| Today, the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) and Safe & Sound announced their agreement to join together as one organization to serve families and children in San Francisco. Both organizations have a long-standing commitment and proven-record of success in improving the health and well-being of children and families. As children and families continue to face the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the accompanying economic downturn, and racial injustice, joining together as one organization ensures a holistic response to the critical and dynamic needs of our community during this unprecedented time. “There has never been a more critical time for nonprofits to collaborate. Working together as one organization allows us to be more available and more responsive than ever before. Families in distress need access to basic concrete supports like food and diapers, as well as tools for parenting in times of crises and mental health services that can be coordinated with primary care. Together, we can offer a full spectrum of services that rise to the needs of the families we serve. We have a responsibility not only to ensure that families have access to immediate one-on-one services, but to change the systems that exacerbate familial stress and put young children at risk for developing a toxic stress physiology. Bringing our organizations together builds upon our existing partnership to broaden our reach in the community, strengthen our policy work, and deepen our support of community members’ own involvement in advocacy and the process of change,” said Gatanya Arnic, CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness, and Katie Albright, CEO of Safe & Sound. The unified organization will be called Safe & Sound, and it will be grounded in a deep commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion that creates better outcomes for children, families and communities. Gatanya Arnic, celebrating her 3rd year of tenure, will serve as the Executive Director of the Center for Youth Wellness and the Chief Strategy Officer for Safe & Sound. Katie Albright, now in her 14th year of tenure, will continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer of Safe & Sound. The Center for Youth Wellness will operate existing services as a program of Safe & Sound at its current space, which is co-located with Safe & Sound at 3450 Third Street in San Francisco. Safe & Sound will continue its current programming at both 3rd Street and its Waller Street location. Joint committees of both boards of directors, executive teams, and programmatic and operations teams will be working together for the next several months seeking community input and implementing strategy to integrate its programs and operations. Both organizations will continue to inform their clients, community and government partners, donors, and networks along the way. |