The History of CPG
The history of Community Partnership Group is really a tale of two organizations, which were to meet on a converging path.
Housing Partnership (HP) was formed in 1986 pursuant to a Palm Beach County Affordable Housing Task Force recommendation that the county form a public-private partnership to assist in addressing the identified need for affordable housing in the county. William Finley, who was the chair of the Task Force, took the initiative to form HP and was instrumental in hiring its first CEO, George Steele. Steele and Finley succeeded in securing initial funding for the first several years of operation, which consisted primarily of grants from the county and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. During the first five years the organization’s focus was on public policy work and first time homeownership for low and moderate income families, including housing production.
During the early 1990’s a new CEO, John Corbett, developed a strategic vision to diversify into other housing activities, most specifically multi-family rental apartments and housing for special needs. It was through this involvement, owning and managing apartments,that HP began to explore the need to provide other support services to the families residing in those communities. At the same time, the experience in housing production and neighborhood revitalization was teaching a similar lesson. The staff concluded, and the board supported, the concept that the condition of the real estate in our neighborhoods was a reflection of the social and economic condition of the families living in the homes. Therefore, in the mid-1990’s Housing Partnership developed its Campus for Living program, a holistic and pro-active approach to the coordination and linkage of our families with traditional social services in order to improve their lives. This focus on the families instead of the real estate transformed the organization and changed its culture. Housing became one of several services and programs provided to our customers. One of the most successful new programs to develop out of the Campus for Living program was the Youth Enrichment Academies, a very structured, organized and disciplined after school program for school-aged children. Another successful program emerging from this concept was the Supportive Housing Program, which combines housing and social services to support special needs adults and families to live independently. The organization was honored in 1996 to become a chartered affiliate of the national NeighborWorks America, created and funded by the U.S. Congress to promote neighborhood revitalization and affordable housing.
The experience of working with children in their schools and families in their communities taught the organization a lot about how to impact neighborhoods and communities. HP began to see children in the context of their families and families in the context of their neighborhoods. This experience prepared HP to expand its community development efforts by operating community centers on the grounds of elementary schools in disenfranchised neighborhoods. This concept originated in New York and was brought to the county by the Children’s Services Council in 2002. Housing Partnership currently operates five of the fourteen Beacon Centers in Palm Beach County and is viewed as a leader in this arena.
During this transformation a large number of the growing staff came from a community mental health and social services background. Our experiences in community development and the perspectives of these new staff led to an increased interest in children’s mental health and child welfare. In 2001 the state asked Corbett if he would be willing to contact the board of a struggling children’s community mental health center, Parent-Child Center (PCC). Housing Partnership agreed to take over the management of Parent-Child Center and over several years provided it with the financial and management support to allow it to continue providing its valuable services to its clients, while restoring excellence in the quality of services provided, developing internal capacity, and expanding its programs. At the same time both organizations, working together, developed a strong corporate culture that embraced state of the art management concepts around best practices in all its corporate divisions – a strong organization-wide commitment to excellence emerged.
It is important at this point to note the prior history of the Parent-Child Center. Founded in 1979, PCC was created to address the community mental health needs of children and their families in Palm Beach County. In the 1980s and 1990s, PCC was the premier provider of behavioral health services for children and families throughout the county. Innovative programs and research were conducted through the center, and it established critical services for some populations that were considered "hard to serve." At the turn of the century, rapid growth and mismanagement impacted the center, pushing it to the brink of closing in 2001. Since the agency provided essential services to the community, the Department of Children & Families (DCF) approached Housing Partnership, having demonstrated a track record of responsible management, to help keep Parent-Child Center’s doors open.
Under the umbrella of the Community Partnership Group, the two agencies formed a partnership, sharing operational and financial oversight. With a focus on quality, recruitment of skilled personnel, and responsible fiscal management, the initial focus was on stabilization and maintenance of core programs. In 2006 the Parent-Child Center reached a milestone by becoming accredited by the national Council on Accreditation (COA). PCC was then finally in the position to turn its sights to the significant unmet social-emotional needs of children and families in Palm Beach County. Along with Housing Partnership, strong partnerships were formed with other community agencies and systems, collaborating to create a system of care. With a dedicated focus on quality and effectiveness, by 2006 Parent-Child Center was once again developing the reputation as the premier provider of emotional and behavioral health services for children, adolescents and their families.
Having initiated a succession plan in 2005, Corbett recommended to the Board of Directors that he be succeeded in 2007 by Patrick McNamara as President and CEO. Having been with the organization since 1999, McNamara currently heads a gifted senior leadership team, serving Community Partnership Group and the children, families, and communities of South Florida.
Given the experience of the past twenty-five years, working with children and families in the neighborhoods where they reside, Housing Partnership and Parent-Child Center have grown in a logical evolution into Community Partnership Group, becoming a diverse organization providing a full spectrum of housing and family services throughout Palm Beach County. Our history demonstrates our desire to embrace change as we move toward greater systems integration to better serve our customers. It follows then that the Community Partnership Group seeks to partner with families to use this rich array of housing and human service resources to improve their quality of life and build healthy communities.