| ACS Honors Preventive Agency Staff |
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| Friday, 01 January 2010 00:00 |
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• Shirley McQueen, Staten Island Mental Health Society; • Marie Franco, Episcopal Social Services; • Lynn Blacker, Manhattan PINS DAS, and • Lucy Santana, Steinway Services. Agency executives echoed ACS’ praise for the honorees. “Shirley brings all her professional expertise and her personal honesty, warmth, compassion, generosity, optimism, and sense of fair play to our clients,” said Maria C. Peña, Director of Staten Island Mental Health Society’s Family Resources program where Shirley McQueen has worked for 13 years. “She encourages them to feel empowered and helps them make use of all available resources - from food pantries to child care, to job training, to tutoring, to housing opportunities - with dignity. Shirley is their advocate, their counselor, their researcher, their escort, and their champion. She is a model for others in her field.” Each quarter, beginning in April 2009, preventive services agencies have nominated frontline staff who are among the unsung heroes in working with families. In determining the awards, FSS is guided by the recommendation of program directors who supervise the prospective awardees. Awardees are nominated for exemplary work and their ability to make a positive impact on the lives of the children and families they work with. To date, nine preventive agency staffers have been honored. The names of the next honorees will be announced in February. |




















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