writING Samples
Year End Data Report
Program Services
Our findings from the annual report are consistent with reports from agencies across the commonwealth and nation, as we enter a post-pandemic world. Long-term care facilities have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Residential programs throughout the state are experiencing an uptick of individuals needing services while simultaneously experiencing bed shortages and longer waiting lists, due to staffing shortages. RFK Community Alliance has done their best to increase staff wages and provide bonuses to increase new hires and staff retention, in the hopes of attracting and keeping better-qualified staff and improving treatment for the individuals we serve.
The pandemic provided industries a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to step back and think about the services we provide, and the changes that resulted from the pandemic world will have rippling effects in our society. We have seen positive effects come from the pandemic-world including increased attention to hygiene and health, telehealth expansion, and other operational improvements. Remote formats will continuously evolve over the next decade, which has increased client's ability to access programs and services. Behavioral Health alone has utilized telehealth services for 74% of the individuals they serve. Additionally, the preventive COVID-19 measures have been lifted with the significant decrease in COVID-19 cases, which has allowed for the individuals we serve to return to previous activities like in-person learning, group activities and events, and community outings. This has led to an increase in individuals served at our Adult Vocational programs, RIAD, and the CDC. We continue to utilize community assets and resources whenever possible, and have seen an increase in community, vocational, and educational opportunities for our ATP and Adult Vocational programs and for some of our residential programs. These actions decrease feelings of isolation and abandonment and improve the quality of treatment and care our individuals receive. We are in a time of profound change, but what we have seen come out of this pandemic is flexibility and resiliency.
In addition, following the tremendous economic shifts and social consciousness of recent years - ensuring equity for not only our workers, but the individuals we serve, and creating an inclusive company culture is of paramount importance. We are examining the demographics of the individuals we support and serve, the staff we hire and retain, and the communities we are a part of, through a critical lens. In this report we have noted areas of strength, and areas of opportunity for growth. We are increasing our consciousness of individuals identities. Race and ethnicity fields are now required in eHana, our electronic health record, and staff identify individuals' pronouns within their profile, along with gender identity and sexual orientation. Clinicians and staff are using the pronouns and names service recipients identify with, despite any family or guardian objections. Although we have seen a decrease in BIPOC service recipients at DFPS, the CDC, Behavioral Health, and RIAD, we have seen an increase in our Adult Services programs and in our DDAP and CSEC programs; and nearly half or more of our service recipients at DWA, RFKA, OCC, JH, DYS S. Hadley, and DYS Kennedy are a part of the BIPOC communities. As well as, over half of the individuals we serve are low-income. Understanding the populations, we serve is essential in providing the best quality of care and to address any barriers to services, because our individual interactions can enhance or hinder the sense of belonging for all members of a community. RFK promotes the ideals of equitable access to services throughout our system and is committed to meeting the needs of our diverse community of children, adolescents, adults, and families.
RFK Community Alliance is proud to specialize in serving children and adults with a wide range of mental health, cognitive and developmental challenges, and individuals with mild-to-moderate physical disabilities. RFK Community Alliance aims to move clients successfully through treatment, while maintaining the quality of treatment, so that service recipients can return to the least restrictive and supportive setting possible by working with individuals to develop skills and improve functioning in all areas of their life. A measure of treatment success is to have service recipients develop the capacity to return to the least restrictive and supportive environment possible, by making progress within the goals and objectives that the individual, and/or their guardians and team, has identified, and develop strategies that support social and emotional growth, and make strides towards successful discharge requirements. Our ultimate goal is that we will be able to speak to these three areas – who do we serve, how do we support and serve them, and how well do we do it - in all services we provide in the following report.
Support Services
For over two years our agency has adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are finally nearing the end. Recovering after COVID-19 is not as simple as returning to business as usual, non-profits have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The pandemic put one in three non-profits in financial jeopardy*, leaving most agencies concerned about their ability to execute their services with their current budgets in this climate. With the drastic rise in inflation, we’re seeing costs rise everywhere, including labor, food, and fuel costs, which is just one of the many changes we’re seeing in the post-pandemic world. But unlike other businesses, community service organizations cannot simply increase how much they charge, because we rely on reimbursement from funding sources, which pays for treatment. Moreover, the significant number of staff that have departed from the field has caused a ripple effect within the industry. Programs throughout the state are experiencing an uptick of individuals needing services while simultaneously experiencing staffing shortages, as staffing continues to remain lower than it was pre-pandemic. Despite the return to the “normal world” many agencies are still operating with fewer resources compared to pre-pandemic. Community service organizations are already experiencing decreases in revenue from reduced capacities and insufficient resources, resulting from the impacts of COVID-19. The long-term socioeconomic and health effects will likely not expire anytime soon, even as the number of COVID-19 cases starts to fall. Most nonprofits are suited to survive a short recession, but a longer one could be catastrophic to the industry, especially if agencies are not thoroughly examining their responses to the pandemic crisis and their plans for restoration.
Planning for our return to the post-pandemic world is important to the continued success of our agency and the well-being of our community. Recovery won’t be immediate, but with reflection on our communications, and financial and infrastructural recovery we can hope for a smoother transition. Yet, recovery does not mean our organization is going to go back to the way it was prior to COVID-19. During the pandemic our agency made adjustments to our systems to continue to successfully provide our services in a pandemic world, and these progressive actions we have integrated into our agency has helped us stay accessible during these unprecedented times. From the pandemic we have gained many new tools and strategies to advance our industry, like the ability to conduct virtual interviews with candidates. This process has increased our outreach and accessibility, and thus increased the pool of potential applicants, as well as reduces the financial barriers that potential applicants might experience with in-person interviews – although additional barriers may include lack of access to technology and internet connections. Onboarding and training have been moved to a virtual format in the form of webinars and eLearning. eLearning has replaced many in person orientation and training sessions due to the pandemic, but now the virtual training system and content has been established and will remain as part of our training process. eLearning helps the agency get over training obstacles such as scheduling difficulties between trainers and having an insufficient number of volunteer trainers, as well as reducing the financial barriers that applicants may have by needing to provide transportation to and from orientation prior to receiving a paycheck. Additionally, the Training department has done a tremendous job with making their virtual trainings interactive and engaging. They have found ways to include stimulating activities and exercises to combat the Zoom fatigue that many remote-based learners face. The PQI department was able to successfully transition to being remote-based during the pandemic, and other administrative departments have been able to smoothly transition to hybrid models, while not diminishing the quality of work produced. With this transition, the PQI department created effective systems to maintain auditing and licensing methods and procedures using virtual formats, and successfully supported the agency through 8 licensing and re-certifications in fiscal year 2022.
RFK Community Alliance recognizes that the support and work contributed from our direct care, operational, and administrative staff is the backbone of our agency, and it would have been impossible to survive, let alone thrive in, the pandemic without these efforts. Our agency continues to find ways to show staff support and appreciation for their commitment and diligence to RFK Community Alliance’s commitment to quality service delivery. RFK Community Alliance has done their best to increase staff wages and provide bonuses to respect and acknowledge your hard work, in the hopes of continuing to retain our valued and experienced staff. Our Human Resources department has found ways to increase our EAP program opportunities by providing employees with the ability to apply for and utilize short-term, interest-free loans. In addition, we have recently released RFK Community Alliance’s website, post-rebranding, where we highlight current staff members and alumni for the great work they have done, and we hope to expand on this project as our website continues to blossom.
Over the last few years our society has experienced two pandemics, coronavirus, and an increased awareness of and call for justice of systemic racism. Consumers are now more than ever interested in holding entities accountable for their missions and values. These tremendous social economic shifts and social consciousness of recent years has companies more inclined toward social impacts than ever before and has encouraged agencies to reflect on the role their employment systems play in the contribution towards and against systemic racism. RFK Community Alliance has recognized that our agency systems and individual interactions can enhance or hinder the sense of belonging for all members of an agency. People from all different backgrounds apply to work at our agency, an agency that provides a wide range of support systems across social, economic, and environmental demographics. As an agency we have identified the need for our policies and systems to progress to improve protection and accessibility for our marginalized communities. At RFK Community Alliance ensuring equity for our workers and creating an inclusive company culture is of paramount importance. We have sought feedback from our employees and are creating procedures that are more progressive and allow for further development not only in our field, but in our staff. We are examining the demographics of the staff we hire and retain and terminate through a critical lens. In this report we have noted areas of strength, and areas of opportunity for growth. We are increasing our consciousness of individual’s identities. Not only are we looking at the demographics of the staff we hire and terminate, but we have begun tracking the demographics of staff injuries. Understanding the staff populations, we employ and their experiences within our agency is essential in providing the best working conditions and addressing any barriers to staff feeling included. RFK promotes the ideals of equitable conditions throughout our staff employee experiences and is committed to meeting the needs of our diverse working population.
Our commitment to demonstrating acknowledgement and recognition of our staff and fostering a diverse and inclusive working environment is not something that can be achieved quickly, but we continue to take steps towards actualizing our goals. Despite our potential differences in demographics, programs or departments, or geographical locations - we are all in this together and it is important to keep everyone connected and informed. Our ultimate goal is that we will be able to provide support staff with information and transparency in two areas – what we do and how we do it - in all the department services that are provided in the following report.
*Research study released from Center for Disaster Philanthropy (https://www.issuelab.org/resources/38039/38039.pdf)
