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Welcome to the Cuyahoga Tapestry System of Care
e-newletter.
Tapestry is based on the belief that when you bring together
important people in a child’s life with resources in their own neighborhood, a
young person with even the most complicated social and emotional challenges can
thrive.
TODAY'S TAPESTRY:
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Director's Corner |
Please join us in welcoming the new Cuyahoga Tapestry System of Care Executive Director – Catherine Lester!
My name is Catherine Lester and I joined Cuyahoga Tapestry System of Care as its Director at the end of April 2009. I recently returned to Cleveland, OH from Charlotte, NC where I have resided since 2000. In Charlotte, I was involved in work at both the City and the County including system reform, social service planning, and neighborhood-based service delivery. My greatest professional joy is serving children and families in their neighborhood. I get equally excited by the synergy created when we share our collective talents in pursuit of improving the quality of life of families. These passions are what initially attracted me to leave my home in Toronto, Canada and move to Cleveland in the late 90s to pursue my graduate studies at Case Western Reserve University. It was during this time that I was first introduced to the wonderful tapestry of collaboration between families, communities, businesses, and public systems that exists in Cleveland. It is for all of these reasons that I am excited to re-join the folks in Cuyahoga County as we continue to build, nurture, and sustain our system of care.
I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming weeks and months, and to partnering with you on this journey. Thank you for all that you do to support our children, families and communities!
My best,
Catherine |
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National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day |
Nationally, May 7th was designated as Children's Mental Health Day. On May 5th the Parent Advisory Council along with the Youth Advisory Council traveled to Columbus, Ohio to participate in the Ohio Resiliency Ring activities in honor of Children's Mental Health Day. Members from both councils distributed literature to our State Legislators regarding children's mental health issues and everyone in attendance formed a ring around the state house.
Akilah Muhammad, a Tapestry Parent Support Partner, wrote the following account:
"It's always inspiring to build with the community, my fellow employees/peers, and the youth. Taking part in the Resiliency Ring in Columbus, OH, truly made me feel like a part of history. Not only that, but to see the youth take action in the significance of Mental Health Awareness with our political leaders was inspiring. It helped me hold firm to what I do and it made me proud of what the youth will bring to all of our futures."
In keeping with the theme of awareness, our Tapestry Youth, under the direction of the Youth Advisory Council, Mr. Leonard Davis (Youth Coordinator), and Mr. Robert McQueen (In The H.O.O.D. Foundation), took the lead in planning a local March Against Violence to address needs that they prioritized as critical to them and their communities. They arranged for parade permits, the Mayor's attendance, and associated activities. The event took place on Saturday, May 16th, at the James W. Hubbard Recreation Center, and helped to educate participants about mental health issues and the unfortunate youth violence that's affecting our communities.
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Youth from Tapestry Family Wins Slot in National Competition |
 Jasmine, a 14-year-old from a Tapestry family, was selected as the local winner in the "Hear Me Now: A Celebration of Resiliency through the Performing Arts" talent competition. Her audition video was sent to the national review panel for the competition as the representative of the Cuyahoga Tapestry System of Care, and was selected as an alternate for the national performance! The national review panel made the following statement in their letter of award:
"Jasmine's powerful spoken word performance captivated the review panel. Although her audition score just missed the top tier, SAMHSA and the entire review panel thought it was such a close call that Jasmine's performance earned her the right to join the other youth as an alternate in Washington, DC."
Her performance was based on Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise."
The Caring for Every Child's Mental Health Campaign sent Jasmine and a chaperone to Washington, DC, for the national event, which took place on May 7, 2009, at the Harman Center for the Arts.
Jasmine joined the other youth performers in all rehearsals and planned activities, and in the end was selected to perform her piece on the national stage.
Congratulations, Jasmine!
SAMHSA News Release on HEAR ME NOW: A Celebration of Resiliency through the Performing Arts |
Cultural and Linguistic Competence Plan (CLC Plan) Update |
The SAMSHA grant required Tapestry to develop and implement a Cultural and Linguistic Competence Plan (CLC Plan). The CLC plan was developed over a 6-month period of time. Several Tapestry staff, community representatives, providers, and county agencies played an active role in developing the CLC Plan. The CLC Plan is designed to ensure that all of the services, strategies and policies of the Cuyahoga Tapestry System of Care are created and implemented with cultural and linguistic values and beliefs of the population being served.
The CLC Plan contains examples of specific tasks and responsibilities that will be addressed within three domains critically related to cultural and linguistic competence. These domains are: (1) Family and Youth Training; (2) Systemic Partner CLC Training and Awareness; and, (3) Evaluation-Continuous Quality Improvement. The CLC Plan time frame is October 1, 2008 - September 30, 2009.
The CLC Plan was approved by the CLC Committee, Oversight Committee, and Funder's Group. It is currently being implemented throughout the system of care. There are two workgroups that have been developed to support the implementation of the objectives in the CLC Plan: Community/Awareness Outreach and Service Provision Workgroup. The CLC committee is charged with the continued implementation of the CLC Plan. |
Update from the Parent Advisory Council |
| The Parent Advisory Council has just completed the Family Leadership Academy. This course was designed to improve committee participation by explaining each part of the meeting and its purpose. We now have representation from the inner ring suburbs (Garfield, Cleveland/University Heights, Parma and Lakewood). |
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