Leadership Changes at Hoffman Homes

C. Mitchell Snider has been named executive director of Hoffman Homes for Youth in Gettysburg, Pa. He assumed his new responsibilities on July 1.

Snider has been employed at Hoffman Homes since 1978, starting as a live-in youth care worker with his wife, Gail, just 10 days after they were married. Since that time, he has served in various capacities, including case manager, assistant director of residential services, director of finance and, most recently, associate director. He holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Slippery Rock University and a master of business administration from Mount Saint Mary’s University.

Founded in 1910, Hoffman Homes for Youth is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary.  Snider is the organization’s third executive director since 1960, following the tenures of Gerald Hagmayer (1960-1996) and George Sepic (1997-2010). Commenting on his appointment, Snider said, “I hope that I can continue to provide the stability that was demonstrated by Jerry and George. I learned a lot from both of them.”

Hoffman Homes also has announced the appointment of Michael A. Stonesifer as director of operations and Alicia Stanley as director of development.

Stonesifer, who has 30 years of administrative experience in for-profit business, will oversee safety, maintenance, grounds, custodial, food services, purchasing and technology.

Stanley has a degree in business administration with a strong focus on marketing and will develop special events, fundraising and annual giving programs.

Learn more about Hoffman Homes for Youth here.

Lifelink, Hoyleton Dissolve Affiliation

Lifelink President and CEO Rev. Timothy Rhodes and Hoyleton Youth and Family Services President and CEO Christopher L. Cox announced Aug. 20 the dissolution of the 11-year affiliation of their respective organizations.

Hoyleton Youth and Family Services and its affiliates, Puentes de Esperanza and Hoyleton Children’s Home Foundation, now operate as independent nonprofit, faith-based entities.

Lifelink, located in Bensenville, Ill., and Hoyleton Youth and Family Services (HYFS), located in Hoyleton, Ill., were both founded as homes for children in 1895 as separate ministries of the German Evangelical Church, a forerunner of today’s United Church of Christ. The two organizations began their affiliation in July 1999 in a move that strengthened both organizations financially and operationally.

Lifelink is taking the strategic step of divesting some of its programs, including Hoyleton, to focus on providing affordable housing services in Illinois, Missouri and Florida. This will strengthen Lifelink and allow it to expand its housing services to meet the tremendous need for those programs.

As a result of this disaffiliation, Cox has been appointed the president and CEO of HYFS and its affiliates. “We are excited to have the opportunity to continue our legacy of providing for the needs of children and families in Southwestern Illinois, and look forward to serving them for many years to come,” Cox said.

Hoyleton Children’s Home remains at the core of HYFS’s services. From its beginnings as an orphanage, the home has evolved into a residential treatment facility for youths experiencing developmental disabilities and exhibiting behavioral disorders. Hoyleton’s other services include: Foster Care, the Seeds of Success Family Advocacy program, Transitional Housing and Life Skills Training for homeless families, Community Integrated Living Arrangements, Counseling, and Project Safe Date.

As an HYFS affiliate, Puentes de Esperanza serves a growing Hispanic community in Southwestern Illinois, with services that include Outreach and Advocacy, Head Start for Migrant and Seasonal families, Domestic Violence Prevention, its Women’s Health Initiative, and its Teen REACH after-school program. The Hoyleton Children’s Home Foundation exists to develop the resources needed to support and further the ministries of Hoyleton Youth and Family Services and Puentes de Esperanza.

“Lifelink is honored to have served jointly with Hoyleton for eleven years and knows Hoyleton is well  positioned to continue its 115-year history of ministry serving vulnerable children and families,” Rhodes said.

For more information on Lifelink’s affordable housing programs, contact Lifelink at 630-766-3570.

For more information on Hoyleton’s ministries, contact Hoyleton at 618-493-7382.

Federal Dollars to Help Lifelink Save on Energy Costs

The federal stimulus program aims to spur spending, but at CHHSM member Lifelink, a nonprofit provider of affordable housing for seniors and disabled adults, some of those dollars are being invested to cut spending on energy costs.

Lifelink has received a $3 million federal grant to improve the “green” aspects of five of its communities, two in Florida, two in Chicago and one in Kansas City. The properties range in size from 24 to 80 apartments.

Starting in September, the funds will support an 11-month effort to upgrade windows, install new roofing, reduce storm water runoff from parking lots, buy new energy efficient appliances, convert to water-saving toilets, and add rooftop solar energy systems that will power the entire common area of two buildings.

Tim Rhodes, Lifelink’s president and CEO, says of the eventual savings from more energy efficient buildings, “That’s more money we can put into caring for seniors and disabled adults who are in need.”

Based in Oak Brook, Ill., Lifelink currently owns, operates, and provides consulting assistance to 35 affordable housing facilities located in Florida, Illinois and Missouri.

Susan Sinderson, a Lifelink vice president, says of the grant, “The exciting thing is Lifelink has always had a commitment to sustainable building, and this has given us a chance to do energy upgrades that would have taken years of saving up the funds to do it ourselves.”

Other CHHSM nonprofits are making similar innovations.

Pilgrim Place, a senior community in Claremont, Calif., expects to become the first freestanding retirement community in the U.S. to have three of its new buildings become LEED-certified, an internationally recognized green building certification system that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., Pilgrim Manor Retirement Community sharply reduced its energy use and carbon footprint by installing 750 compact fluorescent light bulbs and developed a campuswide recycling program in conjunction with the city of Grand Rapids.

At Lifelink, Sinderson says residents welcome changes that will not only save money but also help the environment.

“They say everybody talks about this now, but it’s not new to them,” Sinderson says, “They didn’t grow up in a throwaway world.”

For instance, she notes, residents of one Lifelink property, Greencastle of Bayonet Point in Port Richey, Fla., collect their used cooking oil and donate it for use in municipal vehicles that run on the oil.

While the changes fit with old-time frugality, the grant will affect how Lifelink addresses green issues well into the future, Sinderson said.

The grant requires use of environmentally friendly chemicals and materials and 16 hours annually of staff training focused on energy savings and protecting the environment.

For Rhodes, the grant helps Lifelink take a natural next step.

“We see this as an extension of our ministry with the United Church of Christ,” Rhodes says. “We will be leaders in creating a sustainable environment for persons to participate in and educate others about the necessity and the efficacy of sustainable environments.”

Organization Remakes Itself to Better Serve Children

April Petry of Elon, N.C., wants to be an opera singer. This fall, the newly minted graduate of The Elon School will enter Belmont University in Nashville to study vocal performance. Whitney Stitt, valedictorian of the Class of 2010 at the Kennedy Charter Public School in Charlotte, N.C., will soon choose which college she’ll attend as the first step toward her planned career as an anesthesiologist.

Both young women were launched toward their dreams by CHHSM ministry Elon Homes and Schools for Children. Originally created as an orphanage in Elon, the 103-year-old organization has reinvented itself in response to both a changing regulatory environment and the changing needs of its constituency. It still helps children across North Carolina who need foster care and related services, but in recent years its primary focus has shifted to education.

In 1998, the agency opened The Kennedy School, a public charter school for children in grades 6 to 12 at risk of failure in traditional public schools. The Francis Elementary division now serves younger children, and total enrollment is about 400. Whitney, who moved to Kennedy from a public middle school, had always earned good grades. “I liked it because there was more one-on-one time,” she says of the small classes at Kennedy. “The teachers have more time and they stay more on you.”

The Elon School opened in 2007 to serve high-achieving, college-bound students; enrollment at the independent, tuition-based school was 86 last year. Before starting there as a junior, April was frustrated in public school. “I felt I was wasting time and not learning anything,” she says. She graduated from The Elon School with an award for personal integrity, intellectual curiosity and social responsibility.

In a sense, the reinvention of the former Elon Homes for Children was spurred by crack cocaine. The Rev. Dr. Frederick Grosse, the agency’s CEO and president, says widespread use of that drug in the 1980s caused the numbers of abandoned, abused and neglected children to explode. In 1985, the organization bought Boys Town in Charlotte and shortly thereafter began taking in what Grosse calls “court order kids” at both their Elon and Charlotte campuses.

“In 1999 or 2000, we realized we had a growing agency and our board wanted a better grasp of what it was governing,” Grosse recalls. “We had gone very quickly from an orphanage to residential treatment.” He himself joined the organization in 1996, right around the time the Adoption Safe Family Act reordered — and to some extent dismantled — the nation’s system of care for orphans and foster children.

“We decided to sit back and ask who do we really want to serve and who can we serve,” he says.

Redefining the agency “was a very logical move,” says Dr. Barbara Tapscott, who chaired the board when it voted to open The Elon School. “We wanted to do the best we could for children given our resources and location. In Elon, when residential care was phased out, we were left with a very beautiful campus in a community that had supported us for almost 100 years. We looked at what we could do to give back, and there wasn’t an independent private school in the community.

“We were started to serve children, and we continue to do it,” she says.

April and Whitney are heading for college as a result.

New Name Doesn’t Change Crossroad’s Mission

Back in 1883 when 9-year-old Hermann Leisering was the first child through the doors of the Reformed Orphans Home of Ft. Wayne, Ind., the world and the organization itself were vastly different.

Now officially known as Crossroad Child & Family Services Inc., the organization still strives to help children in need, only through different means and in the midst of different social realities, says Kyle Zanker, Crossroad’s chief development officer.

“We are a nearly 127-year-old agency, and services have changed over the years; and with that, names have changed,” she says. Still, she notes, the aim has always been to serve children.

When founded, the Reformed Church-affiliated organization served as home for hundreds of children left in dire circumstances or those whose parents had died.

In 1942, its name became Ft. Wayne Children’s Home to reflect the move away from the orphanage model. After World War II, old-style orphanages began to disappear with the emergence of state foster care programs. The organization later expanded its services to include Woodhaven, a home for unwed mothers and their children. The home also added emotionally troubled children to those it served.

In 1963, the name changed to the Ft. Wayne Children’s Home of the United Church of Christ to reflect the 1957 merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches that created the United Church of Christ.

In 1975, the agency kept its existing name but began doing business as Crossroad.

“We could have called ourselves a treatment center at that point,” Zanker says. “The recent change reflects more accurately the programs and services we have offered for many years.”

A number of factors precipitated the legal name change earlier this year, she says.

Crossroad sought to emphasize the depth and breadth of services the agency offers to emotionally troubled children and youths: residential and secure care, outpatient services, home-based care, and an alternative to psychiatric residential treatment facilities. Today, Crossroad serves more children in non-residential services than in residential services, working more and more in communities and homes.

A secondary goal was to broaden the pool of funds available to support the work Crossroad does. Crossroad has adopted the new name as part of its tax-exempt organization filing, allowing the agency to receive funds from companies and other grantors who are forbidden in their bylaws from contributing to churches.

The ultimate goal, though, is serving children better.

“The name change helps place us in the minds of people who could use our services as so much more than a residential facility,” Zanker says. “We want them to think, ‘I have a troubled child who needs help and Crossroad has several alternatives that may meet our needs.’”

“Okay, Lord, I hear you”: Darlene Sowell and CHHSM

Darlene Sowell’s life changed one day while she was watching Rosie O’Donnell.

It’s not what you think. The show wasn’t touting a self-help strategy or the latest exercise fad. Sowell was watching Rosie when a headhunter called, and that’s what led her to health and human service ministry and the congregation of CHHSM.

That headhunter convinced her to have a job interview with Tom Vanden Berk, president and chief executive officer of UCAN, a CHHSM ministry in Chicago that works with more than 13,000 children each year. “When I met Tom,” recalls Sowell, a member of Trinity UCC in Chicago, “he talked first about mission and his commitment to kids.” She also met Zack Schrantz, then development director and now COO, who told her that UCAN was a UCC ministry.

“Okay, Lord. I hear you,” Sowell remembers saying. “I knew it was right before I left that day.”

Sowell joined UCAN in 1996 and stayed twelve years, first as vice president for human resources and then as executive vice president for human resources, facilities and housing programs. During that time, she became a CHHSM board member and Tom Vanden Berk became her mentor and friend. One day in 2008, after the two had agreed it was time for her to begin looking for a more senior position, he suggested that she interview at another CHHSM ministry as a way to build her career skills.

That skill-building exercise led Sowell to become executive director of CHHSM member Neighborhood Houses in St. Louis. Although the change meant moving 300 miles and assuming new responsibilities, she says, “My CHHSM relationships made the transition easy. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Since Sowell arrived in St. Louis, CHHSM president and CEO Bryan Sickbert has provided support and training for the Neighborhood Houses board, while her CHHSM colleagues and fellow Diakonal ministers Chris Cox, Mike Brennan and Greg Cardwell-Copenhefer are peers always ready with help and advice. Jerry Paul, president of the Deaconess Foundation in St. Louis “has been supportive personally and professionally,” she says, and the foundation”s capacity building program has increased Neighborhood Houses” ability to assess its needs and respond to changing economic and social service conditions.

The support from CHHSM”s congregation is amplified by the investment of the United Church of Christ in Sowel”s new ministry. “The church support here is unlike anything I”ve ever seen,” she says, praising especially the St. Louis Association and the Missouri Mid-South Conference of the UCC.

Using this help, Sowell hopes that Neighborhood Houses will move families and communities to self-sufficiency, foster the arts and healthy food in urban neighborhoods, and offer excellent early childhood education. “We have much of what we need in place to do wonderful things,” she says of Neighborhood Houses. “It’s where I’m supposed to be. I firmly believe that. It came together, instantly.”

Cars and Boys Get Help at Brooklawn

At CHHSM member ministry Brooklawn Child and Family Services in Louisville, Kentucky, the staff works to help boys overcome serious emotional disturbances and to find foster or adoptive placements. So how did they get involved in oil changes and brake work?

For teenaged boys at Brooklawn, part of healing is developing self-esteem through vocational education, and the ministry operates an accredited special education school in collaboration with the Jefferson County Public Schools. In April 2005, the two organizations opened the Brooklawn Auto Service Training Center, a working garage where boys aged 13-18 can learn what it takes to be an auto mechanic.

Boys at Brooklawn and other state-agency schools can participate in the program as long as they meet behavioral standards; between 20 and 22 take part on most days. The Training Center offers classroom instruction as well as hands-on training under the supervision of instructors, who are employed by the school system.

How’s the service? After a few months in business, with only word-of-mouth advertising, the Auto Service Training Center has a two-week waiting list for cars in need of repair. And since the boys’ labor is free, customers pay only for parts. “I had my brakes done there and it cost $50,” said a satisfied customer, “whereas it would have been at least five times that somewhere else.”

Although Brooklawn’s program does not provide formal certification for employment, program instructor Bill Greenwell feels confident about his students’ skills. “I can take a student who’s never set foot inside a shop and make him employable in a year,” said Greenwell. “Now that’s entry-level employment, but that’s more than most people have who walk in off the street looking for a job in an auto shop.”

To learn more about Brooklawn Child & Family Services and its programs, please visit www.brooklawn.net. If you’re in Louisville and your car needs work, please call 502-451-5177 to get on the waiting list!

New Research on Foster Teen Pregnancy Prevention from CHHSM Member UCAN

There’s good news in the work to prevent teen pregnancy: according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, teen pregnancy and birth rates in the United States have declined by approximately one-third over the past decade. However, there’s also much more to be done: one-third of girls in the United States still become pregnant as teenagers, and the United States still has the highest teen pregnancy and birth rates in the fully industrialized world.

Recently, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and CHHSM member UCAN (Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network of Chicago) collaborated on an initiative to reduce teen pregnancy among one population at especially high risk: youth in foster care. The two organizations conducted qualitative research including focus groups with foster teens and foster parents, a survey of Chicago-area child welfare service providers, and meetings with child welfare and teen pregnancy prevention organizations in Chicago and Washington D.C.. Their findings suggest new ways to reduce teen pregnancy among foster teens by encouraging positive, respectful relationships and peer support among young people and strengthening foster teens relationships with supportive, consistent adults.

The report notes that preventing pregnancy among foster teens can be particularly complicated because many of these young women, despite access to information about preventing pregnancy, want to have a child in order to experience having families of their own. Learning from peers about the real-life complications of teen parenting can help counteract these motivations, while education and youth development activities can help supply foster teens with positive adult role models and avenues for success outside of early parenting. Mental health services, work with boys and young men and more training for foster parents also provide strategies for preventing foster teen pregnancy.

What’s next in UCAN’s work with foster teens? Its project with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy continues, with work to make pregnancy prevention for foster youth a higher priority, developing and piloting a pregnancy prevention program for foster teens in Chicago, and providing tools for preventing pregnancy to foster teens and those who care for them.

Founded in 1869, UCAN (Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network) was established by St. Paul’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church (known today as St. Paul’s UCC, Chicago) to care for Civil War orphans. Today’s UCAN offers a full array of services for children and families through a network of community-based initiatives. To learn more about UCAN’s work in teen pregnancy prevention, read

“Fostering Hope: Preventing Teen Pregnancy Among Youth in Foster Care” at www.teenpregnancy.org; to learn more about UCAN, please visit www.ucanchicao.org.

Reflections on a Summer At Crossroad Children’s Home

The vision statement of Crossroad Childrens Home in Fort Wayne, Indiana is, Creating promising futures for children, whatever it takes. This has been shortened to whatever it takes and is used as the primary motto for Crossroad.
This summer I served as an administrative intern at Crossroad for six weeks. This internship was part of the Make A Difference Scholarship in Health and Human Service Administration provided through the United Church of Christ and CHHSM. During this time I learned that whatever it takes in order to serve children who are abused and neglected is more than I ever could have imagined.
Whatever it takes means making sure that buildings are in good repair and existing facilities meet the needs of the children. Whatever it takes means having an emergency back-up plan when the city shuts the water off in order to repair a broken water main. Whatever it takes means taking the time to celebrate childhood with Olympics and carnivals.
Whatever it takes makes sure policies and procedures are in line with the accrediting bodies. Whatever it takes updates computer systems in order to serve the children as efficiently as possible. Whatever it takes makes sure employees get adequate training and time off. Whatever it takes acknowledges that pain comes before healing. Whatever it takes rejoices in small and big achievements. Whatever it takes recognizes that sometimes we do not have whatever it takes and we must rely on God.
Crossroad Childrens Home has been relying on God to serve the needs of children who are abused and neglected since 1883. And they continue to do whatever it takes with the help of churches and individuals who support their ministry. I was blessed to be a part of this ministry for six weeks and take a small role in Creating promising futures for children, whatever it takes.
–Jill Terpstra
Jill Terpstra is the CHHSM Scholar, a position made possible by the United Church of Christ Make a Difference Scholarship in Health and Human Service Administration administered by CHHSM. She is a student in care of the Pittsburgh Association of the Penn West Conference and is in her third year of the four-year dual Master of Divinity and Social Work Administration Program at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and the University a Pittsburgh.

“Because Failure is Not An Option for our Youth:” Kennedy Charter Public School

In recent years, reforms in the federal child welfare system have presented nearly every child-serving ministry with challenges, and opportunities. One CHHSM ministry, Elon Homes for Children in North Carolina, has adapted to this change by learning how to serve children and families in a different way.

Our board, which operates on a policy governance model, consulted experts from around the state and the country, says the Rev. Dr. Fred Grosse, president of Elon. •We determined that, although we still provide long-term, residential and specialized foster care and know it is an important service, we believe that it needs to be short-term and in concert with the community and the family. To make a difference long-term for the young people we serve, education is the answer.