Impact
Top accomplishments in the past year include: 1) extensive capacity building initiatives to carry out the Center’s mission in New Haven, throughout Connecticut, and in various cities and states; 2) implementation of prevention programs and services, including program development, monitoring of fidelity and impact, and dissemination of findings; 3) carrying out community-based participatory research and evaluation initiatives in Connecticut, the U.S., and internationally; 4) continued excellence in collaboration with Yale University to support interdisciplinary training programs focused on culturally-grounded prevention, health promotion, and community-based services and research; and, 5) ability to leverage funding from multiple sources for work in prevention, positive youth development, and health promotion.
Goals for the coming year are: 1) to sustain this level of activity despite a difficult funding climate, 2) identify new capacity building initiatives to support organizations that serve vulnerable individuals, especially youth and their families, in Greater New Haven and Connecticut, and 3) strengthen systems that serve children and youth, their families, and seniors.
Needs
The needs identified below focus on our Youth Development Training and Resource Center (YDTRC) and our Elder Services Program. These needs include: 1) resources to support the capacity-building needs of community youth-serving organizations for staff training, consultation on program planning and program development, on-site technical assistance and agency assessment of outcomes as a result of program operations
2) collaborations with agencies, networks and funders interested in expanding opportunities for youth development and youth leadership opportunities for urban youth, and 3) resources to assure family cohesion for seniors that are raising grandchildren.
CEO Statement
Jacob Kraemer Tebes, Ph.D. is Executive Director of The Consultation Center, Inc. and a Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology), Child Study Center, and Public Health at the Yale University School of Medicine. A clinical/community psychologist, he is also the Director of the Division of Prevention and Community Research at Yale, and the Chief Psychologist of the Connecticut Mental Health Center.
The Consultation Center, Inc. as a local nonprofit organization closely affiliated with an academic medical Center for the past four decades, helps to bridge the university - community divide by devoting cutting-edge knowledge, academic resources, and interdisciplinary skills to the most challenging problems facing our communities, such as interpersonal and family violence, youth substance abuse, childhood trauma, family poverty and its consequences, and school disengagement and underachievement among youth. The Center addresses these challenges by partnering with community stakeholders -- parents, youth, health and social service professionals and agencies, schools, coalitions, policymakers, and community leaders -- using a strengths–based perspective in which community members and Center staff each contribute unique competencies through which successful solutions are identified. This partnership ensures that any action plans implemented and/or evaluated are consistent with the cultural values, perspectives, and needs of the local community. Successful solutions are then sustained through capacity-building efforts, as necessary, with community stakeholders who have already participated in their development. The Consultation Center fulfills an essential function as a fiduciary agent for statewide, regional or local initiatives such as the Youth Development Training and Resource Center, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, and the federal Drug Free Community Support grant for the Town of Hamden.
Board Chair Statement
As current President and member of The Consultation Center’s (TCC) Board of Directors since 1984, I am continually impressed with the dedication and unique qualifications of both professional and administrative staff at the Center. I am proud to be the president of TCC, a non-profit center that is uniquely situated within the Yale Medical School, Division of Prevention and Community Research, a collaborating partner with the CT Mental Health Center, and closely connected with local communities for program planning, project development, training and consultation, research and evaluation on an array of services for children or youth, families, agencies, networks and numerous public and private sector funders.
The Center’s emphasis over the past 40 years on lifespan development, evidence-based practices, independent research and program evaluation has earned TCC a great deal of well-deserved respect and recognition within the field of prevention. The staff and trainees (pre/postdoctoral, masters level and interns) working at TCC address significant issues that face individuals, their families, and the larger community, such as the prevention of AIDS and domestic violence, support of grandparents raising grandchildren, and training youth workers to foster positive youth development and reduce risky behaviors. To accomplish our goals, the Board and the staff, including outside consultants, regularly engage numerous local community collaborators, public and private sector funders, and involve community residents (youth, adults, elderly) as well as key community leaders and state decision-makers.
Our challenges within TCC echo the needs of the larger non-profit sector, i.e., managing the administrative needs of multiple projects, complying with multiple funding sources, assuring quality training, research and evaluation activities, and maintaining programming over time by qualified staff. In particular, we balance our work with the demands of Yale faculty and staff who must answer to additional criteria for promotion. As is common in the non-profit arena, we also face fluctuating priorities, diminishing state and federal funds, and competition for limited or targeted public or foundation funding.
I have deep admiration for the Youth Development Training & Resource Center (YDTRC), now celebrating its 20th anniversary, as one of our largest initiatives dedicated to professional development within the youth service sector, to strengthening youth agency networks, and to deepening roles for active youth engagement and youth leadership in this region. YDTRC has succeeded as a local and statewide youth development intermediary supporting youth workers, agency supervisors, and youth leaders with emphasis on New Haven and South Central CT. Both the YDTRC initiative and the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren programs have been highly successful in leveraging additional local, state and federal dollars for New Haven and the region, while sustaining essential core functions – community assessment and outreach to target groups, coalition building, staff development and agency training on best practices in prevention, as well as expanding website development and media messaging to assure broader access to community-based services and online resources.