Momentum Builds for Our New Nonprofit
It’s been a bountiful summer for SpringForward®, the nonprofit organization we founded to break down barriers to employment for people with behavioral health needs by building companies differently.
This month, the Internal Revenue Service approved our 501(c)(3) status as a tax-exempt, charitable organization.
On top of that, we have received crucial funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Abell Foundation to help take our first workforce development initiative to the next level. The project uses indoor urban agriculture to change the employment landscape.
We are already running a small indoor farm in South Baltimore in partnership with City of Refuge and Grow Home, where we grow microgreens and leafy greens. We’ve distributed produce to several corner markets in the city through a partnership with Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. This project will expand later this year to reach more stores.
Next, we will launch SpringForward Farms, a pesticide-free, hydroponic growing facility that will employ individuals with behavioral health needs in an integrated, human-centered work environment using our EVERY Employee framework. Once we have purchased an acre of land in Baltimore City, we will build a four-bay, high-tech greenhouse.
The $250,000 Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production grant we received from the USDA this month will pay for construction of the greenhouse and a $10,000 grant from the Abell Foundation will help cover the cost of equipment.
SpringForward Farms will have the capacity to grow 75,000 pounds of leafy greens, 145,000 live herb plants and 16,200 trays of microgreens annually. More importantly, it will provide high-quality jobs for eight people who are eager to show how much they can do in a workplace designed especially for them. Once sustainable, it will convert to an employee-owned business.
We’re proud to have the support of the Agriculture Department and the Abell Foundation as we work to keep young adults with emotional and behavioral health needs from falling into chronic unemployment or underemployment.
Inside the Box / Outside the Box
The boy was one of those students who just couldn’t stay seated at his desk.
“He was always hiding and running away because he didn’t think he could do the work,” recalls Kristy Wright, a longtime elementary special education teacher at PHILLIPS School ~ Annandale. “Sometimes he sat in a box, sometimes he sat under a table, sometimes he just laid on the floor.”
But when he did those things, she adds, he was able to listen to instructions, answer questions and participate in class.
“If you’re lying on the floor and that’s how I’m going to get you to participate, that’s fine. And the other students didn’t typically mind or care. They did their thing,” Kristy says. “Eventually, slowly, he would start to sit at his desk more because he had options.”
By allowing the student to do things to comfort himself, even sitting inside a box, Kristy gave him a sense of control without disrupting learning for the rest of the class.
“Most students when they come here feel they have no control over anything in their lives. Everyone’s making all the decisions for them, they can’t seem to do anything right. They want to feel in control of something,” she explains.
Although it might seem strange to someone looking in from the outside, Kristy’s approach produced the outcome we want for all our students, keeping the boy safe in class so he could get the instruction he needed.
“We’re good at thinking outside the box and figuring out what we can do to help students thrive and be successful in behavior, academics, or whatever it is,” says Kristy. “All of our kids are vastly different. What works for one might not work for the other.”
In 55 years of working with children who have emotional and behavioral health needs, we’ve come up with countless ways to help them achieve their goals, one small victory at a time. Every one of those ways is based on a single guiding principle: We meet every child where they are, not where we want them to be, and we do whatever works best for that individual.
ABA Services Are Back!
PHILLIPS ~ Family Partners is pleased to once again offer Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) services in Northern Virginia.
ABA has evolved a great deal as an intervention to support skill building in children with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Applied Behavior Analysis is the application of behavioral principles to everyday situations that will, over time, increase or decrease specific behaviors.
Our approach to ABA is not one specific program or plan. It is individualized based on the functional behavior assessment and the needs of the child and family. Our ABA program focuses on partnering with our clients, motivating and encouraging them, and using ABA principles within their natural environment to manage challenging behaviors and build needed skills. Registered Behavior Technicians implement behavior intervention and skill acquisition plans created by and under the supervision of a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).
If you or someone you know is interested in learning more, please contact Family Partners at 703-658-9054 or familypartners.referrals@phillipsprograms.org.
The Family Partners team is seeking full-time and part-time Family Counselors to provide home-based services for children and families in our community. A minimum of two years of clinical experience is required. A Master’s Degree in counseling, psychology, social work or a related human services field, along with bilingual skills (English and Spanish), is preferred. For details on this and all other open positions at PHILLIPS, visit our Careers page.
It’s easy to support PHILLIPS Programs when you do your back-to-school shopping online. Just visit AmazonSmile and select us as your charity. For every purchase you make through AmazonSmile, PHILLIPS will receive a percentage of the price -- at no added cost to you.
PHILLIPS Programs for Children and Families
7010 Braddock Rd | Annandale, Virginia 22003
703-941-8810 | piper.phillips@phillipsprograms.org
PHILLIPS Programs for Children and Families is a private, non-profit organization serving the complex needs of children and youth living with cognitive, emotional and/or behavioral challenges in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. Through excellence in specialized education, community programs and individualized support services, we provide our children and families every advantage to ensure they develop to achieve their greatest individual success. Their potential is our commitment.