It was an eventful February 2023, and we have quite a few Masada updates to share. Keep reading to learn more!
👏🏿 Bernard Smith's New Role
After many years with Masada, and the last five as our Executive Director, Bernard Smith has recently chosen to step down from his current role … while still continuing to work with the organization as a senior executive on a full-time basis going forward. His new position within Masada Homes will be as Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) performing various agency administrative duties and reporting directly to the Executive Director.
Some words from Smith: “I am grateful for all the Masada Homes business opportunities that the Executive Team and Directors have nurtured as well as working alongside various agency staff members during my time as Executive Director. Thanks again for your support and best wishes to everyone.”
🤝🏾 Interim Leadership Arrangement
For a short period of time, two of Capstone’s most senior partners (Jim Wind and John Hatakeyama) will temporarily sit in the Executive Director seat for the organization. More specifically, Jim will function as the acting Director; John will work with individual Masada executives on key projects; and both will be directly involved (along with the Board) in developing and implementing a plan for the organization’s next permanent Executive Director.
James (Jim) Wind, CEO of Capstone Solutions Consulting Group, is a highly seasoned corporate and social services executive with a long and successful track record leading organizations; developing and implementing strategic plans and operating programs; and expanding service capabilities while fostering healthy organizations and promoting equity and social justice.
After achieving his MBA from the Harvard Business School, Jim spent the next 30 years managing new company start-ups and rapid growth corporate businesses. This was followed by a decade of founding and direction of large, high-impact non-profit organizations in the fields of education, mental health, and environmental services. In his non-profit roles, Jim has built a strong reputation throughout the community for investing in others and helping organizations expand critical services by integrating business acumen with solutions for marginalized and underserved populations.
With expertise in the areas of executive leadership, general management and strategic planning; finance, technology, and service operations; and marketing, fundraising, and new program development … some of Jim’s more notable past accomplishments have included direction of a national, highly profitable $250 million, 1,300-employee educational services business; transformational development and expansion of a $30 million, 60-site, 1,000-employee non-profit social services organization; successful operations and financial turnarounds for numerous distressed entities; and the founding and sale of an Internet firm.
Most recently, Jim has served as a faculty member at the University of Southern California’s Doctor of Social Work program, as well as a strategic innovator, developer, and leader of its online degree, military social work, nursing, telehealth, and re-entry programs. In addition to founding and leading Capstone Solutions, he is also the co-founder of a chain of addiction treatment operations in the southwest.
John Hatakeyama is a highly seasoned leader who devoted more than 30 years with Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), the largest county-run mental health services organization in the United States, which currently services more than a quarter of a million people annually. At LACDMH, he served as the Deputy Director of the Children, Youth, and Family Program Administration for more than 10 years, driving policy changes, securing funding, and spearheading organizational improvements to expand services to an ever-growing diverse client base of vulnerable families and at-risk youth.
In addition to being an agency leader himself, John has devoted his advocacy and expertise as a consultant helping community-based organizations develop sound infrastructure, navigate county government partnerships, obtain critical funding, and expand evidence-based services. He has also been a front-runner in establishing collaborative care partnerships by building relationships between service organizations (such as healthcare, mental health, children and family, and more).
John has significantly contributed to over two dozen community-based organizations in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties, including the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA), United Advocates for Children and Families (UACF), Stars Behavioral Health Group, Masada Homes, Foothill Family Service, Pacific Clinics, Braille Institute, Jr. Blind, Anka Behavioral Health, and the University of Southern California Telehealth Program. He formerly served as the District Chief of the Asian Pacific Counseling and Treatment Center, as well as Program Director of Youth Services at MacClaren Children’s Center in Los Angeles County.
John has also applied his expertise in service to numerous boards, task forces, and commissions. He was an officer of the California Mental Health Advocates for Children and Youth (CMHACY), member of the Board of Directors and Vice-Chair of the Statewide Children’s System of Care Committee for the California Mental Health Directors Association, and Chair of the Southern Counties Children‘s Coordinators. He has served as a Board Member of the California Institute for Mental Health, Children’s Law Center, United Advocates for Children and Families (UACF), First 5 LA Commission, and many other community and civic organizations.
🧭 Leadership Change
In support of Masada’s goal to become the best community-based non-profit organization in Los Angeles County, we have added two new positions to our Executive Team.
We are pleased to announce the promotion of Iva Svetlikova to her new role as Chief Quality and Compliance Officer. As a member of the Executive Team, Iva will provide leadership in the areas of quality assurance, training, regulatory compliance and client outcomes data analysis.
As Masada diversifies our programs and services, Iva and her team will work to ensure that our clinicians are prepared for success, delivering top quality services that result in excellent client outcomes. Please join me in congratulating Iva on her new roles and responsibilities!
We are also pleased to announce that Patricia Tindbaek will now be taking on Masada’s new Chief Development Officer role, a position that is responsible for identifying and securing new funding and program opportunities congruent with our mission and vision.
The CDO will support Masada’s goal to increase and diversify our funding through additional government contracts and grants, as well as fundraising through foundations and individuals.
January Raffle Winners
💕 February Raffle Invitation
Celebrating Black History Month
Black inventors and scientists have contributed numerous creations that are a testament to their ingenuity, talent, and determination. Many of these inventions make our daily lives easier but the stories of their origins have been overlooked and minimized. To broaden the narrative, here are the stories of some of the great Black minds that have progressed the world as we know it.
Acknowledging the contributions of Black Inventors and Scientists
Before security systems became a fixture in homes, an African American nurse Mary Van Brittan Brown, devised an early security unit for her own home. She spent many nights at home alone in Queens, New York while her husband was away, and felt unsafe with high rates of crime in her neighborhood. On top of that, police were unreliable and unresponsive. So she created a device that would help put her mind at ease.
In 1966, Brown invented a system that used a camera that could slide into and look through four peepholes in her front door. The camera’s view would then appear on a monitor in her home so she could survey any potentially unwanted guests.
She added other features to the system, including a microphone to speak to anyone at the door, a button to unlock the door, and a button to contact the police. She and her husband took out a patent for the system in the same year, and they were awarded the patent three years later in 1969. Home security systems commonly used today took various elements from her design.
With only an elementary school education, Black inventor (and son of an enslaved parent), Garrett Morgan came up with several significant inventions, including an improved sewing machine and the gas mask. However, one of Morgan’s most influential inventions was the improved traffic light. Morgan’s was one of the first three-light systems that were invented in the 1920s, resulting in widespread adoption of the traffic lights we take for granted today.
Thanks to the successes of his other inventions, Morgan bought a car and, as a motorist, he witnessed a severe car accident at an intersection in his city of Cleveland, Ohio. In response, he decided to expand on the current traffic light by adding a “yield” component, warning oncoming drivers of an impending stop. He took out the patent for the creation in 1923, and it was granted to him the following year.
The use of elevators in everyday life keeps people from facing long climbs up several flights of stairs. However, before the creation of elevator doors that close automatically, riding a lift was both complicated and risky.
Before automatic doors, people had to manually shut both the shaft and elevator doors before riding. Forgetting to do so led to multiple accidents as people fell down elevator shafts. As the story goes, when the daughter of African American inventor Alexander Miles almost fatally fell down the shaft, he took it upon himself to develop a solution. In 1887 he took out a patent for a mechanism that automatically opens and closes elevator shaft doors and his designs are largely reflected in elevators used today.
George Edward Alcorn Jr. (born March 22, 1940) is an American physicist, engineer, inventor, and professor. He taught at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia, and worked primarily for IBM and NASA. He has over 30 inventions and 8 patents resulting in his induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2015.
For a list of Black Inventors & Scientists, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_inventors_and_scientists
Quotes
💘 Happy Valentines Day
Valentine’s Day is not only a day to celebrate those who we love, whether it’s a significant other, family or friends. It’s a great opportunity to remember that we love ourselves too!
Here are some ways you can spoil yourself:
- Indulge in yourself – Show yourself some love by taking great care of yourself, doing your favorite self care activities, whether it’s taking a bath with a fancy bath bomb, doing some yoga, going for a run, journaling, or meditating.
- Treat yourself – make yourself a care package filled with all your favorite items, go shopping, order some of your favorite take out
- Plan something with your family or friends – Make dinner reservations for an evening out with your group or have a cozy night in and enjoy each other’s company.
- Be selfish – have yourself a “Me Day” to spoil yourself because you deserve it!
🥰 Random Acts of Kindness
Imagine a world where you can succeed by being nice.
Where we all pay it forward.
Where people look out for each other.
It all starts with an act.
You are the fuel that keeps this world kind, caring and compassionate. I know, sometimes it may not feel that way, but when you scratch beneath the surface of the negativity and conflict we see around us, it’s clear that human beings are good. And, you’re one of them!
The work to create a kinder world never ends. There is no limit on the amount of goodness we can put into the world. So, what are you going to do in 2023 to make kindness the norm?
The Random Act of Kindness Foundation is a small nonprofit that invests their resources into making kindness the norm. They are rooted in the belief that all people can connect through kindness and that kindness can be taught. They have put together free downloadable resources for individuals of all ages such as kindness activity books, discussion topics, journal prompts, coloring pages, bingo cards and much more.
Visit https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/ for more information.
Open Positions at Masada
Below are the open positions we have at Masada. If you know of someone who is a great fit be sure to let us know!
A referral bonus of $250 will be provided to any current employee who refers someone that gets hired by Masada.
Rancho Cucamonga Office:
- No open positions at this time.
Norwalk Office:
- Full-Time, Full-Service Partnership (FSP) Adult Case Manager
- Full-Time, Full-Service Partnership Therapist – Adult
- Full-Time, Co-Occurring Disorders (COD) Counselor
Bellflower Office:
- Full-Time Child and Family Specialist/Rehab Specialist (Bellflower/Gardena)
- Full-Time Wraparound Parent Partner
Gardena Office:
- Full-Time Community Therapist
- Full-Time Therapeutic Behavioral Specialist (TBS) Supervisor
- Full-Time Administrative Specialist
- Full-Time Wraparound Parent Partner
Lynwood Office:
- Full-Time Parent Partner (Lynwood/Gardena/Hawaiian Gardens)
- Full-Time Child and Family Specialist/Rehab Specialist
Lancaster Office:
- Full-Time Community Therapist (Hybrid)
- Full-Time Wraparound/IFCCS Clinical Supervisor
Los Angeles Office:
No open positions at this time