31 Jan February 2025 Newsletter

February 2025 Newsletter

Welcome to the February 2025 edition of the Daniels Foundation Newsletter. In this issue, we explore the following topics. Click on the links to read the articles!

Program Spotlight: Worcester RISE! Worcester RISE (Refugee and Immigrant Support and Empowerment) for Health is a newly formed 501c3 (2023)… Click here to read more…

Program Spotlight: Genesis Clubhouse! The Genesis  Club is a work focused community, based in Worcester, MA… Click here to read more…

Our Foundation Celebrates Two Retirements! As you all know, the Daniels Foundation Board of Directors is comprised of four members from each of the three “brotherly” lines… Click here to read more…

Program Spotlight: Worcester RISE

by Wendy Miers Andrews

Worcester RISE (Refugee and Immigrant Support and Empowerment) for Health is a newly formed 501c3 (2023) that was established due to the collaboration of many Community Based Organizations to help serve and represent the refugee and immigrant communities of Worcester. The clients of these organizations come from Afghanistan, Haiti, Congo, Burma, Ukraine and others and they struggle to receive much needed healthcare through the traditional health system. Worcester RISE for Health truly helps those new immigrants arriving here to help navigate the healthcare system in the Worcester area.

Over the past year, they have been providing help and services to hundreds of immigrants. They have helped with transportation to doctors’ appointments and connected individuals to resources and community primary care, as well as offering behavioral health services. Dr. Olga Valdman, Executive Director and founder of RISE is an Assistant professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at UMass Medical School and has devoted her career to working with vulnerable populations here in Worcester as well as around the World. She was one of the Co-Founders of African Community Education (ACE) with Kaska Yawo, another 501c3 that we (FHDF) have been funding for over a decade.

During the summer of 2024, they began renovations of their new space at 18 Chestnut Street, where many other non-profits and other agencies providing client services are located. I met with Dr. Valdman during the construction phase this summer and was able to envision the space’s outcome at that time. But, when I revisited in January, to hand deliver their grant check ($1,000), the space was completed, and I was “blown away” by the transformation. Warm colors, inviting spaces and families being served were evident everywhere. RISE’s goal is to develop a new model of healthcare specifically geared towards those who are new to the US and to build a culturally congruent workforce of CHW’s -Community Health Workers to help with all of these barriers.

Program Spotlight: Genesis Clubhouse

by Robert Daniels Pettit

The Genesis  Club is a work focused community, based in Worcester, MA. Their mission is to ensure that its members have access to meaningful employment, healthy lifestyles, safe housing, and a sense of belonging.

Genesis Club opened in 1988 in Worcester with 25 members, and last year engaged 832 Clubhouse members. The founders were inspired by Fountain House in New York City where the Clubhouse model of recovery began in the early 1940s. It became the foundation of the clubhouse model.

In 1991 Genesis Club became an International Clubhouse Training Center, one of twelve in the world. Since then, they have trained 450 Clubhouses and 2,600 colleagues from 30 states and 16 countries. Genesis Club is recognized nationally and worldwide. It is recognized as an Evidence-Based Practice model by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Genesis Club is certified by Clubhouse International as a fully accredited clubhouse, which meets the highest standards of practice.

Membership to the Club is open to any person who has been diagnosed with a mental illness. Members work on their recovery at their own pace through a combination of being a part of a community, being part of a work unit, working with their advisor and accessing our services such as housing, employment, education, etc. Genesis Club is free to join and there are no membership dues.

The daily activity of a Clubhouse is organized around a structured system known as the work-ordered day. The work-ordered day is an eight-hour period, typically Monday through Friday, which parallels the typical business hours of the working community where the Clubhouse is located. Members and staff work side by side, as colleagues, to perform the work that is important to their community.

While at the clubhouse and in their own time, members receive support to return to work, stabilize their housing, go back to school to pursue a degree, and build new social connections. Here, people are recognized for their strengths and contributions, rather than defined by their diagnosis.

In addition to educational and socializing programs, Genesis club house provides additional help in employment programs. Members assess their goals and skills, create their own plan, and get the supports they need to achieve their goals. The program engages members of all ages, but the focus is young adults ages 18 to 35 as they get their lives going, all while managing their illness.

“Eighty-two percent of people living with a serious mental illness are unemployed. Our goal is to empower members to develop and regain the ability to participate successfully in meaningful, paid employment and to move out of poverty.  Last year more than two-hundred members obtained and retained full- or part-time jobs and earned $1.8 million in wages. Genesis Club has partnerships with top area employers – including UMass Medical Center, AdCare Hospital, Chartwells Hospitality, and the Worcester Art Museum – that provide competitive jobs and pay market wages. We provide on-site training, support, and absentee coverage during the 6 to 9 month placement. This is the most intensive level of support and is helpful for members entering the workforce for the first time or re-entering the workforce after an extended absence due to their mental illness. Jobs in the Transitional Employment program are part time, typically six to nine months long, and allow members to retain Public Assistance Benefits such as SSI, SSDI, and SNAP while they are working.”

Social and recreational activities are equally important: meals together on major holidays, when loneliness can be most damaging; Thursday night dinners; and Saturday drop-in hours for coffee, lunch, book and sports discussions, etc. Last year, 149 members participated in Saturday social activities. Most importantly, they are a frontline safety net for members and a stigma-free community of peers where people with SMI find acceptance, support, and belonging.

FHD funding with Genesis Club helps support both organizational and project support, in vital areas like operational, development, program expansion, and upgrading computers and maintaining program equipment.

Organizational goals for 2025 include diversifying staff to better align with the racial make-up of their members.  By reaching out in new avenues for staff employment, they hope to reach these goals over the next few years. A secondary goal for 2025 is to reach more members in their 18-25 age bracket.

In December 2024 the FHD granted $5,000 in funds for programs and goals in 2025
Goals for 2025:

• 530 members will practice work skills in the Work-Ordered Day, and assess current skills, interests and education and employment goals
• 190 members will get or keep a competitive wage job
• 45 members will be actively enrolled in college/vocational programs
• 85% of students will complete their semester
• 100% of enrolled students who need services will be connected to school-based resources (disability services, counseling, financial aid)
• 12 transitional employer partners

In 2023, 520 members regularly engaged in the Work-Ordered Day and 188 got or kept a job. 93% of employed members retained their job three months or more. Collectively, members worked 154,027 hours and earned $2,607,527 in competitive wages. 47 members were enrolled in college or a vocational training program; 92% of enrolled students completed the school year; and 100% of enrolled students who need on-campus services were connected to school-based resources (disability office, counseling, etc.)

Each week, a new story about a member milestone or success appears on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/genesisclubinc/

Our Foundation Celebrates Two Retirements

by Fred Daniels

As you all know, the Daniels Foundation Board of Directors is comprised of four members from each of the three “brotherly” lines: Harold, Clarence and Dwight – the three sons of Fred Harris Daniels.

Over the past decade or so the Board has been transitioning from the 3rd Generation to the 4th Generation. That transition recently prompted the retirement of two Board members, both of whom achieved the mandatory retirement age of 75: Bill Pettit, Jr. and Sarah Morse.

Bill has served on the Board since 2009, and came onto the Foundation following in the footsteps of his father, Bill Sr. Bill has always been a steady voice in the discussion, and the Foundation benefited significantly from his historical perspective on the development of Worcester and the histories of many non-profits to whom we provide grants. Even more, though, it has been the history of the family which has been Bill’s most significant contribution, and the readers of this family e-newsletter have been the beneficiaries. And we are pleased to let you know that he is willing to continue contributing occasionally to the family e-newsletter going forward, when he has the time to bring meaningful content forward. Thank you, Bill! For 15 years of great service as a Board member and being great glue holding the broader family together!

My sister, Sarah Morse, has been steadfast in travelling from her home base in Santa Fe NM each quarter for many years (don’t ya love flying?) and serving on the Foundation Board since the late 70’s. As my oldest sister, she was the first to come onto the Board from the G3 Harold line. She spent decades as an elementary school teacher, and she has been a steady advocate for grants to education in Worcester for as long as I can remember. Most recently she has chaired the Communications Committee, which not only oversees the development and distribution of this e-newsletter but also oversees our “outward facing” posture through our website. Thank you, Sarah, for more than four decades (OMG) of commitment to the Daniels family and Foundation Board!

Our transition to the fourth generation of the Daniels Foundation is almost complete! Only two old geezers remain: David Nicholson and me. The future is bright!