Growth is on the horizon for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, the largest human service provider on the Island. A new strategic plan released this week announced plans for increased funding, larger facilities and expanded programs.
“The strategic plan is something we’ve put a lot of time and thought into,” community services executive director Julia Burgess said yesterday. “I think we’re going to be strong in the future. We will be able to meet the needs of the Island community on firm footing.”
Health and human service agencies on the Vineyard are already feeling the effects of severe state budget cuts made last week by Gov. Deval Patrick and are bracing for more in the months ahead.
State funding to Family Planning of Martha’s Vineyard and Martha’s Vineyard Community Services was slashed in the cuts, while directors at the Island Health Care Rural Clinic in Edgartown and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital were busy this week preparing for spending and hiring freezes.
Since Carrie White joined Connect — formerly known as Women’s Support Services — last fall, her focus has been on reducing the client base. “We’re trying to get out there to help change the social norms,” said Ms. White who since coming on as program director has made one full-time hire for preventive work and is cross training the rest of the agency’s five staff to work both with prevention and support. The agency has been working with victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault on the Island for over 20 years.
The annual Possible Dreams Auction, the Island’s signature summer charity event that has sustained Martha’s Vineyard Community Services for more than three decades, is heading back to the seaside and will take place this year in Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs, allowing the event to expand its capacity as the economy hammers philanthropy across the country.
Auction organizers will announce the venue change today.
Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, the Island’s sole provider of many essential human services, unveiled a budget this week for fiscal year 2010 calling for a $500,000 — or 10 per cent — reduction in spending. The budget calls for cuts in salaries, benefits and hours as well as the outright elimination of two programs.
Mollie Doyle and Sian Williams Bassett are joining together to celebrate the British tradition of Boxing Day, offering a free yoga class on Sunday, Dec. 26 to benefit the MV Community Services Thrift Shop. Bring your unwanted Christmas gifts or a small donation and they’ll pass them along to the thrift shop.
The class is from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at The Yoga Collective at Island Cohousing, 11 Rock Pond Road, West Tisbury.
Martha’s Vineyard Community Services has welcomed Angela Wheeler as its new director of development, providing strategic direction and management to its fundraising and marketing efforts.
Nearing its 50th anniversary, Community Services is hoping to increase its fund-raising and outreach efforts, to benefit a range of essential programs and services which are open to Vineyarders. These include the Island Counseling Center, Early Childhood Programs, the Thrift Store, disability services, and Connect to End Violence.
The fate of the Martha’s Vineyard Family Center surfaced again this week, with the center’s supporters urging the high school committee to consider ways to keep the center at the high school.
The high school, citing low enrollment numbers, has decided to phase out its early childhood vocational program. As a result, the family center will need to relocate by 2014.
The statistics sketch a picture of the other Vineyard, the one rarely seen or understood by those who harbor images of the Island as an idyllic vacation spot. Substance abuse rates here are 21 per cent higher than the state average. There are high levels of depression and domestic conflict and violence. The Island has a significant Brazilian community whose people are often isolated and apart, and sadly sometimes targets of ugly acts of racisim.
Martha’s Vineyard Community Services and the Youth Task Force will host a community forum on prescription drug abuse at 5 p.m. on March 21 at the regional high school library conference room.
Guest speaker Dr. Charles Reznikoff, a world-renowned expert on addiction medicine at the University of Michigan heads the agenda, along with a panel that will include a pharmacist and representatives from the police, hospitals, the task force and community services and the treatment community.
