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News from Intercultural Family Services, Inc.
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IFSI's Executive Director
Promoted to CEO
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Evelyn Marcha-Hidalgo was named Chief Executive Officer of Intercultural Family Services, Inc. (IFSI), a social services agency located at 4225 Chestnut Street, by its Board of Directors during a reorganization at their board meeting held on October 7, 1999.
Mrs. Hidalgo's new title is Executive Director/CEO. She has served as Executive Director of the multicultural organization since 1985, and will assume the responsibilities formerly held by Board President Jeremiah J. White, Jr., whose resignation as President and Board Member was effective October 7. She began working at the organization in 1981 and moved up the ranks to her current position. Atty. Henry C. Fader, of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, was named Chairperson of the Board.
"I am truly honored by this promotion and thankful for the vote of confidence that the members of the Board have bestowed on me", said Mrs. Hidalgo. "Although I am aware of the challenges that lie ahead, I am confident that with the help of the IFSI Board and staff, I will not fail. What keeps me fueled every day is the knowledge that the programs we developed are alleviating some of the pain and suffering of the countless families we serve daily. Not only am I involved but truly committed to my work," she said.
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IFSI Expands with
a New
Behavioral Health Facility
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Intercultural Family Services, Inc. is continuing its 20-year tradition of providing social, human and health services to residents and new immigrants in Philadelphia by opening a behavioral health facility on October 4. As IFSI expanded its services and outreach efforts over the years, it recognized a need for mental health services for some of its clients. Referrals were made by the staff to mental health programs and agencies. However, although many of the agencies used for referral attempted to be culturally and linguistically correct, their efforts were not enough to fully treat a resident or immigrant, and many clients were not effectively helped.
Thousands of people have sought IFSI's assistance. The social service agency has always ensured that appropriate languages were spoken, and the many cultural and ethnic traditions were understood by the staff, including a sensitivity to various religious beliefs. IFSI's staff is multicultural and multiethnic and speaks more than 20 different languages.
Spurred by its success in providing quality services to abused and neglected children, youth at risk, low-income residents seeking home ownership, mothers and infants and others, the social service agency decided that they could provide the best services in the mental health field as well.
After carefully considering the situation, IFSI proposed to the Board of Directors a staff-generated plan to design and operate a mental health facility. The Board approved it, and IFSI took a quantum leap in its goal to provide the best in culturally competent services by opening a mental health facility and hiring a qualified staff for the clinic. Dr. Michel Bien-Aime is Medical Director of the clinic, located at 4254 Chestnut Street. Judith Burns is Clinic Administrator and has a M.S. in Social Work from Columbia University.
Named Intercultural Counseling Services (ICS), the facility was licensed in February by the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, and has been certified by the City of Philadelphia's Community Behavioral Health Department.
Executive Director/CEO Evelyn Marcha-Hidalgo said, "On the Medicaid side, as well as the non-Medicaid, we have a service that we can offer both publicly and privately. Our vision is to serve a multiethnic, multicultural population. Part of that plan includes becoming credentialed by private insurers. Our target is the underserved population in Philadelphia."
IFSI's major objectives for the clinic are to provide outpatient psychiatric services for 300 adults, and 100 children, adolescents, and families.
The clinic will operate Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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By Audrey Dean
Last spring, Richard F. Smith passed the baton as chairman of IFSI to Attorney Henry C. Fader. Although he quickly responded, "Wonderful," when asked
how he felt about stepping down after years at the helm, Smith has continued
his relationship with IFSI by remaining on the board. He has met with Fader and shared some of his insights with him.
"I think Fader is a fine choice," he said, adding, "I am glad to pass on the reins
to someone else."
But, it was evident during a recent interview that IFSI will always be a special place to Smith, who is a founding member and longtime advocate of the social service agency. He fondly reminisced about the organization's beginning as the Asian American Service Center and its
incorporation in 1984 as the Philadelphia Refugee Service Center by the Pennsylvania Council of Churches. Its current name change to Intercultural Family Services, Inc. occurred in 1992, to more accurately reflect IFSI's mission of servicing a diverse population.
Modest and usually taciturn, Smith was effusive in his praise of Jeremiah J. White, Jr.'s and Evelyn Marcha-Hidalgo's efforts in helping IFSI evolve from a small $50,000-a-year center into an almost $5 million a year, widely renowned organization.
"The greatest thing we've had is the leadership at the agency," said Smith, "and that's because of the leadership of Jeremiah White and Evelyn Hidalgo. They've done a marvelous job."
"SCOH (Services to Children in their Own Homes) was one of the first government-funded programs. That was one of Evelyn's big contributions, running that program," he said.
Smith acknowledged he helped to get the housing program started, but "they (White and Hidalgo) very quickly made their own way. Then, they just started to add programs, eventually moving to a little rowhouse on Sansom Street, then they got the house next door to it. They finally moved to Chestnut Street," he said, explaining that IFSI's present headquarters at 4225 Chestnut Street was purchased from a Reformed Episcopal Church.
IFSI's new mental health center opened in October. Named Intercultural Counseling Services, Smith shared his pleasure at the innovative center. "It may serve a niche in the mental health world, maybe a gap that no one else is looking at. Evelyn played a vital role in acquiring the proper license for the mental health center.
"The thing that makes them (IFSI) different from any other agency is they service Asians and they have the language skills. Asians and African-Americans, that's an accomplishment to serve two constituencies and to have the staff to do it."
Smith enjoys the fact that IFSI's board is small. "I think it has a very capable staff, and I always think the less the board interferes, the better the staff can work. We have a nice, little board."
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Henry C. Fader Takes the Helm as IFSI's New Chairman
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By Audrey Dean
Attorney Henry C. Fader, IFSI's new Chairman of the Board, did not hesitate when he was asked to take the position.
"I was asked to assume leadership of
the board," he said. It's just not my nature to turn something down that
I'm interested in."
According to Fader, members of the Board should not interfere with the staff's work.
"We basically take our lead from the staff, because they know what the needs of the community and the clients are. So, the board basically supports them. We serve more as an oversight group to what they as a group are doing. We can assist in whatever way we can," he said.
Richard F. Smith's governing style undoubtedly aided IFSI's successful efforts, and Fader plans to seek his direction. "Richard Smith was chairman for a long time," he said. " I'm looking forward to his guidance."
Fader is a partner in the Philadelphia law firm, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis. He is chair of Schnader Harrison's Health Law Department and a member of the Business Department as well as the Internet and Computer Networking Practice Group.
Active in numerous bar and professional organizations, Fader has written numerous articles on healthcare that have appeared in many publications, including Health Progress, Physician's News Digest and Focus Magazine, to name a few. He
has also given many seminars and presentations on healthcare, computer and Internet topics.
Fader joined IFSI four years ago and chaired their Business Development Committee, experience which helped shape his global view of IFSI's needs.
"The agency has changed over the years and is much larger, and is now facing more complex issues, such as managing larger contracts with the City of Philadelphia, larger staff, computerized systems that have been established to assist in the treatment of clients and the need for funding for operations from outside sources."
"My view is that we have to continue to serve the population that has traditionally come to our doors for help and to enhance the services that we provide to them," he said.
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Outstanding Achievements
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Three staff members received Top Notch Performer Awards during IFSI's three-day retreat, June 26 - 28, at Tamiment in the
Poconos. Congratulations to Kimberly Renee Mackason, Dr. Theresa Vuong and Joyce Small who all have had 100 percent compliance for one year. Each of the three women completed all reports and paper work in a timely and accurate manner.
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By Audrey Dean and Empourn Wood
By any standard, Samol Heng's outstanding achievements qualify him as a success. He came to America in 1984, at age 21, after escaping from a labor camp run by the Communist regime in Cambodia, with only a third-grade education and no knowledge of the English language.
Today, Heng manages the Housing Counseling Program at IFSI, a position he has held for two years. He is fluent in English, and his hard work and perseverance paid off again when he obtained a real estate license in April, 1999. "I feel good, " he said. "It was a hard course. Housing is a lot of work. Overall, I'm happy."
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He's
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Noted for his cheerfulness, Heng's excellent interpersonal skills are constantly being used, as he and two housing counselors, whom he supervises, help a diverse group of first-time home buyers purchase a home, provide mortgage counseling, conduct transactions with lenders and realtors, and advise on early mortgage pay off. Approximately 300 people are serviced annually. Heng also does community outreach three days a week.
The challenges he faced as a teenager strengthened his desire to succeed. Born in
Battambang, Cambodia, Heng lived there until the Khmer Rouge regime took over and put Cambodians in forced labor camps. He was separated from his family at age 14 and sent to a labor camp. After two years he was finally reunited with his family, who decided to leave Cambodia. "My two brothers found me at the labor camp, where I was, and brought me back home to our family. That's when my mom told me my father had been killed," Heng said sadly.
It took five years for Heng, his mother, two sisters and brother to get permission to enter the United States. After resettling in America in 1984, the family now faced a different set of challenges -- how to find a home, a job and, perhaps the most difficult -- how to communicate in a totally different culture.
Despite those obstacles, when Heng arrived in America, he took an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) class and mathematics for three months. Then, he took a placement test at
Community College of Philadelphia. After receiving an associate degree from that college, Heng decided to study engineering at Widener University.
Engineering was Heng's chosen field because, he explained, "My English still was not good, and engineering has a lot of math." After graduation, Heng was not able to get a job in his field, so he worked at Lutheran Family Services for a year as a program coordinator. That position led to his being hired by IFSI as an AIDS educator and SCOH (Services to Children in their Own Homes) case manager in March, 1993. Other positions he has held at IFSI include Asian Drug and Alcohol Coordinator and Hepatitis B Project Coordinator. He is a board member of the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, Inc.
Evelyn Marcha-Hidalgo, IFSI's Executive Director/CEO, praised Samol Heng's outstanding achievements. "He's definitely a role model for new immigrants," she said. "He's a success story, giving back to the community by sharing his wealth of knowledge and experiences. He is
truly an inspiration."
Asked how he felt about IFSI's mission of strengthening and uniting families from diverse communities, Heng responded, "That's good because not a lot of agencies do this work. I try to help everybody. IFSI reached out to the Asian community and gave them help. My future plans are to continue working at
IFSI, and when my children are older, I plan to get a master's degree in human services."
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Classes Begin
for English as a
Second Language
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In September, 1999, IFSI started the fall cycle for its English as a Second Language Program. Currently, we have two sets of classes: a Vietnamese-English class, taught by Dr. Theresa Vuong, and a general class for speakers of all languages, taught by Anurag Sagar. The general class meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM and the Vietnamese-English classes are held every Wednesday and Friday from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.
Here is a letter written by one of the ESL students in Vietnamese, which was translated into English as accurately as possible.
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Dear Ms. Evelyn
Marcha-Hidalgo,
First of all, we the ESL students at IFSI want to wish you the best. Then, we would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to you because you have shown us your care by giving us the opportunity to learn English free as well as you have done your best to make everything possible for our class.
We, the Vietnamese people in the ESL class,
believe that with Ms. Theresa Vuong's help, we
will be able to learn basic English, and our
English will be improved.
Again, Ms. Evelyn please accept our gratefulness and our best wishes sent to you.
With our respect and love,
Mr. Nam Nguyen
On behalf of the ESL class |
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ABC
Basketball is Back
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Our second season begins in October, 1999 and extends into March, 2000. Games will be played the first half of the season at the Catto/Bartram gym located just around the corner (42nd and Ludlow Streets). The second half of the season will be played at University City High School, 36th and Filbert Streets.
The IFSI team has improved greatly from last year, and we expect to win more games. Our team members are:
Clarence Tilman
Christopher Sullivan
Kevin Bennett
Andy Deshields
Drew Meredith
Glen Wyre
Parrish Kellum
Tracy Tann, Sr.
Rob Clark
Gerald Sanders
Michael Nze
Hector Villanueva
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