Possessing a balanced budget and stable leadership, Catholic Social Service-Sacramento is relying on a dual strategy of parish-based service delivery and fund raising as well as collaboration with other agencies to meet the social service challenges of the new century, according to its new board president.

“We’ve made it through a period of transition with our finances and we’re now ready to renew our connections with the community and meet the needs of the future,” said Patricia Keast, a member of St. Anthony Parish in Sacramento. She began her term in January as president of the board of directors of CSS-Sacramento.

Keast, who works as director of regional affiliations for the UC Davis Health System, said the past two years of re-organization at CSS-Sacramento have renewed the 70-year-old agency and helped it examine how to be responsive to the changing needs of the Sacramento area.

Patricia Keast, president of the board of directors of Catholic Social Service-Sacramento, says recent reorgani- zation has helped the agency examine how to be responsive to the changing needs of the Sacramento area. Cathy Joyce/Herald photo

The current fiscal year has been one of renewal for the Sacramento agency after nearly two years of re-organization led by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Sacramento.

In 1999, a recovery plan for CSS-Sacramento was implemented to address declining revenue for administrative costs. At the same time, staff positions were re-aligned and programs re-organized while continuing CSS-Sacramento’s services to seniors at Camellia City Center in downtown Sacramento, to the Latino community through Centro Guadalupe, to low-income counseling clients and to homeless men and women.

Playing key roles in the recovery effort, Keast said, have been Paul Nolfo, who was appointed executive director of the agency last September, and Mary Tunison, Catholic Charities’ development officer.

Nolfo secured all public contracts for CSS-Sacramento and put together a balanced budget for the agency. “The organization is now financially stable, and we have maintained our same level of services,” said Keast, who heads an 11-member board of directors. “There were questions initially about how we could do this, and we’ve proved we can.”

Tunison helped the agency launch a comprehensive fund-raising, development and public relations plan, Keast said. This included a financial commitment to the agency from each board member, “reconnecting with past donors and growing relationships with new donors,” she said.

Keast said CSS-Sacramento is halfway to its goal of $100,000 in donations for the current fiscal year. The agency hopes its direct-mail fund raising and the proceeds from an upcoming “Celebrating Miracles” golf classic on April 28 at Twelve Bridges Golf Club will be successful in meeting that goal.

As part of the ongoing development and fund-raising effort, Nolfo has sought new grant opportunities for the agency, Keast noted. She said, for example, that the homeless education program, based at the Salvation Army Shelter in North Sacramento, is fully funded by grants and other sources through June 30, 2001.

“What we’ve found about individual donors is that they want to give money to our agency because of what we do—they just haven’t been asked consistently. It’s as simple as that,” Keast said. “Our donors are responding and saying they want to give.”

Both Keast and Nolfo said a significant effort in the next year will be consultation with area parish leaders and parishioners to inform them about CSS-Sacramento’s programs, to listen to their ideas about how the agency can be of greater service and to suggest opportunities for donations and volunteering.

“We want to re-introduce our services to people in the parishes who are not using them because they don’t know about our agency,” Nolfo said. “We also have many opportunities for people, including teenagers and seniors, who want to volunteer in our programs.” He noted that 60 percent of participants in recent parenting classes offered by CSS-Sacramento’s counseling program were from local parishes.

Another focus will be fostering closer alliances with other social service agencies in the city and county of Sacramento, as well as in neighboring Yolo, El Dorado and Placer counties, they said.

“We realize we cannot provide all of the services the Sacramento community needs,” said Nolfo, who has 20 years experience working for non-profit organizations. “We have some history of collaborating with other social service agencies but we want to expand in this area.”

Expansion is also planned for the board of directors, Keast said, to include a larger number of persons from area parishes and reflecting the cultural diversity of the Sacramento area.

Keast joined the board in 1996 as a way to share her managerial and planning skills from nearly 30 years of work in the health care field. She said CSS-Sacramento is looking for community and business leaders with a commitment to social service, an understanding of Catholic values and a desire to help others. Board members serve at least 10 hours per month.

Parishioners and other community members are also needed to serve on the agency’s planning and program committees, Keast said, noting that these persons need not be board members.

The planning committee takes a long-term approach of examining the under-served needs of the area that might be served by CSS-Sacramento programs. The program committee evaluates whether current programs are meeting clients’ needs.

Keast noted that CSS-Sacramento’s services to various populations in the Sacramento area continue to be “needed, of high quality and highly regarded.”

“It’s not unusual for any business or agency to re-examine its mission to meet changing needs and to renew its connections with the community it’s serving,” she said. “We want to take our base of services and grow, and hope the best is yet to come.”

For information about volunteer or donation opportunities with Catholic Social Service-Sacramento, call Paul Nolfo at (916) 452-7481, ext. 30.

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