Friday Update From Michael Farley, CEO

DearElk Hill Family,

  I hope this note finds you safe and continuing to be healthy. I would like to take this moment to say thank you! During this difficult time, so many of you have helped to support our youth, families, and our staff! We can’t begin to express how grateful we are for you. We truly need your help now, more than ever.  

  Our staff members remain the heroes of this pandemic at Elk Hill. Not only are they facing their own stresses at home, they have continued to adapt to ensure our youth are receiving the mental health and educational services they desperately need. The staff in our 24/7 Therapeutic Group Homes are continuing to ensure the safety and well-being of our 20 residents. Our Community Based Services staff quickly adapted and implemented tele-health services for nearly 250 youth in the last two weeks of March alone.  Our schools moved to online classrooms and are providing intensive, one-on-one educational services for 93 students five days a week.

  In the coming weeks, I look forward to sharing success stories with you—there are many of them!For now, I wanted you to hear from Joe Lascano, Elk Hill Charlottesville School’sHistory/Civic teacher, on how he and our students have adapted to an online learning environment, and even how he is using the Pandemic to teach his students about Federalism HERE.  Throughout all this our teachers, staff, families, and youth are proving how creative and resilient they can be.

  My colleague, RonSpears, COO and soon to be CEO, frequently reminds me that with every passing day, we are all one step closer to this pandemic’s ending. And it will end. Until it does, we will continue to meet the ongoing needs of our youth and families in creative and new ways.

If you would like an even closer look into how Elk Hill is meeting the needs of our youth and how we are planning for the future, I invite you to join  Ron Spears and me for a live  Stakeholder Meeting on Zoom, Tuesday, May 19 at 10:00 a.m., where we will share important updates . We look forward to your thoughts and ideas during the meeting as well. Please be on the lookout for an email with a link and details for the meeting. 

  Again, thank you for your support of Elk Hill. I am confident that together with our staff, teachers, clinicians, youth—and  supporters like you—we will weather this storm and emerge stronger and more resilient than ever.  

WarmestRegards,

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MichaelFarley

CEO

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