Kathryn Shea
President and CEO of The Florida Center

Dear Friends of The Florida Center, Welcome to our web site!  This has been an exciting and busy year for The Florida Center, with many goals accomplished, in spite of the challenging and changing economic climate.  Following are some of the highlights:

• Our agency was re-accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA) through 6/30/2013.   The COA re-accreditation process involves a detailed review and analysis of both an organization’s administrative operations and its service delivery practices.  All are “measured” against national standards of best practice.  This is a significant achievement for the Center and represents the fulfillment of countless hours of hard work and the dedication of many people-most notably our staff and the members of our board. We are proud to be a part of COA’s Community of Excellence! 
  
  
• The Florida Center became the Lead Agency for Healthy Families Desoto/Hardee in July.  Our Healthy Families Sarasota program has provided child abuse prevention services to pregnant women and children at risk for child abuse and neglect since 1998, serving well over 550 families annually.  The Desoto/Hardee program provides services to over 130 families annually.  An estimated 86,000 children are abused and neglected statewide each year.  We are honored to be selected as the lead agency for the Desoto/Hardee Healthy Families Program!
   
• The Florida Center was awarded a $329,000 three year grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice to expand our Early Childhood Behavioral/Mental Health Consultation Model to young children in South Sarasota County. These funds will allow much needed behavioral consultation and mentoring to teachers and parents so that young children at risk for developing more serious behavioral/mental health problems receive the help they need to grow socially and emotionally strong.  Our agency also recently received a grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice for $130,000 to purchase a clinical/billing software system that will enhance service delivery by improving efficiencies in client record keeping and billing/recoupment of funds.  We are very grateful to the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice.
  
  
• The Florida Center was also the recipient of a BOOST grant from The Community Foundation of Sarasota for $47,500 to continue mental health/behavioral support services to young children in need.  This funding will be directed to those children at risk of losing their child care/pre-school placement due to serious behavior problems. 
  
  
• Our Board of Directors has been hard at work in strategic planning and board re-structuring.  Board committees have been re-formed and the board has a whole new way of doing business, eliminating standing Executive Committee meetings and bringing critical issues to the full board for discussion.  As a result, we have a much more involved board who takes pride and ownership of our mission. 
  
  
• We closed the year with a very successful fundraising event, our 22nd Annual Festival of Trees, Lights, and Holiday Gifts which netted over $100,000! 

As we continue to struggle with the challenges created at this time of economic crisis, we also look for opportunities to partner with others in meeting the growing needs of our children and families, and we are encouraged by the strength and compassion of our community.  The work of our dedicated volunteers and staff are testimony to our commitment of improving the lives of young children with vulnerabilities and their families.  

I invite you to share in our hopes and dreams as we build a brighter future for our children. 

Sincerely,
 
Kathryn E. Shea, LCSW
President & CEO