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Brevard Family Partnership
A Community Based Care Agency
Board Report
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September 24, 2015
Patricia Nellius-Guthrie, CEO
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Narrative Report
September is National Grandparents month. This month in honor of our grandparents and caregivers
Mary Ann Sterling will be our guest at the Board meeting to share the impact grandparents are having on
caring for their grandchildren. In addition on September 30, 2015, BFP will be recognizing our relative
caregivers at the Holiday Inn Viera at 9:00. Members are welcome to join us. Please rsvp with Laurie
Anna.
It is that time of year again when we need to begin preparations for our Annual January Board Retreat.
Members should make their recommendations for topics and speakers to Patricia by October 1, 2015.
The Annual meeting will be held on January 28th from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. As usual half of the day will
be slated for training and the other half for the Annual Meeting.
I am pleased to report that BFP will be recognized on November 5th at the Annual Central Florida
Humanitarian Awards Gala sponsored by Space Coast Medicine & Active Living Magazine and Space
Coast Daily. BFP was contacted and informed that we have been selected as a Central Florida
Humanitarians and outreach and the impact BFP has had over the past 10 years will be recognized at
the Gala as well as in the press.
I had the privilege to meet with Ms. Jan Pridmore form the Pridmore Foundation to share the vision and
mission of BFP along with Jim Carlson and Jennifer Secor who facilitated the introduction. Following our
meeting Jan contacted BFP to inform us she will be making a gift to fund the Endowment. We have
received a $10,000 check from the Pridmore Foundation. Please take the time to write a personal note of
appreciation to Jan for her generous donation. Laurie Anna can provide her address to you upon
request.
I am also pleased to report the C.A.R.E.S has received a $20,000 grant from the Space Coast Health
Foundation to fund for Behavioral Management Services. I would like to offer a special word of
appreciation to Dr. Barry Kronman, a C. A.R.E.S. Board member for the connection and to Jennifer
Secor for her great work.
I would like to welcome Mr. Bill Bucher to the BFP Executive Team. Bill has been serving as a consultant
for BFP since April 2015. His responsibilities will include strategy formulation and execution, performance
measurement, monitoring, forecasting, and benchmarking across the BFP family of agencies. Bill brings
a breadth and depth of experience in child welfare and the nonprofit arena having served as a consultant
to multiple Community Based Care, case management, and child placing agencies. He has over 17
years of experience in child welfare and operations including progressive leadership roles with the
Florida Department of Children and Families as a Public Assistance Specialist, Child Protective
Investigator, Supervisor, Program Administrator, District Operations Administrator, and as the Central
Region Support Services Director. In addition to his DCF experience, Bill also served as a Regional
Administrator with Devereux Florida, responsible for case management operations with multiple CBCs,
licensing, visitation, and therapeutic programs and services.
Bill has extensive experience working in the Brevard community through his roles with DCF and
Devereux, and served as the Disaster Food Stamp Director for Brevard County during Hurricane Jeanne
in 2004. He brings a unique perspective to BFP having served in various roles in investigations,
administration, and as a contracted provider and consultant within the BFP system of care. Bill received
a Bachelor of Science in Criminology from Florida State University and a Master of Public Administration
from the University of Central Florida.
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I had the privilege to attend the Dependency Court Summit on September 9th -11th along with Dr. Howes
and several staff members. It was an excellent and inspiring event. I also had the opportunity to
participate on a panel (at the request of the DCF Secretary) during the plenary session and also
presented a workshop with Deputy Secretary David Fairbanks and Charles Wilson from the California
Evidence Based Clearing House.
During the week the CBC CEO’s convened on several occasions and voted to support a 70/30 Equity
Allocation Formula model this year. In addition, I was elected along with Teri Sanders from Heartland for
Children to convene a workgroup to craft a new allocation formula based on adequacy. We will spend
several months working on this initiative which is intended to build and propose to the Legislature and
DCF a funding model based on adequate resources.
The Board Recruitment subcommittee convened on August 27, 2015 and will present 2 prospective new
members to the Board at the September meeting. They include: Catherine Wright, Senior Marketing
Manager with Harris Corporation and Ruth Long, Director of Critical Care and Respiratory Therapy at
Wuestoff Medical Center-Rockledge. Both candidates bring a wealth of knowledge to the Board and will
be great advocates for our vision and mission.
I would like to remind members that the annual financial audit will begin tentatively on October 12, 2015.
This fall we will be wrapping up our 10th Anniversary Decade of Difference activities with 2 final monthly
recognition events. One is for Grandparents and caregivers and the final for our donors. Members are
encouraged to attend the donor event to be held on November 9th from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm and as
always are welcomed at all events. The final preparations are underway for the Gala. I would like to
express my gratitude to Brook Deratany Goldfarb for her stellar leadership and enthusiasm chairing this
event. BFP will also be holding our annual walk and run for love on November 21st, at 7:30 am at the
Church at Viera. This year to commemorate our 10th Anniversary the run will be a 10k and for the third
consecutive year, sponsored by Indian River Networks. The Annual Mass Adoption is schedule to occur
on November 20, 2015 at the Viera Courthouse. This is a great opportunity to invite individuals in your
sphere of influence who are interested in the mission of protecting children, strengthening families and
changing lives.
September is National Recovery month. It is an important time to recognize individuals who have
overcome the battle with addiction and to encourage those who work in the field.
Our 2015-16 Legislative priorities can be found in your binder. This year there are several major Federal
Reform Initiatives underway that will impact Child Welfare and the Human Services industry in general.
The first is the Federal Finance Reform around the Federal IVE Waiver, Group Care and Incentives for
strong end diversion programs and penalties for children remaining in out of home care placement. You
were recently provided a copy of the article outlining Senator Wyden’s article. In addition the Alliance for
Strong Families and Communities has launched a national campaign. Information can be found at
http://keepingkidsinfamilies.org/ . The shift in Federal Financing places the C.A.R.E.S. replication in a
good position to promote and address a major gap that exists should the reform be enacted this year.
The replication team is working diligently to finalize the Toolkit and complete the application to become
an Evidence Based Practice with the California Evidence Based Clearing House.
On June 29, 2015, the United States Department of Labor (“US DOL”) made public proposed changes to
the overtime pay exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Although there has been a
great deal of speculation over the past 16 months, the proposed changes appear to be limited at this
time to an increase in the salary requirements for the “white collar exemptions” contained in the
regulations. The DOL has issued a summary in the form of a Fact Sheet and a 295-page formal
proposal which can be found on the DOL website. The Fact Sheet outlines the proposed changes, which
can be summarized as follows:
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1. The minimum salary required for an employee to be eligible for a white collar overtime exemption
would increase from $455 per week or $23,660 annually to $921 per week or $47,892 annually.
2. The annual compensation required for the Highly Compensated Employee exemption would
increase from $100,000 annually to $122,148 annually.
3. A mechanism would be established for automatically updating the salary and compensation
levels.
There are several things to keep in mind while evaluating these proposed changes:
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Employers are not required to do anything differently for the moment. These are proposed
changes, so nothing has changed yet.
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That said, employers should start considering what they will do if the minimum salary
required for exemption is increased as proposed. Obviously this change could increase labor
costs significantly due to having to either pay higher salaries or paying overtime to employees
who have not previously been paid overtime.
We have conducted a preliminary analysis of the impact to BFP and Cares and the projections indicate
the additional costs to the salary line will be approximately $332,049.
This morning David Hathaway of Dean Meade and Sally Seltzer of Quintairos, Prieto and Boyer,
representing Alliance of Non-Profits Insurance will be on site for an Attorney/Client session.
Respectfully Submitted,
Patricia Nellius
Chief Executive Officer
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