Lourie Center Gratitute Report (2023)

The Lourie Center for Children’s Social & Emotional Wellness

2023 Gratitude Report

Dear Lourie Center family, friends, and supporters,

All good and grateful greetings to you and all you are connected to! Moving forward, I invite us all to reflect back on Lourie Center early childhood mental health services, research, and training from 2023.

Strengthening the early childhood workforce through trauma-informed training, the Center continues to extend the Center’s mission and the work of our early pioneers who established the template of research and training as an integral part of our therapeutic and educational services. Our Clinic team continues to participate in and offer best-practice trauma trainings in collaboration with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network alongside Dr. Anna Curtin and Marianela Rodousakis providing training at key convenings sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

I am delighted that this report also spotlights our longstanding early childhood mental health training program that has helped develop several hundred clinicians through the decades. In these pages, you will meet one of those amazing individuals, Dr. Khayat, who I had the privilege of supervising nearly a decade ago. She recently returned the Center and shared her expertise with our current training class and Clinic team: Coming full circle, indeed.

Through our Lourie Center team’s hands and feet, heads and hearts, you continue to help change the life trajectory for more than 5,000 children and families each year across the Washington, DC region and beyond. This report recognizes long-term supporters and friends and new ones too — both individuals like Sheena Saydam and organizations like BXP! Thank you, one and all!

When, at times, the head winds of workforce shortages, financial pressures, and heightened community stress blow strong, we hold steady and are renewed in delivering the Lourie Center’s essential care with you at our backs. One family, growing together.

In great gratitude,

Jimmy Venza, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist Executive Director

2023 Gratitude Report • Programs Programs

Head Start Program

Federally funded early childhood education and intervention services supporting consistent, systemic, and fair access to comprehensive services for chronically underserved populations. The Head Start program served 301 children and families in 2023.

Parent-Child Clinical Services Program

Clinic served 345 children and their families in 2023.

Therapeutic Nursery Program

Specialized preschool program –the only one of its kind in Maryland –served 32 children and their families from Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in 2023.

The Lourie Center School

Special education elementary school for students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges served 32 students in 2023. The program provides academic instruction with integrated therapeutic supports and mental health, speech and language and occupational therapies.

Partnership with Montgomery County Infants and Toddlers Program (MCITP)

The Lourie Center partnered with MCITP to serve 2,185 children from birth to age 4 and their families in 2023. MCITP offers early intervention services to assist families with supporting their children’s developmental and special needs.

University Affiliations

The Lourie Center trains early childhood social work, special education, and psychology graduate interns/externs from local and national universities. In 2023, these universities included:

• Bucknell University School of Psychology

• Clark University Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology

• Lesley University Graduate Program in Expressive Therapies

• Samford University School of Social Work

• Trinity University Psychology Program

• University of Maryland School of Social Work

• University of Notre Dame Summer Service-Learning Program, Center for Social Concerns

Kandy McFarland, RN

Vice President, Behavioral Health Services

Kandy McFarland has spent her entire career working in behavioral health. From age 17 when she became a licensed practical nurse, Kandy always has felt called to work with people with mental health issues and fell in love with behavioral health services while working at Sheppard Pratt.

Sheppard Pratt is the nation’s largest private, nonprofit provider of mental health, special education, substance use, developmental disability and social services. There, Kandy gained the foundational knowledge and experience that launched her career in mental health. From Sheppard Pratt she went to Baltimore’s Mercy Medical Center, where she worked in the eating disorders program. “I fell in love with that piece of mental health and working with women and young men suffering from extreme eating disorders,” says Kandy.

That program moved from Mercy Medical Center to St. Joseph Medical Center and then to Sheppard Pratt. Kandy was back where she started. After 13 years supporting people with eating disorders, she transitioned to Kennedy Krieger Institute, where she discovered an affinity for working with young children with developmental disabilities. Kandy later joined MedStar, where she managed a team that helped adults with medical health issues and addictions. She was promoted to Director of the Addiction and Mental Health Center and assumed the additional responsibility of Director of Women and Infant Services.

Kandy’s range of clinical, operational and administrative experiences drew notice from Joan Vincent, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President for Patient Care Services at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center. The hospital leads operations for mental health services for the Adventist HealthCare system. Joan hired Kandy as a director of behavioral health nursing, and later promoted her to vice president.

In her executive role with Adventist HealthCare, Kandy oversees Maryland’s second largest mental health program. Shady Grove Medical Center offers both inpatient and outpatient care, including a partial hospitalization program for adults and an intensive outpatient chemical dependency program. Its services also include The Manor, an assisted living facility for adults with chronic and severe mental illnesses who cannot live independently. Kandy’s face lights up when she talks about The Manor and the special care it gives.

She also enthusiastically speaks of her work with The Lourie Center and the importance of early intervention for children who have experienced trauma or adversity. “People don’t realize that once a child is traumatized, it changes the trajectory of their life, their ability to cope and their ability to respond appropriately to society and to certain situations,” explains Kandy. The Lourie Center works with the children and their parents or guardians to mitigate the impact of adversity and put the child on a path to success. “The work that The Lourie Center does just pulls at my heartstrings,” says Kandy.

2023 Financial Summary

Board of Directors

As of Year-End 2023

Daniel Cochran, FHFMA, FAACHE

Board Chair

President, Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center

Todd Cohen, FACHE, EDAC Vice Chair

Associate Vice President, Facilities and Real Estate, Adventist HealthCare

Brenda Jones Harden, PhD

Alison Richman Professor, Children & Families

Director, Prevention & Early Adversity Research Laboratory

University of Maryland, School of Social Work-Baltimore

Josh Jacobs

Founder and Managing Director Jacobs Health Consulting

Gwendolyn Mason, Ed.D.

Secretary

Retired Chief, Office of Special Education & Student Services, Prince George’s County Public Schools

Robert C. Wehner Jr., MBA

Executive Vice President, Retail Market Manager M&T Bank

Kandy McFarland, MBA, BSN, PMH-BC

Vice President, Behavioral Health Service Line

Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center

Martha Velez

Treasurer

Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center

Victorien Singhe

President, Head Start Policy Council Parent, Volunteer

Thanks to you, The Lourie Center raised $883,940 in 2023. Because of you, we invested $883,940 in hope. That hope is “breaking the cycle of generational trauma” for children, giving them hope to live their best life. That hope is lifting the caregivers – their parents, their teachers, and their clinicians – who lift these children.

2023 Philanthropy Revenue

Executive Leadership

As of Year-End 2023

Jimmy Venza, PhD Executive Director

Jill Brown, LCSW-C Director, Parent-Child Clinical Services Program

Chrystal-Starr Brown Director, Head Start Program

James Cowan Director, Lourie Center School

Anna Curtin, PhD Director, Therapeutic Nursery Program

Myesha Carter, D.Ed., CCC-SLP

Contract Manager, Montgomery County Infants & Toddlers Program

Alan Ezagui Director of Philanthropy

James F. Herrera, MD Medical Director

Stella Akello

Operations Director

2023 INVESTORS IN THE LOURIE CENTER

$500,000+

The Bainum Family Foundation

$50,000-$99,999

Anonymous

Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation

Julie Grohovsky and Craig Hoover

J. H. Walker Legacy Foundation

$25,000-$49,999

BXP

$10,000-$24,999

Michael & Amy Aquilino

Rebecca B. Bennett

Walter A. Bloedorn Foundation

Cigna HealthCare Mid-Atlantic

M&T Charitable Foundation

MGM National Harbor

$5,000-$9,999

Healthcare Initiative Foundation

Robert & Arlene Kogod Foundation

Saydam Properties Group (Sheena Saydam)

Drs. Brigit & Jimmy Venza

$2,500-$4,999

Louisa & Steven Hollman

National Capital Optimist Club

The CPMG Foundation

The Richman Foundation

$1,000-$2,499

Bonnie C. Arze

Todd Cohen & Rabbi Baht Weiss

Catherine G. Crockett

Alan Mark Ezagui, in memory of Mark Nathan Ezagui

Johns Hopkins University

Andrew and Eleanor Glass

The Greif Family

The Pargament Family Charitable Gift Trust

Julius Park

Alison & James Pearce

Sajeev Rambob

Michael Stahly

H. Marcel Wright

The William Zell Family Foundation, Inc.

$500-$999

Celeste S. Basier

Christina Hill

Clement and Sandra Alpert, Designated Endowment Fund at United Jewish Endowment Fund

Larry Rosenblum

Les Bland

Kristen Pulio

Jaqie & Mathew Keady

Ryan Thelin

Lynda Pontecorvo

Tommy Waterworth

Meta (Facebook)

Paloma Costa

Elizabeth DelCasale

Denis F. Cioffi, PhD & Ellen R. Hornstein

Jennifer Mack Properties

Amanda & Joe Perry

Gabriele Adams

Mark E. Griffin

Beth & Kim Griffith

Shannon Murray

$100-$499

Seleem & Caroline Choudhury

Catherine & Michael Stanton

John and Sue Sackett

Zemina Divecha

Jill Brown

Alan & Agnes Leshner

Judith Mandola & Family

Gwendolyn J. Mason, Ed.D.

Barbara Witt

Michelle C. Brennan

Lydia Cheruvathoor

The McBride Family

Sheila Teimourian

The Blackbaud Giving Fund

2023 Gratitude Report • Investors

Kelli Anne Forbes

Jean Mastrandrea

Susan & Richard Glover

George, Morris & Christine Bregman

Roger & Joan Golden

Florence Lourie

Andrew R. Nicklas

Brendan Johnson

Marlene Robinson

Amanda Bower

Denise M. Chandler

Kacy Rollins

Karen Bowne

Jennifer and Craig Harrison

Eursula David-Sherman

American Online Giving Foundation, workplace giving

Elaine Mayhall

Anna Curtin, PhD

Elena Wright-Aguilar

Kimberly A. Gaines

United Way of the National Capital Area

The Clark Construction Group, LLC

Carolyn Chiechi

Marjorie Sonnenfeldt

Rebecca Graystone

Daniel Korengold and Martha Dippell

Tony & Carlotta Miles

Karen L. Garman

Charles & Nancy Wolfson

$1-$99

Deanna L. Aghguiguian

Diane Castiglione

Priscella Celentano

Ilene Heller

Carolyn Horton

Andrew Marsh

Kandy McFarland

Margaret Morrisey

Alba Munoz

Lucia Pugnali

Every effort was made to list all donors accurately. We apologize in advance if we missed including your name or what we have listed is inaccurate. Please contact Alan Ezagui at AEzagui@LourieCenter.org with any questions. Thank you.

TRAINING, EDUCATION AND CONSULTATION

DC Early EdX Virtual Pathways

As in past years, The Lourie Center participated in the DC Early Educator Experience (DC Early EdX) sponsored by the Bainum Family Foundation. This annual program is a professional development event that celebrates the important work of D.C.’s early childhood educators while giving them an opportunity to learn, network and advocate for children birth though age 8.

The program was delivered virtually during the month of April and culminated with a one-day in-person experience on April 28, 2023. There were four tracks: Birth to Age 3, Pre-K to Grade 3, Administrators and Homebased Early Learning.

South by Southwest ED

South by Southwest Education (SXSW EDU) annually brings together educators, administrators, entrepreneurs, creatives and visionaries in Austin, TX to share their experience and learn from one another. In 2023, Marianela Rodousakis in collaboration with a team from Teaching Strategies participated in a panel on Supporting Best Practices in the Early Childhood Workforce. (TeachingStrategies.com)

2023 Gratitude Report • Training, Education and Consultation

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC): Professional Learning Series

On June 4-7, 2023, more than 1,900 attendees took over the Pacific Northwest for the NAEYC Professional Learning Institute (PLI)! This was our second inperson PLI since the pandemic, and early childhood education (ECE) leaders once again demonstrated their commitment and dedication in a BIG way! The Lourie Center’s own Ann Curtin, Director, Therapeutic Nursery Program (TNP), and Marianela Rodousakis, Assistant Director of TNP, were among the speakers presented “Supporting Emotional Safety in Early Childhood Teachers.” They presented to a full house with great engagement from the participants.

With nearly 200 sessions, almost 300 presenters and close to 50 exhibiting companies, there was a lot to learn and explore while networking with peers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and

five international countries. (NAEYC.org/resources/blog/ you-did-it-2023-naeyc-professional-learning-institute)

NAEYC’s Professional Learning Institute brings together seasoned and emerging early childhood leaders in a community of learners focused on deepening the early childhood knowledge base, addressing challenging and controversial issues facing the field and developing skills to improve professional development and practice.

The Institute featured approximately 200 informative sessions, a research poster session, unique networking opportunities and a vibrant exhibit hall marketplace including the NAEYC Shop. NAEYC sought proposals that reflected innovative thinking in early childhood education, informed by research, policy and practice.

2023 Gratitude Report • Training, Education and Consultation

Coming Full Circle

As a both quiet and eager student in my psychology doctoral program, I had heard about The Lourie Center for years before I ever considered applying to train there. I knew it to be highly competitive — only our very best upper classmen had been accepted into their practicum. Having recently moved to the USA, I felt like a neophyte in every aspect of life, including in my professional training, so I was quite incredulous when Betty Ann [Dr. Betty Ann Kaplan, long-time Director of Clinical Training & Supervisor] offered me an interview, and later the chance to join the team for an academic year!

It was, to say the least, a year of many, many firsts. My first introduction to the richness of attachment theories, my first exposure to child group therapy, my first live supervision experience, my first encounters with complex generational trauma… and most importantly, my first time working with highly emotionally dysregulated kids. The key skills I learned in the Therapeutic Nursery working with

this frequently misunderstood group of kiddos have never left me since. They certainly made me a more confident and competitive applicant in the internship and post-graduate workforce, and they remain at the core of my passion for my work today.

One can imagine how it must have felt to hear back from the center almost a decade after completing my training, this time to be asked to come back to train their staff in the basics of cognitive behavioral therapy. What a meaningful, “full circle” moment it was. I think I cried when I walked the hallways almost a decade later. I continue to feel so proud of the Mission, and so grateful to be a part of The Lourie Center family.

IN THE COMMUNITY

Celebrating the Many Who Invest in Our Children

On October 23, 2023, friends of The Lourie Center gathered for the unveiling of the Donor Wall, which honors the many supporters who contributed to the Center’s facility expansion campaign. Fifty-one (51) individuals and Foundations donated $2.2 million to make it possible to meet the needs of more children and their families throughout our community.

Speakers at the event included, Montgomery County Council member, Gabe Albornoz, David Daniels, CEO, Bainum Family Foundation, a long-time

partner in the shared work of improving early childhood for children and communities facing adversity and trauma; Marcel Wright, former Executive Director of the center, Wendy, mom to a former Lourie Center student; and Terry Forde, Former President and CEO of Adventist HealthCare.

Dr. Carol Garvey with Jimmy giving her an award in appreciation for her years of support and service as a member of the board.

Wendy spoke movingly about the challenges she and her husband faced as they searched for the right program for their son. She moved the audience to tears when describing how the teachers, therapists and staff of The Lourie Center embraced their son and their family and turned what sometimes seemed a hopeless situation into the promise of a full and meaningful life for their child. Today, nearly 15 years later, Wendy’s son has completed his second year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) majoring in physics.

2023 Gratitude Report • In the Community

Meet Sheena Saydam and Saydam Properties Group

Sheena and Han Saydam lead Saydam Properties Group (SPG) at Keller Williams. Their team has sold more than 2,000 homes and are one of the top performing brokerages in the Washington, D.C. market.

SPG is known for giving back to the community. It is the core of their mission.

Sheena came to know about the work of The Lourie Center in December 2022 through Sherzell Mason, a Grants Manager with our Head Start program. Sherzell purchased a home with SPG, and during that process spoke of the work of The Lourie Center.

Sheena wanted to learn more about the work of the center. She came for a visit was “moved, changed and impassioned to further support the extraordinary and indelible efforts of this organization.”

Sheena speaking at September 23, 2023 conference hosted by Saydam Properties Group.

Since her visit, Sheena has shared with her colleagues and friends and with the larger real estate community what she believes to be “the responsibility of all of us — as a business owner, community members and humans — to care for the most vulnerable. It’s our privilege and honor, and we invite anyone aiming to find purpose to consider supporting The Lourie Center and the beautiful work they’re doing.”

In September 2023, Sheena held a real estate conference in Washington, D.C., “Build a Better Life & Business by Referral.” While it was a professional development conference for real estate brokers, Sheena made it a fundraiser to support The Lourie Center.

Saydam Properties Group raised more than $14,000! The funds were invested in the team of amazing early childhood clinicians and programs for the little ones. Sheena is more than a supporter. She is a dear friend of The Lourie Center. Her big heart and beautiful spirit are very much alive in our work.

CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP

BXP

As they have for the past three years, BXP gave both direct financial support to The Lourie Center’s programs and services, and its employees continued to invest their time and talents to help The Lourie Center help vulnerable children and their families.

This year’s projects included working with the children in Head Start to create a garden, scarecrow painting in the fall, a schoolsupply drive for The Lourie Center school and its Therapeutic Nursery Program and prepping for the school year.

Our heartfelt thank

you to the following people who make this partnership possible.

Saara Brown, VP, Leasing

Claudia Scozia, VP, Construction

Michael J. Holland, VP, Construction

Pete Otteni, EVP, Co-Head of the Washington, DC Region

Jake Stroman, EVP, Co-Head of the Washington, DC Region

2023 Gratitude

Webinar

The State of Children’s Mental Health: Lifting Children Up by Lifting Up Their Helpers

On May 11, 2023, Champions for Children, an organization of professional women dedicated to supporting organizations that provide services to children who have experienced adversity and their families, hosted a webinar in recognition of Children’s National Mental Health Awareness Day. Featured speakers for the event were, Pamela Cantor, MD, Isabelle Hau, and Dana Winters, PhD.

The three nationally renowned presenters addressed the topic: The State of Children’s Mental Health: Lifting Children Up by Lifting Up Their Helpers.

Pamela Cantor, MD is a child and adolescent psychiatrist specializing in trauma, author, and thought leader on human potential, the science of learning and development, and educational equity. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, she founded Turnaround for Children, which translates scientific insights into tools and services that help educators establish the conditions for all students to thrive.

Isabelle Hau is the executive director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, a Stanford-wide initiative to connect researchers across disciplines, and bridge research, practice, and policy, to bring quality, scalable and equitable learning experiences for all learners and throughout the lifespan. Prior, she was a founding partner at Imaginable Futures, a venture of the Omidyar Group, the philanthropic investment firm of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam. She led the U.S. education initiative, portfolio and team.

Dana Winters, PhD, is the Rita McGinley Executive Director of the Fred Rogers Institute and faculty in the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Saint Vincent College. Her extensive field research from interviewing prisoners to shadowing crossing guards, from observing Head Start teachers and developing coaches in early childhood systems has informed the co-development of the Simple Interactions approach to support children, families and their helpers.

When, at times, the head winds of workforce shortages, financial pressures and heightened community stress blow strong we hold steady and renewed in delivering The Lourie Center’s essential care with you at our backs.