Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12.6.2023 <br /> <br />Dear Arden Hills City Council, <br /> <br />I hope this finds you well and preparing for a lovely holiday break as we enter the winter season. We are grateful for <br />your partnership in service of our community. <br /> <br />We are thrilled to share some exciting updates at NYFS. We had a strong year of deepening and growing our work. <br />We are seeing more need than ever, and are proud to be meeting that need in new and innovative ways. This last <br />year we: <br />• Have a new Brand, Mission, Vision, Values and Strategic Plan <br />• Launched Child Centered Play Therapy Services, working with children in a trauma informed and <br />developmentally appropriate way from ages 4 -12. <br />• Expanded our School Based Mental Health Services to the New Brighton-St. Anthony School District. <br />• Welcomed Arden Hills as a municipal partner. <br />• Launched our Community Connections (youth development program) open to the public. <br />• Invested in our building and spaces, creating a trauma-informed environment for clients and staff. <br />• Re-opened our White Bear Lake location full time and renovated to be trauma-informed. <br />• Developed a robust internship program and launched our Steps Toward Equitable Practices Scholar (STEPS) <br />program to provide stipends and training support for BIPOC clinical interns. <br /> <br />We are also very excited to share that we have received a large grant from the Office of Justice Programs Crime <br />Victim Services to launch Domestic and Sexual Violence Services in January of 2024. We will have two additional <br />advocates (plus our community advocate) providing sexual and domestic assault services – one focused on youth and <br />the other on adults. We also will have two domestic and sexual violence therapists – both providing individual and <br />group therapy services – one focused on youth and the other on adults. We know how high the need is within our <br />current client population and communities, and are thrilled to be launching specialized services to meet this need. <br />With content experts already on staff, we are well poised to launch our services! <br /> <br />Thank you for your continued partnership. NYFS would be unable to provide these services, and unable to offer a low <br />sliding fee scale our clients if it weren’t for your investment and collaboration. We are able to do so much more <br />together than we could ever do on our own! <br /> <br /> Sincerely, <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Angela Lewis-Dmello, MSW, LISW <br />President & CEO <br />