other non-profit groups around the country.
A new program scheduled to start July 1, focuses on preventing high risk youngsters from leading lives of crime.
“We know that a youngster who doesn’t have a high school degree could get a job at a fast food restaurant fairly easily,” said Clark. “But that isn’t the best way to make a living for the rest of one’s life. We decided to teach them to fish, and this program, JaxBuild, puts kids between 16 and 21 who have dropped out of school, into an apprenticeship trade. They’ll be helping to build homes and preparing themselves for the future.
“These programs work because as much as kids need the social services that we provide, they need someone to work as their cheerleader as well.
“Something else that makes us unique is that we take a research-based approach to what we do. Our Early Delinquency Intervention Program, or EDIP, targets youth who have been arrested twice because we know that of children who get arrested once, 90 percent won’t be getting back in trouble. But of children arrested twice, 84 percent will likely be arrested again. That’s when we know to intervene and keep youth from a life of crime. One year later, the studies done by the University of South Florida have shown that around 76 percent of our kids have not gotten back in trouble.”
Paying attention to statistics and national trends are just two of the ways Clark and others at daniel stay informed.
“We pay attention to JCCI studies. We really study the community need, and create our programs based on that,” said Clark. “And once a month I take two kids from the program out to lunch and listen to what they say. It’s how we look at what we’re doing. We see what’s working and what we could do differently.”
There will be some changes in daniel in upcoming months. As one of eight private organizations that will take over foster care services, daniel will add another 300 children to its care, and another 20 people to its staff of over 200 by July 1.
Clark predicts they’ll handle the new responsibility just fine.
“There are some things that we’ll be able to do better,” he said. “With the government, the protocol involved can be cumbersome. The government is like a huge battleship and we’re more like a frigate. We’re able to change direction quickly.”
daniel is also gradually moving away from the government being its nearly sole source of funding.
“It was just a few years ago that 97 percent of daniel’s funding came from the government,” he said. “Now, it’s only 86 percent of our funding that comes from the government. One of our secrets has been professionalism and the fact that we take a business approach to what we do. We’ve been called the IBM of the human services field. In business, it’s important that an organization isn’t completely dependent on just one source of funding, which is why we’re gradually trying to pick up more private funding.”
One other source of revenue is the education materials the organization produces, which generates around $200,000 a year.
“We’re like a resource for other agencies,” said Madison Shelley, daniel’s vice president of development. “We offer an array of products, software and printed materials.”
daniel wasn’t always daniel.
Back when the yellow fever epidemic broke out in Jacksonville and people fled the city, community leader James Jaquelin Daniel stayed behind to help with the city’s sanitation problem, later contracting and dying from the disease.
People across the country sent money to his wife. Rather than have a statue erected for her husband, the money went to the Orphanage for the Homeless and the Friendless, who changed the name to the Daniel Memorial Home for Children.
The change to daniel happened a few years back as part of a marketing strategy, but the name suits the organization.
“I think the lower case ‘d’ represents youth,” said Clark. “We believe that kids come first and everything we do is focused on that.”
Today’s birthday celebration begins at 11 a.m. at the daniel campus at 3725 Belfort Rd. There will be plenty of children’s games and a butterfly release, lunch from noon to 1 p.m., plus a birthday cake, an appearance by Michigan J. Frog and a vintage fire truck on display.