The Foundation of Our Future: MVCS Strategic Plan FY22-FY24

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Michael A. Goldsmith

Board President

Larkin Stallings

Vice President

Walter W. Vail Treasure/Finance Chair

Patty Favreau

Secretary

SENIOR LEADERSHIP

Dr. Elizabeth Folcarelli

Chief Executive Officer

Barbara Bellissimo

Lauren Averill

Leah Brown

Valci T. Carvalho

Ronald Dunlap Gary Foster

Howard Goldstein Bill Howell Maria Krokidas

Stephanie E. Mashek Elizabeth (Liza) C. May Diane Nordin

Sandra Pimentel Matt Poole

Patricia Washington Lorraine Wells Honey Heller

Vice President, Marketing, Development, and Communications

Catherine Flynn

Vice President, Contracts and Business Development

Fred Hare

Vice President, Finance and Administration

John Scott Turton

Vice President, Quality and Clinical Operations

Robert Cropper, Director Recovery Management Services

Adam Gendreau, Director Peer Recovery Support Center

Annie LeCourt, Senior Director Finance & Contracts

Susan Mercier, Director Island Wide Youth Collaborative

Jennifer Neary, Director CONNECT to End Violence

Rebecca Pierce, Director Marketing & Communications

Heather Quinn, Director Early Childhood Programs

Sandra Sedacca Capital Campaign Officer

Jessica Tartell, Director Chicken Alley Thrift Shop

Jennifer Vogel, Director Island Counseling Center

OUR VISION

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your sustained support for MV Community Services’ mission to use our unique experience, expertise and compassion to help the Island community be as vibrant, strong and healthy as it can be. As part of our sixtieth year of service to Martha’s Vineyard, the agency’s leadership convened a specialized Strategic Assessment Team comprised of agency Board members, management, and staff to conduct a full assessment of the organization and to set both an immediate and a long-term course for the way forward.

The Coronavirus Pandemic created sizable challenges for our organization and community. In order to determine the best path to meet these challenges, our Strategic Assessment encompassed a thoughtful review of Community Services’ key service lines:

• Child and Family Services

• Disability Services

• Domestic and Sexual Violence Services

• Early Childhood Services

• Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

• Recovery Management Services, and

• Veteran’s Services

We examined MV Community Services from quality, operational, technological, financial, physical plant, and service impact perspectives, and we studied our client population to ascertain if our service reach sufficiently addressed the needs of the Island’s diverse residents. We also thoughtfully considered the broad range of our partnerships and how well we routinely engage with other entities and organizations doing similar work.

From this internal review, we then invited key community stakeholders to offer their own thoughts and perspectives as to how MV Community Services could or should improve and build upon our services over the next three years.

Six Strategic Priorities emerged from this comprehensive process. Our three-year Strategic Plan entitled, “The Foundation of our Future,” which follows in this document, highlights six priorities and associated objectives.

Priority 1: Innovate new programs to meet emerging or changing behavioral and social service needs of all Islanders.

Priority 2: Strengthen partnerships and collaborations to promote service access and inclusion.

Priority 3: Become the “Employer of Choice” for Martha’s Vineyard.

Priority 4: Strengthen Quality Practice across the Organization.

Priority 5: Stabilize Organizational Financial Performance.

Priority 6: Complete Capital Campaign for Campus Expansion.

With clear goals guiding the way, strong support from the Board of Directors, seasoned leadership, management, and staffing, and a rich history of community support as the wind filling our sails, MV Community Services will confidently continue our vital mission to support Martha’s Vineyard to be as vibrant, strong, and healthy as it can be. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Management, and Staff, we thank you for your continued support.

Dr. Elizabeth Folcarelli Chief Executive Officer Michael Goldsmith Board President

A MISSION TO LIVE BY

We believe the dignity, health, safety and well-being of individuals and families we serve are rights, not privileges.

We empower individuals to make informed choices.

We are committed to excellence, professionalism and accountability.

We foster partnerships that improve the quality of life in our community.

We embrace cultural competency, equal access and non-discriminatory practices in service delivery.

We respect the privacy, confidentiality and diversity of our employees and those we serve.

We value our employees by creating a positive work environment.

We support the governance of our agency through the oversight and policies of our Board and through the responsibility and authority of management.

We are committed to integrity, accountability and transparency in our use of money and other resources.

We value the generosity of our donors, funders and volunteers who help provide our resources.

Every day we commit our unique experience, expertise and compassion to help our entire community be as vibrant, strong and healthy as it can be VALUES

STRENGTHS

CULTURE OF ACCOUNTABILITY, COLLABORATION, AND SERVICE

• With greater than 50% of the organizations service revenue tied to federal, state, and local contracts/grants, we foster longterm, positive, working relationships with state funders and other contracting sources. This allows for continuity of service for youth, elder, disability, veterans, and violence intervention and prevention programs, among others.

• Our collaborative orientation with community service partners continues to evolve with time. Key relationships include, but are not limited to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, Island Health Care, Dukes County Administration, Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools, local towns and their respective police departments.

• We cultivate accountable relationships with business partners and supporters, such as MV Savings Bank, MVYouth, MV Hospital, and many more.

• Our pivotal role as a caring, responsible, community collaborator helps to reinforce our strong agency reputation. The community often looks to Martha’s Vineyard Community Services to lead the way in varied community-based initiatives.

DIVERSIFIED CONTINUUM OF PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

• Our continuum of services addresses a broad range of early childhood, behavioral health, and other social services needs of Islanders.

• We routinely evaluate the sufficiency of our current offerings and step forward when needed or asked to strengthen our service lines.

• We pursue new opportunities when they align with our mission and make good sense for the community and organization.

• Our long history, organizational stability, and solid community footing position the agency to grow while incurring minimal-to-modest organizational disruption.

WORKFORCE HAS UNIQUE COMBINATION OF RESPONSIVENESS, EXPERTISE AND CARE

• Agency Leadership and Management possesses possess strong expertise in their respective specialty areas.

• Our service personnel are highly regarded for their care, compassion, and competence. Our staff care deeply for Islanders and routinely go the extra mile for clients in need.

• We have an organizational orientation toward performance improvement. This means that we regularly invest in evidencebased educational, clinical and service practices and other operational improvements. We embrace the successes of our clients with a constant and watchful eye to ways we can always be at our best.

TIME-TESTED CAPACITY FOR INNOVATION

• Our agency has grown with the times and stepped up in service to creatively serve islanders of diverse backgrounds and needs. We have specialty areas in disability services, early education and care, mental health and substance use disorders, domestic, sexual, and other forms of interpersonal violence, peer recovery, and veteran’s needs.

• Over the course of six decades we have leveraged our broad service capacity to serve more islanders and offer high quality services.

• Our community ties and partnerships bolster our agency’s capacity to bid on and secure innovative contracts.

VULNERABILITIES

• In order to minimize administrative costs we rely on a lean management structure. Limited human resources can, at times, constrain our ability to swiftly respond to the Island’s needs. Current programs and service needs saturate existing human resources.

• Economic and housing factors make employee recruitment and retention extremely difficult. Staff who carry out daily operations are subject to physical, psychological, and compassion fatigue when recruitment takes months.

• Our administrative structure has not kept pace with service growth. We need to invest in modernized policy, operational processes, technologies, and professional development to keep pace with changing sectors that influence our organization.

• We depend on contracts with strict spending limitations and these compliance features limit our capacity to flexibly share resources internally.

• We rely on sizable donative contributions to offset sizable financial losses in our cornerstone programs: Early Childhood Center and Island Counseling Center.

OPPORTUNITIES

• Organizational expertise and strong community partnerships poise our organization for service growth.

• Many of our agency contracts are up for renewal. Our strong history of success in contracted areas positions us well for future success.

• Statewide system change in the community behavioral health sector may bring added resources to our Counseling Center and help to mitigate financial challenges associated with Island Counseling Center.

• COVID-19 and associated economic and housing factors have increase sales and revenues at Chicken Alley Thrift. The organization could expand on storage area to increase inventory as well as explore growth options.

• Recent advocacy with legislative resources may help to increase woefully inadequate state rates to support the Early Childhood Center and mitigate its sizable financial losses.

THREATS

• Continued exposure to COVID-19 and its variants constantly disrupts our staffing and operations.

• Housing and economic factors related to Island living and COVID-19 threaten our capacity to recruit staff and impair our ability to open all of the much-needed early childhood slots in our Early Childhood Center.

• The growth of telehealth and the for-profit behavioral health space introduce new employment competition for us and further adds to our challenge to recruit counseling and psychiatry staffing.

• Inadequate third-party insurance reimbursement for behavioral health services is not commensurate with the increased costs associated with staffing our Island Counseling Center.

• Economic factors associated with the Coronavirus Pandemic and other societal stressors may affect our Capital Campaign to rebuild the rest of our campus.

GOAL 1

OBJECTIVE 1:

Fortify Island Counseling Center with a multi dimensional strategy:

DIMENSION 1A

Deliver the full scope of Enhanced Urgent Care Services, to include integration of Law Enforcement, Recovery Coaching, Therapeutic Mentors, as well as a clear system for referral and continuing care services.

DIMENSION 1B

Promote accessibility to community based and in home children’s services under contracted Family Stabilization Services (DCF), Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI), and Flexible Support Services (DMH).

DIMENSION 1C

In conjunction with our partners at the Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools, develop a comprehensive school based intervention model to encompass supportive, prevention, and intervention services provided by MVCS in collaboration with youth served, their families, and school personnel.

DIMENSION 1D

Strengthen our service continuum for the prevention, treatment, and recovery of substance use disorders.

OBJECTIVE 2:

Strengthen and better integrate our youth and family social services in order to offer aseamless, integrated, accessible, cultur ally responsive continuum of services for the Island’s children, adolescents, and families.

OBJECTIVE 3:

Relocate and expand Chicken Alley Thrift shop to promote greater access to affordable goods for Islanders.

OBJECTIVE 4:

Build an active and engaged membership at the Peer Recovery Support Center, located at The Red House on the campus of Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

Innovate programs to meet the behavioral and social service needs of all Islanders

GOAL 2

Strengthen Partnerships and Collaborations to Improve Service Access and Inclusion

OBJECTIVE 1:

In collaboration with community partners, including MVYouth , Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools, Healthy Aging Martha’s Vine yard, Martha’s Vineyard Disability Coalition, Martha’s Vineyard Youth Task Force, and Adult Continuing Education Martha’s Vineyard (ACEMV), among others, build a thriving employment service for older adults, transi tional age youth, and persons with disabilities.

OBJECTIVE 2:

Work with existing Island resources to increase our agency’s capacity for translation and interpretation services for non English speakers.

OBJECTIVE 3:

While remaining consistent with our role as fiscal sponsor for Health Aging Martha’s Vineyard, the Martha’s Vineyard Substance Use Disorder Coalition, and the Island Disability Coalition, takeaction to more fully support their causes and initiatives.

OBJECTIVE 4:

Through continued membership on the Martha’s Vineyard Diversity Coalition, Youth Task Force, Dukes County Health Council, and other community groups, foster trust to better connect the diverse Island community to our programs and services.

GOAL 3

Become the “Employer of Choice” for Martha’s Vineyard

OBJECTIVE 1:

Attract top clinical talent to Island Counseling Center through the development of the Island Counseling Center Clinical Residency Program.

OBJECTIVE 2:

Develop a state of the art onboarding process with agency, program matic, and mentorship components.

OBJECTIVE 3:

Sustain the Pathway Program for Early Childhood Teachers in order to elevate the professional development and compensation for our early education workforce.

OBJECTIVE 4:

Inspire a highly satisfied workforce through an organizational culture of exceptional collaboration, teamwork, communication, and service.

Beth Wike Director, Disability Services

Heather Quinn Director, Early Childhood Programs

Bob Tankard Veterans Outreach

GOAL 4 Strengthen Quality Practice Across the Organization

OBJECTIVE 1: Develop and sustain the Island Counseling Center of Clinical Teaching and Service Excellence.

OBJECTIVE 2: Create effective organizational processes and pursue excellence by building active participation in agency Working Groups and Performance Improvement Teams.

OBJECTIVE 3: Build out the Employee Portal and other centralized systems to serve as the HUB for Human Resources, Financial, and Quality Management policies and associated resources and tools.

GOAL 5 Stabilize Organizational Financial Performance

OBJECTIVE 1:

Complete the second phase of financial assessment, modeling, and action planning for the Early Childhood Center and Island Counseling Center.

OBJECTIVE 2:

Reduce deficit operating margin at the Early Childhood Center and the Island Counseling Center by 10 and 20 percent, respectively.

OBJECTIVE 3:

Innovate creative recruitment, retention, and service delivery initiatives to attract staff who are motivated to fully deliver our contracted programs and services.

OBJECTIVE 4:

Cultivate and sustain robust advisory and volunteer capacities at ChickenAlley Thrift to facilitate its community connection, growth, vibrancy, and overall success.

GOAL 6

Achieve our Capital Campaign Goal for the Full Expansion of the MV Community Services Campus

OBJECTIVE 1: Open the state of the art Early Childhood Center in September 2021.

OBJECTIVE 2: Finalize the Plan for Phase II of Campus Expansion to recalibrate Capital Campaign and associated Endowment goals.

OBJECTIVE 3: Build membership for MVCS’s Capital Campaign Committee and deliver on established financial goals.

OBJECTIVE 4: Infuse the MVCS Building Committee with new membership to sufficiently address Phase II complexities.

OBJECTIVE 5: Complete Phase II major funding of Campus Transformation by the conclusion of this Strategic Plan

THANK YOU

DISABILITY

DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE SERVICES

MENTAL

SENIOR

CHICKEN

YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES

Marketing,

Barbara Bellissimo