When John A. Yopps arrives at 1300 N. Jackson St. to start as the new president and CEO of Jewish Family Services on Monday, April 18, he’ll have a plan. It’s a plan for the future.
All social service agencies face funding challenges and Jewish Family Services is not immune from the trend. County funding to Jewish Family Services for contracted mental health services, for example, is stagnant. But Yopps sees opportunity in serving clients through state and Medicaid programs that offer some untapped options.
Coming from a top post at an agency similar to Jewish Family Services – but four times the size – Yopps can’t wait to bring along new ideas for revenue streams that serve the community.
“I’ve had exposure to different system designs, funding structures, different ways of doing things from Wisconsin and four other states,” Yopps said. “I want to bring all that into JFS.”
Yopps had served as co-president and chief compliance officer for Phoenix Care Systems of Milwaukee. He traveled frequently for the job, something he won’t miss. He’s also looking forward to working in a smaller operation that has him closer to the ground, closer to clients.
Jewish Family Services, headquartered on Jackson Street, offers mental health counselling, both under government contract and fee-based. The agency also owns four residential buildings with more than 200 individual living units that accept some low and moderate-income tenants under government programs. Jewish Family Services is engaged in still more activities that support and strengthen families, children and individuals.
Roughly half the clientele and about a quarter of those in the housing identify as Jewish, said Bonnie Bockl Joseph, board chair for Jewish Family Services. The agency has eight therapists on staff and it’s possible demand for their services has increased, at least in part, because mental health stigma has been reduced and people are more willing to come forward for help, she said.
“Our population of needy people who are looking for mental health counselling has grown,” Joseph said. The agency has gone from about 2,500 clinic sessions per year as of 2007 to about 8,350 sessions more recently.
“JFS is a complicated business. We care for clients and constituents who have tremendous needs in a challenging economic environment,” said Steve Zimmerman, chairman of the JFS Transition Committee that recruited Yopps.
Supporters have been generous, said Joseph, but they “have not been able to increase their donation to JFS, which makes us struggling to keep up with needs of clients.”
Yopps sees value in getting the word out about Jewish Family Services, giving it the visibility of Aurora Health Care or Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, to foster more opportunities and ideas for support.
For Zimmerman, Yopps is a people person with passion, business acumen and an ability to ferret out complex revenue strategies that work.
“I’m very excited,” Yopps said. “There’s so much more can-do.”
***
Tom Martin, former president & CEO of Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin in Green Bay, was named interim president/CEO of Jewish Family Services starting Jan. 1, 2016, after president/CEO Sylvan Leabman retired at the end of 2015. John A. Yopps, the new president and CEO, starts April 18.
Loading ...