MHP Annual Impact Report 2024

YOUR CHILD IS OUR MISSION

www.medhomeplus.org

/medhomeplus

@medicalhomeplus

ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

02

A letter from our Executive Director and our Board President

03

MHP’s Story

04

Our Services

05

Program Updates

07

MHP’s Impact in 2024

09

Your Child is Our Mission

11

Uncork Hope 2024

13 14

Welcome our New Advisors and Board Members

Staff, Board, and Community Spotlight

At MHP, our mission is clear: to stabilize children with special needs and their families and guide them in achieving their best, particularly as their needs change throughout childhood, adolescence, and transitioning into adulthood. In 2024, we engaged with families a whopping 90 times through our newest programs added this year: Transition Planning + Kindergarten Readiness. We were only able to add these two new programs to our already successful cadre of services thanks to steadfast community support, enabling us to maintain the highest bar of a responsive and proactive organization. Your generosity ensured that an astounding 259 educational communities throughout the Commonwealth received life changing services provided by MHP in the last year.

We are particularly proud of our Transition Planning Program within these communities, ensuring that these children with special needs and their families have a plan for when services and supports drop off as they reach adulthood, many of them unaware they have even hit a milestone birthday disqualifying them from the services they depend on. These are children of single moms who are at risk of losing their jobs to manage their child’s extra needs. These are children with disabilities unjustly facing expulsion due to behaviors resulting from a lack of proper support in their environment. These are children and families who do not understand or feel confident in how to take the first steps of their Special Education journey without MHP’s support. In fact, historically, families have reported a 228% increase in educational satisfaction after receiving MHP’s services.

Your partnership guarantees that MHP never has to turn a family away. We say that “your child is our mission” and this will remain; each individual family and child receives comprehensive services from MHP, handled with the same care we would want our own children to receive. Thank you for guaranteeing that no family in Virginia has to face these challenges alone.

Sincerely,

Emily Jiancristoforo, MHP Executive Director

Megan Newman, MHP Board President

A NOTE FROM LEADERSHIP

Dear Friends,

2

More often than not, families of children with special health care needs feel overwhelmed and are not sure how to enter into the process of obtaining a network of supports and resources. MHP serves as a hub for families and professionals alike who are seeking information and support for these special children. From MHP’s beginning, our motto has been to hire parents of children with special needs to interface with our families in a peer to peer support model.

MHP’S STORY

2001

MHP became incorporated as its own entity, founded on the principle that every child deserves a medical home.

2011

Our Transition Planning Program was created in response to family feedback and advisor experience, thanks to generous support from the Truist Foundation.

2024

Medical Home Plus was created as an extension to Richmond Pediatric Associates, Inc.

2003

Our IEP Advisory service was created in response to the community need.

2023

Our Kindergarten Readiness program was created thanks to generous support from The Robins Foundation.

NOW 3

RESOURCE COORDINATION We work directly with parents (and caregivers) to identify what community services and supports are needed and how families can access them.

•

EDUCATIONAL PLAN ADVISORY SERVICE Our Advisors provide direct, one-on-one guidance in helping navigate your child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 Plan.

•

TRANSITION PLANNING SERVICE This unique program provides connections to resources and lifelong development and practice of foundational skills needed to successfully navigate life in the community as an adult.

•

KINDERGARTEN READINESS PROGRAM Our Kindergarten Readiness Program addresses the unmet need for specialized early intervention support and resources for families of children with special needs as they enter the school system.

OUR SERVICES

•

PROGRAM UPDATES

TRANSITION PLANNING

5

MHP has a rich history of providing a community of support to families of children with disabilities.

Our families have consistently shared their questions for when their children inevitably age out of the public school system. They face losing access to supports or accommodations and parents worry what their child’s future will be like. Therefore, MHP launched a Transition Planning Program to provide services to address these concerns. Quality Transition Planning includes connections to resources and lifelong development and practice of foundational skills needed to successfully navigate life in the community as an adult. This can include post-secondary education, career paths, independent living, and daily living skills. Better preparing our young adults and their families will lower the risk of experiencing poverty, homelessness, abuse, the criminal justice system, and more.

Because we are taking a unique, individualized, and proactive approach, our hope is for MHP’s Transition Planning to have positive ripple effects throughout the state to enrich the lives of our students, our families, AND our communities.

Scan to watch our Transition Planning video

KINDERGARTEN READINESS

OUTCOMES: •

MHP assisted families through the Eligibility process.

•

MHP assisted families in finding and securing the most appropriate educational placements.

•

MHP assisted in adding appropriate services to existing IEPs.

•

MHP helped families find community resources.

•

MHP assisted in drafting and finalizing a robust 504 plan for children.

•

MHP guided families and school teams in creating initial IEPs.

•

MHP ensured IEPs included supports, goals, and services for children as they transition to an inclusive Kindergarten classroom.

•

MHP ensured IEPs included baseline data, visual supports and regulation strategy accomodations.

42

FAMILIES SERVED IN 2024

DIPLOMA TRACKS

<1%

OUTCOMES: •

MHP connected families to community resources and organizations to help their child enter adulthood successfully.

•

MHP assisted families and school staff to establish individualized and measurable goals for students after graduation.

•

MHP provides direct, expert guidance and education for families about transition planning services and diploma track options.

*Thank you to Truist for supporting our mission!

48

VAAP

ADVANCED

12% UNDECIDED

STANDARD

28%

28% APPLIED

12%

FAMILIES SERVED IN 2024

“MHP is doing a great service! My advisor was amazing and stopped during IEP meetings to ask if my husband and I understood what was being discussed. If not, she would break it down for us. She knew so much.”

*Thank you to the Robins Foundation for supporting our mission!

6

MHP’S IMPACT IN 2024

COUNTIE S S ERVED Accomack Albemarle Amelia Appomattox Arlington Augusta Botetourt Brunswick Caroline Charlotte Chesterfield Culpeper Cumberland Dinwiddie Essex Fairfax Franklin Frederick

Gloucester Goochland Halifax Hanover Henrico Henry Isle of Wright James City King George King William Loudoun Louisa Madison Matthews Montgomery New Kent Nottoway Orange

I N 2 0 24 ,

20%

CITIE S S ERVED Page Powhatan Prince Edward Prince George Prince William Pulaski Roanoke Rockingham Smyth Southampton Spotsylvania Stafford Surry Tazewell Warren Washington Westmoreland York

of the counties and cities we provided services in were served by MHP for the first time.

28

MHP is proud to serve

AGES 2-20

New referral partners

46

families had multiple children served by MHP

7

Alexandria Chesapeake Colonial Heights Emporia Fredericksburg Hampton Harrisonburg Hopewell Newport News Norfolk Petersburg Poquoson Portsmouth Richmond Roanoke Staunton Suffolk Virginia Beach Winchester

2/3

of our work is with children in primary school. MHP has a proactive approach to set children up for success!

Families working with MHP are asked survey questions before our work starts, and again after our work is concluded, rating each statement on a 1-10 scale. The impact of our services is clear with a staggering

228% increase in educational satisfaction!

N U M B ER O F FA M I LY ENGAGEMENTS IN 2024

690

Breakdown of Our Services by Percentage:

EDUCATIONAL PLAN ADVISORY

50% RESOURCE COORDINATION

44%

TRANSITION PLANNING

6%

YOUR CHILD IS OUR MISSION

At MHP, we pride ourselves in serving families experiencing any and all circumstances, including all abilities, languages, ages, diagnoses, and socioeconomic statuses. Being a place for Virginia families of children with special needs to turn to for resources, advice, and assistance is our core mission. We never turn a family away.

LEARNING DISABILITIES

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

SPEECH & LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT SUSPECTED OR AT RISK

NEUROLOGICAL DISORDER

DEAF/ HEARING IMPAIRMENT

ORTHOPEDIC IMPAIRMENT

AUTISM

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

SPECTRUM DISORDER

ADD/ ADHD

PROCESSING DISORDERS

GENETIC DISORDERS

BLIND/ VISION IMPAIRMENT

MULTIPLE DISABILITIES

EMOTIONAL/ BEHAVIOR/MENTAL DISORDERS

DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY

CHALLENGE:

OUTCOME PROVIDED BY MHP:

Child’s behavior has escalated to suspensions and/or assault.

MHP provided guidance to the family and school team to include a Behavior Intervention Plan, additional services to address needs, and accomodations for when getting overstimulated to the child’s current education plan. This resulted in suspensions stopping and behaviors decreasing.

CHALLENGE:

OUTCOME PROVIDED BY MHP:

Child has difficulty completing schoolwork.

MHP provided guidance to improve the child’s educational plan by including curriculum modifications, testing accommodations, and modified assistive technology. This resulted in the schoolwork being appropriately accessible to the child.

CHALLENGE: Educational Plan does not meet the needs of the student.

CHALLENGE: Family needs assistance with review of educational placement.

OUTCOME PROVIDED BY MHP: MHP provided guidance to improve the child’s educational plan by updating baseline data, ensuring goals are measurable, and strengthening communication between school and home.

OUTCOME PROVIDED BY MHP: MHP helped understand options, secure appropriate educational placement and prepared family and student for transition from one school to another, including confirmation of transportation details.

10

Our last three Uncork Hope fundraisers have had a flower theme as a nod to the tremendous growth and success MHP has experienced. The past year’s theme was ‘Hope Flourishes’; as an established non-profit serving children with disabilities and their families throughout Virginia, we are focused on helping those that we serve to ‘flourish’. This was our first year including a live auction element to our evening as our guests eagerly bid for the priceless artwork of five-year-old Lily, a special friend of MHP’s. Her one-of-a-kind masterpiece titled Waffle City was featured as a highlight of the night.

Thank you to all that supported this year and we look forward to Uncork Hope 2025!

Scan to hear from our 2024 Hostess, Tricia Rhodes

UNCORK HOPE

TOTAL RAISED: $250K+

12

NEW IN 2024

NEW ADVISORS

13

CAROLYN HAYDON

MICHELE GARDNER

LATONYA SLADE

MEG FLANAGAN

NEW BOARD MEMBERS

MADI BIEDERMANN

LORRAINE MCQUEEN

KATIE DURHAM

SAM ANDERSON

MHP STAFF EMILY JIANCRISTOFORO Executive Director

KATE OLENYIK Al’s Pals Program Manager

SUSANNAH CLARKE Family Support Advisor

GAIL AUSTIN Director of Operations

CATHERINE KEIPER Bookkeeper

CAROLYN HAYDON Family Support Advisor

HOPE KINKEL WALTON Program Manager

VICKI BEATTY Family Support Advisor

MICHELE GARDNER Family Support Advisor

HALEY BARBER Knowledge Systems Manager

DONNA SABEL Family Support Advisor

LATONYA SLADE Family Support Advisor

MARY PETERS Family Support Manager

KATE OPPE Family Support Advisor

MEG FLANAGAN Family Support Advisor

CINDY ACKERMANN Family Support Coordinator & Program Support KENDRA NAGLIERI Program Support LAUREN SHERWOOD Coordinator - Special Families Roanoke

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEGAN NEWMAN President

KENDALL VON MICHALOFSKI Secretary

RYAN GLASER Vice President

JOHN NEWTON Treasurer

SATYA RANGARAJAN HALLIE HOVEY-MURRAY ELLE JOYNER LORRAINE MCQUEEN

MADI BIEDERMANN DIANA HUDGINS SAM ANDERSON KATIE DURHAM

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT Driven Behavioral Support has been collaborating with Medical Home Plus for quite some time and the help and support that your agency has provided to the families that we work with is absolutely fantastic. Moreover, several of the families that we work with do not speak English and their primary language is Spanish. This could have been a hindering factor for many people, but MHP has taken this challenge and found a way to help and support those families regardless of the language barriers. I believe the impact that Medical Home Plus is having on every family that we work with is truly important to provide a better quality of life. We have worked with several MHP advisors, who advocated for our families and provided support to ensure benefits are provided and implemented by the school to the families. Furthermore, the support that is being provided to those families who are struggling financially is truly amazing. Some families that are learning English are scared of advocating for their needs, and often they just stay quiet. However, thanks to everyone at Medical Home Plus, those families are seeing a different perspective and they are not so scared anymore. Thanks to professionals like you who continue to be so passionate and compassionate, these families have a chance to at least be heard.

- Juan M Mondillo BCBA, LBA, MS. Co-founder of Driven Behavioral Support

DRIVENBEHAVIORALSUPPORT.COM

A BIG THANK YOU TO 2024 SPONSORS

the man

with square feet

804.350.1866 TheManWithSquareFeet.com

2024 VENDORS Guzman Community Center @ Faison Garnish Catering Paisley & Jade

Classic Party Rentals Eventfull Flowers by Zoie

Rocket Pop Media Auctria Enso Media Firm

COMMUNITY PARTNERS A heartfelt thank you to the 125+ community partners who have championed our mission in 2024! Thanks to our partners, we are able to increase our impact! To view the full list or to donate and add your name, please visit our website.

www.medhomeplus.org

/medhomeplus

@medicalhomeplus

YOUR CHILD IS OUR MISSION.