Celebrating 20 years of leadership at Children’s Beach House

An important aspect of what we do at the Children’s Beach House is our focus on engaging with children and their families over a long period of time to best enable their success in many ways. The relationships that we develop enable children to gain stability and security, to learn new things, test new skills and explore new possibilities that may otherwise not have been possible. One of the key factors to CBH’s success over the last 20 years has been our Executive Director Richard Garrett.

Twenty years is a remarkable tenure for the leader of any organization. It is especially rare among nonprofit organizations, so we are deeply grateful for Rich’s long-term dedication. It isn’t just the duration of Rich’s leadership that makes it so remarkable, though; it is the positive impact he has had on our kids, their families and recruiting an incredible staff for CBH over his 20-year tenure.  These accomplishments include but are not limited to:

• The adoption of Positive Youth Development Theory as the therapeutic foundation upon which CBH bases its programs. Positive Youth Development Theory focuses on creating resource-rich environments, supportive relationships, and a network of services that meet a child’s complete developmental needs
• The expansion of the Youth Development Program to include case management and weekend enrichment programs during the school year
• The development and implementation of a rigorous and ongoing evaluation program to monitor our programs’ quality and the progress of the children we serve
• The establishment of an endowment fund for capital projects
• The creation of the Margaret H. Rollins Child Development Center
• Planning and funding major capital improvements to make our building more safe, efficient and sustainable with a new roof, windows, HVAC and lighting
• The establishment of the Ma-Ran Endowment to support the work of the Margaret H. Rollins Child Development Center
• The founding of Greater Good Events, a social enterprise that supports CBH’s programs serving children, youth and families
• The creation of the Beacon Society, a community of sustaining donors who provide ongoing support to help us meet our children’s most pressing needs
• Successfully navigating the organization through the COVID pandemic
• Overseeing the development and implementation of a new five-year strategic plan to meet emerging and ongoing community needs
• Expanding the Youth Development Program to meet the needs of children in nearby Milton.

We are fortunate to have a very engaged board of trustees with several new members to support these efforts. Rich has gifted the Beach House children, families, staff, board, volunteers and supporters with untold numbers of acts of kindness, bursts of insight, moments of laughter, gestures of consolation, after-hours meetings and plain old-fashioned hard work. We are so grateful for his leadership and so happy to be celebrating this milestone with him.

On behalf of the Children’s Beach House Board of Trustees, the families and children we serve and everyone affiliated with CBH, thank you, Rich!