New England Center for the Deaf, Inc.

2015 Annual Report

 

 

New England Center for the Deaf, Inc. originated in 2011 as a result of the tragic loss of a young man in the Deaf community. This loss illuminated the need for Deaf –competent social services and thus NECD, Inc. was formed.  The founding members, Tracy Knight and Joseph Sisk formed their board and this was the beginning. 

 

Since the formation of the Board and the Incorporation in March of 2011, we have moved forward in our development.  Our Board currently consists of 7 members, most of who have been involved since the inception of NECD, Inc.  The Board members are very committed to our mission and come to us from a variety of backgrounds.  All board members bring specific strengths and benefits to the Board and to the agency. 

 

We are very proud to introduce the NECD, Inc. Board of Directors. 

 

Tracy Knight:  Tracy has her BSW from the University of Saint Joseph (formerly St. Joseph College) and her MSW from Fordham University. She also has her Licensed Master of Social Work (LMSW) credential.  She is a co-founder of NECD, Inc. and is the mother of a hearing impaired son.  Tracy has been connected with the Deaf communities in Missouri, Kansas and Connecticut for almost 20 years.  During this time, Tracy served on the Region 5 Council of Developmental Disabilities, the southwest Missouri Task force on Autism and is a former member of the Parent Advisory Committee at the American School for the Deaf.  In addition to her efforts in the creation and development of NECD, Inc., Tracy is currently working full time as a Case Manager.  Prior to this, Tracy was the Administrator of a small non-profit agency and it was there that she became familiar with grant writing and fundraising.  Tracy is the board President and the Chief Executive Officer of NECD, Inc.  She currently works as a Therapist/Clinician at another Human Services agency in CT.

 

Joseph Sisk:  Joe has his BA in Psychology from Bard College and his MA in Psychology from The New School for Social Research.  He has subsequently earned his License as a Professional Counselor and he is a Nationally Certified Counselor and holds his Specialty Certificate in Substance Abuse.  He also is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional.  Joe is a co-founder of NECD, Inc. and he is the Chairman of the Board and is the Chief Operating Officer for NECD, Inc.   Joe has over 20 years of experience in the field of human services including over 16 years of management experience.  In addition to his responsibilities at NECD, Inc., Joe currently work full time as the Director of a Clinical Assessment unit at another social service agency in Connecticut. 

 

William Gilbert: Bill attended Boston College for his undergraduate work as well as his MSW.  He subsequently earned his Licensed Clinical Social Worker credential and then his Specialty Certificate in Substance Abuse.   More recently, Bill earned his Ph.D. in Social Work.  He holds the position of the Vice-Chair on the NECD, Inc. Board.  Bill has over 2 decades of management experience in the field of social services and has been a Senior Manager and agency Vice President for many of those years at a substance abuse counseling agency.  Bill currently works as the Vice President, and Chief operating officer for another agency in Connecticut. 

 

Maria Weingart: Maria has been connected to the Deaf community for over 20 years.  She is fluent in American Sign Language and is strongly committed to the welfare of the Deaf individuals in Connecticut.  Maria also has had personal experience with the Deaf community being the mother of a Deaf son.  Maria holds the position of Secretary on the NECD, Inc. board.   

 

Christopher Knight, Jr.:  Chris (Cj) is a Director on the NECD, Inc. board.  He is hearing impaired and is fluent in American Sign Language.  After growing up in Missouri and being educated in the mainstream through elementary school, his family moved to Kansas where he attended the Kansas State School for the Deaf.  He graduated from middle school at KSD.  Chris came to CT where he attended the American School for the Deaf and graduated with his high school diploma.  Since graduation he has obtained his veterinary assistant certificate from Tunxis Community College. 

 

Ruth Ennis:  Ruth has her Master degree in Education and currently works in special education with hearing impaired students in the public school system.  Ruth is the mother of a hearing impaired daughter and is very committed to the mission of NECD, Inc.      

 

ACTIVITIES 

Food Sharing

New England Center for the Deaf, Inc.  was contacted by a single, Deaf mother of 2 daughters desperately in need of food.  Through the great generosity of our private contributors, we provided food on a number of occasions  to her and her children.

 

STRATEGIC PLAN

New England Center for the Deaf, Inc. continues to develop and modify its strategic plan for the forthcoming years. 

 

 

FUNDRAISING

NECD, Inc. received 200 dollars from our generous and supportive private contributors this year. 

NECD, Inc. renewed our membership to GrantStation.  This is a service that monitors new grants that are available and send a weekly email to the subscribers with potential grant opportunities.  It is through GrantStation that we became aware of one of the grants for which we applied and we continue to scour the opportunities for appropriate and feasible options.    

 

e-NCOUNTERS

New England Center for the Deaf, Inc. has entered the electronic age.  We have a Facebook account which, by the end of 2015 had well over 800 likes and a number of followers and it is growing every day.  Many of the ‘likes’ continue to be international individuals and Deaf agencies from across the globe.  This provides us a great opportunity to network with Deaf organizations world-wide.  We can be found on Facebook at New England Center for the Deaf.  Through Facebook we are able to communicate with potential constituents and begin marketing. 

Next year we will create a Twitter account to allow for a greater reach. 

We continued to explore options for setting up an NECD, Inc. web site to be located at www.necd-inc.org.  This will be a crucial element for allowing us to communicate with potential clients, referral sources and donors about our agency development progress, NECD, Inc. fundraising and meet-and-greet events, and provide a portal for donations through our PayPal account.  We have looked into some services that allow for building your own web-site and we will be completing this and making it live sometime in early 2016.    

 

ADMINISTRATIVE

News from the Board

We regretfully lost a Board member to resignation this year.  We say good-bye to Daniel Millstein as a board member.  He does wish to remain updated about NECD and to hopefully become a continued supporter. 

Congratulations to Christopher Knight, Jr. who has a wonderful paid positon at Flamig Farm taking care of the animals and helping the owners maintain the farm.  He also assists with events at the farm.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New England Center for the Deaf, Inc.

2015 Contributors

 

The Board of Directors and Management of NECD, Inc. wishes to thank all of those people who have helped us with contributions provided during our fundraising campaigns this year.  Without the generosity of you we would not have been able to facilitate the building of NECD, Inc.  Thank you all.

 

 

Supporters                    0-$99

Julie and Michael Quinn

Anne and Craig Staebner

 

Sponsors              $100-$499

Ann Z. Levinthal and the Hon. John Newman

 

Donors                 $500-$999

 

Patrons                $1000-$4999

 

Benefactors          $5000-$9999

 

Endowers            $10,000+

 

Donations of Goods

 

Corporate Sponsorship