Agency Report Vision Quest

Agency Report Sheronda King Wilmington University Guided Practicum AHS 8100

Agency Report Vision Quest

Agency Report: Vision Quest Mission: Vision Quest is an employee-owned national youth services organization that provides innovative intervention services to at risk youth and their families. The organization is committed to providing an outstanding experiences and relationship, which helps the youth, families and staff reach their highest potential. Vision Quest staff is committed to keeping each youth safe at all times. The organization will always value and honor each youth. Vision Quest believes in supporting and respecting the family members of the youth. In order to carry through the mission, Vision Quest believes that all staff should be trained, supported and appreciated. Also, the organization values the communities, and believes that each community should be protected, impacted and involved. Demographics: Services are provided for both youth females and males. Vision Quest provides innovative services to youth between the ages 10-21 years old. Vision Quest provided services to all three counties in Delaware. New Castle County has the most youth participation then Kent and Sussex County. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and delinquency prevention (Puzzanchera, 2013), there were 5,663 youth arrested in 2010 in the state of Delaware. Of the 5663 youth arrested in 2010, 374 were arrested for a violent crime act. According to the Delaware Statistical analysis center (CJC Delaware, 2011); 42-56% of youth offender released from juvenile facilities was serving time on a felony. Other statistics shows that 21-23% was serving time for a misdemeanor, and 20-29% of the youth were in violation of probation. Vision Quest services are established to address the needs of juvenile offenders, and youth suffering

Agency Report Vision Quest

with mental health issues, and drug/alcohol usage. The organization main goal is to get each youth on path, and reduce or prevent reentry into juvenile facilities. Over 3,000 youth are involved with YRS in the state of Delaware. Delawares statistics has demonstrated the need for Vision Quest reentry services. Policy and Procedures: There are many policy and procedures that each employee must follow at Vision Quest. One of the most important policies is the Confidentiality policy. Employee is to understand all guidelines of HIPPA and any other confidentiality federal policy listed. Each staff must understand that all clients have right and employee must respect. Another interesting policy is gifts and gratuities. Employee cannot accept, pay or offer to receive or pay in exchange for client referrals of compensation. Employee may not supply any form of substance or alcohol to any youth. Any false information reported will result in automatic investigation, suspension and termination. All employees are required to establish and maintain an effective working relationship with all staff. Many of these policies are common among other organization. The dress code policy allows individuals to dress casual but limits revealing clothing. Structure: Vision Quest DE Home Quest Organization Chart The chief operation officer is in charge of providing updates and changes for the director of operation to communicate to the admin team. The admin team consists of the director of compliance, director of service delivery, chief administrator and the finance/HR manager. The Chief administrator is change of 6 program managers and 6 family youth specialist. The Director of services delivery is responsible for the pretrial case manager and FFT and PLL staff.

Agency Report Vision Quest

The HR/ finance manager is responsible for communicating and overseeing the receptionist and the admin assistant.

Chief Operating Officer

DE Director of Operations

Chief Administrator

Director of Service Delivery

Director of Compliance

Finance/HR Manager

6 Program Supervisors

Pre-Trial Case Manager

FFT and PLL staff

Receptionist

Admin Assistant

Youth & Family Specialists

Governance: The board member of Vision Quest consist 9 members of the board. Peter Ranalli is the CEO of Vision Quest. He has been to multiple meetings with Beth Rosica. Beth Rosica is a Corporate Officer for DE Vision Quest. She goes to all meeting with the state. She updates the director of operations with any information and data information presented from the state. I see Beth more than I am able to see anyone else on the board or in the corporate office. Below is a list of each board and corporate member. Some corporate officers also serve as a board member.

Board of Director

Agency Report Vision Quest

Robert Ledger Burton Founder and Chairman of the Board Peter W. Greenwood, Ph.D. President and CEO of Greenwood Associates Ivan Walks, MD CEO of Ivan Walks and Associates LLC Peter Gravett Commanding General, California National Guard (ret.) Daniel Old Elk Sundance Chief for the Crow Tribe in Montana Claire Burton Secretary of the Board of Directors Norman Kip Beals, M.D. National Medical Director, Family Practitioner Peter J. Ranalli VisionQuest CEO Mark M. Contento VisionQuest President Corporate Officers Peter J. Ranalli CEO Mark M. Contento President Phyllis Yester Executive Vice President Norman Beals, M.D. National Medical Director Beth Ann Rosica, Ph.D. Vice President, Business Development Jim Yester Vice President, Human Resources

Funding: Vision Quest funds consist of grants from state. Currently, the organization is in the process of moving towards fee for services. As a whole, some programs in Vision Quest are covered 100% and other services are covered partially by government funds. For example, the PLL the newest addition is only covered by the state and Vision Quest is responsible for the

Agency Report Vision Quest

amount not covered by the state. The OJJDP has also contributed grants towards funding the Vision Quest. In other states Vision Quest receive funds from independent grants.

Relationship to other agencies: Vision Quest has partnership with the Department of Correction. Youth referrals comes from the court system and/or probation officers. Vision Quest DE is also affiliated with the DE Department of Services for Children Youth and Their Families (DSCYF) and Division of Youth Rehabilitation Services (YRS). The organization has relationships with several community providers where our youth provide Community Service hours (Boys and Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, Homeless Shelters, Food Bank, Salvation Army, and Cancer Society). Strengths, Trends, and Challenges: A challenge that employee at Vision Quest face is attendance. According to staff, there are many youth that do not show up on a regular schedule. Facing non-compliant parents can be very challenging for the organization. In order to meet the needs of the target population, Vision Quest is required to coordinate with the Probation officer and parents. Another challenge is the large turn over the organization has faced. Finding the right person for each position is very challenging. One trend noticed within the organization is that many youth come from drug and alcohol related background. Most of our youth are very rebellious and come from an unstructured support system. A strength that I have detected is that the organization has a good communication setting. Everyone is freely open with one and another. Sometimes miscommunication can develop within the organization. Everyone is given equal opportunity at

Agency Report Vision Quest

each meeting to express how they are feeling and their goals that they would like to accomplish within that day. Intern Role: As an intern at Vision Quest, I work along with the Operation Director weekly. I am responsible for recording all data and information presented in meetings and training. In my role, I have identified possible candidates for the new PLL program. One big responsibility I have is generated steps for the implementation of the PLL program. So, far I have created a list of supplies needed, and requirements to for intake, referrals and training. The director of operation oversees my decision making skills and gives me feedback on my performance. I have filled in as program supervisor. My role as a supervisor is to complete audit list for each caseloads file. In this position, I was able to learn about the intake process and requirements. I also organized the discharged files, where I had to determine whether an individual successful or unsuccessful discharged from the program. Overall, my role as an intern at Vision Quest shall benefit my growth in becoming an administrator. I am teaching more and more weekly about the target population that I want to serve in the future.

Agency Report Vision Quest

References

CJC. (2011). Delaware juvenile detention facilities population review. Retrieved from http://cjc.delaware.gov/sac/publications/juvenile.shtml Donovan, Ken ( Director of Operation) 2014, Vision Quest Puzzanchera, C. and Kang, W. (2013). "Easy Access to FBI Arrest Statistics 1994-2010" Online. Available: http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezaucr/ www.VQ.com