OUR PROGRESS THROUGH 2016
On behalf of Kent Youth and Family Services Board of Directors President, David Huhs, KYFS staff and volunteers and most importantly the children, youth and families who turn to KYFS for assistance, “thank you” to each of you who supported KYFS throughout 2016.
Throughout the year the KYFS Management Team, program staff and board of directors undertook a Strategic Planning process. This plan, still in draft form at the end of 2016, will revise the KYFS Mission Statement, clearly delimitate KYFS’s Values and provide a Vision statement. In addition the KFYS Strategic Plan sets out a three to four year strategic course for each program, behavioral health, early childhood education, transitional housing and after school youth development, in addition to KYFS administration, fund development, volunteer capacity, and governance. Look for the Strategic Plan appearing in KYFS social media early in 2017.
Working together in coordination, collaboration and partnerships is a long standing value and fabric of KYFS. During 2016…
- KYFS participated extensively in a diverse coalition of established and emerging organizations of Kent/Covington and Kent School District area community that developed the Kent/Covington Best Starts for Kids local plan. Some 35 entities participated in nearly a six month planning effort representing the Kent area response to King County’s Best Starts for Kids. The Kent area “BSK” plan was developed and agreed to by the large group of participants prior to King County staff completing the Best Starts for Kids Implementation Plan designed to guide the County-wide BSK implementation. Remarkably the BSK Kent area plan closely mirrors the eventually adopted King County BSK Implementation Plan.
- The Kent/Covington area coalition has further committed to working with each other to implement BSK locally through collaboration without duplication of efforts.
- KYFS continued supporting as fiscal agent developed of the annual work plan and contract oversight with Public Health Seattle King County for Living WellKent.
- KYFS partnered with the YMCA bringing the “Y” into the AfterSchool Program at Birch Creek, Valli Kee and Cascade communities. Doing so significantly enhances the AfterSchool Program in the areas of academic support and outcomes, social skills building, activities and events for the child and youth participants and staff capacity. Doing so also represent s the first Kent base programming the Y is supporting in advance of the much anticipated YMCA facility coming to Kent in the next few years.
- KYFS’s Behavioral Health Program partnered with Maple Valley Community Center to site a behavioral health therapist at MVCC.
- Long aware of the unmet need for youth behavioral health treatment capacity in Maple Valley, this collaborative effort is a first step in beginning to meet that need.
- KYFS Early Childhood Education Program launched a coordinated effort with Kent School District that had KYFS Early Childhood Education staff responsible for all early childhood education applications and enrollment in both KSD and KYFS early childhood classrooms beginning in the 2016-2017 school year.
- KYFS partnered with Southwest Youth and Family Service s and Renton Area Youth Services in joint fundraising efforts, a unique approach virtually unheard of in the non-profit sector. KYFS, SWYFS, and RAYS each hosted a “Jeffersonian Dinner” event that gathered donors from each agency together for a dinner and evening program/discussion on specific topics of interest: SWYFS topic LBGTQ youth; RAYS topic Youth and Family Homelessness; KYFS topic, Immigrant and Refugee children and youth. In addition to providing stimulating evening conversation donations made at these three fundraising events were evenly split among the three agencies.
These are a small sampling of the partnerships, collaboration and coordination of effortsKYFS fostered and participated in 2016.
In addition to partnering and collaborating within this 2016 annual report you will find the various highlights for each of the KYFS programs. KYFS continues to position itself for the many years to come. The vision at KYFS is squarely on the future with its expected challenges and continuing evolving needs of the communities KYFS calls “home,” South King County.
Michael Heinisch,
Executive Director
