Hello my name is Darren Clark and I am a student of Penn State University and this is a presentation based on a Non-Profit Organization and recommendations to help improve the overall leadership tactics in play using pecha-kucha. I am going to start off explaining a little bit of the history of Passageway and a few of the obstacles and transitions that are currently in play.
Starting in 1979 Passageway began receiving funding primarily from the state of Florida to provide community based residential services for adults with mental health problems. In 1983 the service areas were expanded to include outreach and day treatment for the forensic client living in the community. Since that time the program has had to undergo numerous adjustments in order to address the concerns of the community.
Passageway offers a variety of treatment and rehabilitation programs administered by a Comprehensive Community Service Team dedicated to helping individuals with severe and persistent mental illness establish a high-level of satisfying and functional living.
The Goal is to assist individual's develop awareness, insight, and acceptance of their mental illness, achieve self-empowerment of skills necessary to lead fruitful quality lives, and ultimately regain their place within the community as productive members of society.
The Passageway mission is to provide supervised residential care, psychosocial treatment and case management services to the severe and persistently chronic mentally ill persons who have found themselves penal involved in the criminal justice system. Passageway facilitates their transition from hospital or penal institution to an independent least restrictive environment of their choice.
As mentioned earlier funding comes primarily from the State Florida and currently through the Department of Children & Families. The Department of Children & families currently mandates how the organization is run and outlines the guidelines for Passageway and audits the actions and progressions of the facility.
Along with DCF is AHCA or the Florida Agency For Health Care Administration . The two funding sources determine how much funding is provided to Passageway usually a budget of $3,000,000 is provided depending if the organization is able to fulfill their bed quota of 25 room and board.
Through DCF and AHCA the clients are provided with Medicare and Medicaid who is responsible for their treatments, services, medical expenses and medication plans. Also providing qualified services involving the management of health issues and mental illness related symptoms designed to provide the individual with personalized medical care and psychiatric services.
Due to the changes in health care in the state of Florida Passageway is currently undergoing a transition from the DCF AHCA format to Manage Entity under the guidelines of the South Florida Behavioral Health Network.
Some of the effects of this transition are proving to be difficult to some of the more tenured employees who are reluctant to switch from a paper based Mom’s and Pop’s institution to the modern day technologically literate institution that Management Entity is requiring for documentation purposes.
Another problem that Passageway is faced with is their ability to attract and retain new talent due to the nature of the work. Not many people are inclined to working with people who have a penal criminal record and Psychosocial disorders. The current state that the economy is in many people are taking the jobs and only lasting for a short period of time.
One installation that is to take place is that every employee will be required to already have the knowledge necessary to accomplish tasks that they will be assigned to, in a less hands on atmosphere where the supervisors will take on the role of “Coach” as quoted by the Executive officer. When talking to some of the employees they did not understand the direction that the traditionally hands on organization was taking.
The first implementation that I believed could use a total revamp was the Marketing Strategy. At the present time the current website at Passagewaycommunity.org was composed by the Executive Officer and I would believe it to be beneficial to hire a Marketing Department or at least a web designer to open the options of the website.
In order to recruit more candidates that will prove to be an asset to Passageway I believe that more extensive employee screening is necessary, this can be a degree audit to determine what exactly they went to school for and what their experience has been focused toward in this case Crime Law and Justice as well as Psychology would be desirable degrees.
Another recommendation will be the instillation of a computer literacy test. This will gauge the Computer skill and abilities of each worker whether they be a veteran worker or a new entrant. Successful completion will warrant a Certificate of Achievement, however if you do not meet the Computer literacy requirements no threat online tutorial courses will be offered through the website at which time you will be able to retake the test.
The current vision that the community has about Passageway is negative, they believe that these are hardened criminals who have no control over their emotions and no hope of improving. Passageway has to develop their image in the eye of the community through Branding.
The Passageway name has to become synonymous with improving peoples lives and making a difference in the community. I believe this can be achieved through various supervised community outreach programs where the clients do services for the community such as a neighborhood beautification or something to that extent.
Funding as mentioned comes through the State and is as a result of the number of beds or room and board clients that Passageway maintains. In order to meet the quota they must fill the 25 beds my recommendation is that they constantly have a waiting list to fill any empty space they may encounter.
To further promote the organization I believe that it would be wise to display the achievements and the progression of the clients during the family days and events. This will further allow the community to understand how Passageway is enabling the clients. Along with this I believe that at least one member from Manage Entity should be invited to see first hand how the clients and community are effected.
Well there it is hopefully some of my recommendations will prove to be useful. However they are just that my recommendations and you can do with them as you wish. If you would like any more information on Passageway you can visit the website as mentioned or contact myself at the Penn State e-mail listed.
