Teaching Family Homes

-THE CAMPUS VISION-

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In 2001, TFH Board of Directors designed a five to seven year development plan to assure the high quality treatment offered to youth and families by this agency would continue. Built into the plan was a method for offering more focused services that would be cost efficient and complete for the problem areas of today’s youth. By understanding that the State’s financial support for the children’s services would not keep up with growing costs, we have built in a growing fund development plan to give the long-term financial stability needed to operate cutting edge treatment programs.

Group Homes Phase I of the plan is now complete. The new campus of Teaching Family Homes is set on 40 acres of beautiful wooded land. Located in Sands Township at the end of Silver Creek Road, the property was officially acquired in January 2003. The land contains an existing building and garage known as the Old Honor Camp, which was part of the state prison system. The Old Honor Camp building has been renovated to become the administrative offices, counseling center, classrooms, and a community family education and support center. This building not only houses the administrative offices, but also houses school programming, counseling and day treatment programs for additional Marquette/Alger youth. Lions Club International Foundation and the U.P. Lions Clubs have granted $100,000 for the education center. A USDA low interest loan has been acquired to complete the renovation of the building as well as the building of two family-style group homes and the Regional Treatment Center. We continue with our capital campaign, known as the Windows of Opportunity.

Phase II relocated the Indian River and Cedar Creek Homes to the Campus.

Through all phases we have worked with the community and region to offer cost-effective services as needs are identified.

-RATIONALE

A campus setting will allow the efficiency of operations that State of Michigan reimbursements require. TFH will, at the same time, be able to grow program resources with Counseling and Day Treatment options. Supervision of the programs will be more efficient and increase quality. Our professional social workers will spend less productive time traveling from program to program and will be able to give more treatment attention to the youth. TFH will be able to offer educational services when needed, as our total population will support the operation of a school program. Youth who can be successful in the public school will attend as they show ability to do so. For our youth, it is vital that we not allow more failure in their lives.

Mental Health services will be available for youth through our counseling staff in Marquette. Presently we employ, 5 MSW’s, and 2 Master level professional counselors, and a medically supportive relationship with the psychiatric unit at Marquette General Hospital.

Our annual fund development program will get a major boost from the capital campaign and we will grow the operating capital to offer services to youth not always covered by State reimbursements. A review of the fund development histories of agencies across the country points to a higher level of success when a central location is visible. Capital campaigns for building purposes can quickly lead to operational fund drives and long-term financial stability for the agency.

Group Homes Our treatment foster care services have already replaced the community-based need for out-of-home placements. Foster families, if well trained and supervised, can offer behavioral treatment that is completely family-style. With the addition of the Boys Town Common Sense Parent Training curriculum, TFH will continue to meet the needs of Upper Peninsula communities as we expand both the foster care and parent training programs.

-SUMMARY

The TFH Board of Directors has planned a long-term (5 to 7 years) shift to a campus-based program to resolve a number of ongoing issues that impact the quality of care delivered by the agency. Operationally, the wisdom of the move can be seen in a projected budget comparison between the costs of campus versus community-based programs. The availability of additional resources from a centralized structure will dramatically increase the quality of treatment delivered to the youth and families. The campus will allow new treatment resources to be developed with little additional cost.

Fund development will gradually become a higher percentage of our operating revenues. This will insure financial stability and give the agency more flexibility to offer services to children and families who truly have needs not only those who have funding sources.

Windows of Opportunity