Email this page  Print this page  del.icio.us  digg  Comments

Tools for success

Valle del Sol teaches clients and new leaders how to hammer out success

Like an invisible safety net stretching across the Valley, the threads of Valle del Sol reach farther than is easily imagined. The numbers are impressive – each year the agency’s 26 distinct programs aid more than 21,000 people of all ages across all socio-economic lines, from those in poverty needing rent assistance to professionals seeking leadership training.

 A real understanding of this nonprofit is best found on a much smaller scale through the stories of individual people who have been helped. People like:

An elderly widow in El Mirage who felt depressed and isolated until she found counseling and a social outlet through the Tiempo del Oro program.

A Mesa couple battling drug addiction that was able to get clean, find jobs and regain custody of their three young children with the help of the Family Services program.

A 16-year-old teen whose mother couldn’t handle his angry, often violent outbursts, learning anger management skills through the Youth Services program.

A mother who learns English at her sons’ school in an on-campus Community Resource Center while her grade-school sons attend a life-skills class to learn how to stay away from drugs and gangs.

A neighborhood activist who is learning how to use city resources to help his community through the grassroots Community Power program.

While all these people were helped in different ways, the one thing that is common throughout all Valle del Sol programs is an adherence to the principle of teaching people to fish, rather than just giving them that proverbial fish. President and CEO Luz Sarmina explains that “when there is an immediate crisis (such as the family has no food) we address that immediately.” But the goal is that “families will learn how to avoid finding themselves in those circumstances over and over.”

“I believe we would not be doing our job if we were not helping people to create resources within themselves and to access the community’s resources,” she explains by e-mail. “Most of the people whom we provide services to are really trying to make something better of their lives and have experienced life challenges most of us cannot even imagine.

“They are people who want to improve their lives. Valle del Sol is there to help them find the tools to be more successful.”

And that was the original intent when the agency was founded in 1970 as a response to the lack of behavioral health and social services available to Latinos, says Sarmina, who has led the agency since 1995. While Valle serves all communities, providing services that are responsive and culturally relevant to Latinos remains important. For example, Tiempo de Oro is directed at elderly Latinos who may not be as willing to talk about issues that are traditionally taboo in the culture such as depression or domestic abuse. Therapists use culturally adaptive therapy to help them and the bilingual staff can better communicate with those who are more comfortable speaking Spanish.

It’s that reputation of Valle del Sol “living and breathing within the community,” that attracts employees such as Cara Chaney, who began working as director of Prevention Services over a year ago. Chaney, who has worked in the social services field for nearly a decade, says Valle del Sol is well-respected and known for its grassroots level work. That work is evident with Chaney’s staff, which spends much of their time at grocery stores, senior centers and other community gathering spots doing outreach. 

 Chaney oversees four resource centers located on-site at four different schools – Washington Elementary, Royal Palm Middle School, Palomino Elementary in Phoenix and Powell Junior High in Mesa.  

At these resource centers, anyone in the community can get assistance with parenting skills, substance abuse prevention, and links to other community resources. “We’re out there every day, handing out fliers and getting to know the informal and formal leaders in the community,” Chaney says, “We try to get their support and say, ‘Here’s the service we have; how can we work with you?’ ”

 Chaney is just one of about 200 employees at Valle who are supplemented by hundreds of volunteers. Because the agency’s programs cover a wide range of services from behavioral health to leadership development, employees include social workers, counselors, medical personnel, case managers, outreach specialists and more.

More than a half-dozen directors oversee Valle’s programs, led by a CFO and CPO, who, along with a vice president of philanthropic and community relations, report to Sarmina.

Last year, for the first time, the 37-year-old organization initiated a capital campaign to rebuild its dilapidated, original building site at 1209 S. 1^st Ave. in Phoenix. The goal of $2.45 million was reached just months into the campaign; the facility, which was built in 1931, will be demolished and rebuilt beginning in 2008. Carlos Galindo-Elvira, director of leadership and community relations, says the new building “doesn’t have to be a Taj Mahal, but it does have to speak to the health, dignity and well-being of our community.”

 Because of the success of the original $2.45 million campaign, leaders decided to raise $1 million more to create an endowment to cover the cost of maintenance and operations of the building. So far a total of about $2.76 million has been raised. Major donors include the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, Stardust Foundation, and The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust which each contributed $250,000 or more. Other corporations, foundations and individuals have also donated. “We are extremely pleased and touched with the level of support we’ve received,” Galindo-Elvira says.

Those donations, combined with the support that goes directly to Valle del Sol programs, means that the agency will continue to spread its safety net even farther.