Grants come through after organization garners private donations.

[view:node_ad=5]A new project, one year in the making, is now becoming a reality for the Child and Family Center. The Santa Clarita non-profit organization has announced that it has reached its goal of raising over $600,000 to purchase and implement a new electronic record system for the people they serve.

The Child and Family Center’s mission statement is to “help build a healthy Santa Clarita Valley by providing mental health, behavioral and educational services to children, adults and their families.”

Because of the care the Center provides, they have been mandated by the Department of Mental Health to utilize electronic records for their clients. Center director Lois Bauccio said it will greatly help their level of service.

“We will be able to serve our clients so much more effectively,” she said. Bauccio went on to explain that all of the Center’s clients see more than one clinician, and therefore the new process would greatly aid the sharing of information. “This means that all of the professionals who work with our clients will have access to the same information on an almost instantaneous basis.”

One year ago the Child and Family Center made their intentions to undertake the project known, and immediately began contacting various foundations to pursue grants. This was done to avoid placing the brunt of the cost onto local fundraising efforts.

The movement got started when the Weingart Foundation announced that they would grant the Center $200,000 if they could raise the rest of the needed funds. So, through private donations and fundraising, coupled with a $50,000 grant from the Parsons Foundation, the Child and Family Center was well into the effort when they got the latest boost.

Recently, the Annenberg Foundation approved a grant worth $200,000 to the Center, which put them over their financial goal for the project, which in turn met the requirement of the Weingart Foundation to free up the $200,000 dollar grant promised.  

Now that the money is taken care of, Bauccio told KHTS that they are moving forward with the project implementation, which could take some time. “If we meet our first mandate of December 2008, that would be just remarkable,” said Bauccio.

The process involves purchasing electronic equipment used to access the records, and management software that employees need to be trained on. 

Bauccio did report that the Center already tested different products, and that they are preparing to make purchases at this time.