History

ECF Year in Review

A quick review of a fraction of this year's highlights at ECF include:

January -

ECF sold our building on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, which will pave the way for us to develop two new ECF Art Centers, one in the year 2010 and one in the year 2011.

ECF held its first "All ECF Staff" meeting at the Bridge Theater in Los Angeles, followed by the movie, appropriately titled, "Not Easily Broken."

February -

An ECF artist, Larry Pearsall's artwork was featured in the LA Weekly.

ECF first annual report post merger with the Kayne Eras Center was made available to the public.

ECF celebrated our 63rd anniversary.

March and April -

The ECF Kayne Eras Center "Bulldogs" Varsity basketball team finished in second place in the AMASE League by a 1-point margin. Two of our students were selected to the AMASE "All Star" team.

DePaul University conducted an efficacy study on ECF's Kayne Eras Center school program. The study's findings verified the powerfully favorable impact the school's programs have on the lives of our students, and clearly set our programs apart from other schools in the region.

An aggressive campaign to educate our elected officials to ECF programs was launched.

May and June -

ECF initiated a defined contribution plan for eligible employees.

ECF's Kayne Eras Center graduated 21 students from High School.

ECF's administration, and work programs were awarded a full, three year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), and the best report in the organization's history!

July-

ECF's Kayne Eras Center's school was awarded a full accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), which enables the school to issue diplomas to private pay graduates.

ECF's Supported Employment program reached a new milestone with the placement of 100 adults with developmental disabilities in jobs in the community!

August-

ECF's Risk Management Committee initiated a proactive program to prepare our employees for the flu season (and H1N1).

September-

The ECF Downtown Art Center and Gallery held a successful exhibition for our artists.

ECF is one of only 32 organizations nation-wide awarded stimulus funds in response to our proposal through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The 27th Annual "First Ever" Golf Benefit, ECF's longest running special event, was held at the California Country Club in Whittier.

The "Coffee with Scott" program was initiated. I've thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the time I've shared with so many of you who have signed up to share some time and ideas with me.

October-

ECF's 2nd Annual Art Sale at our Downtown Art Center and Gallery grossed a record high in sales of over $21,000!

ECF's launched our first "on-line auction," which ultimately raised approximately $9,000 for ECF programs.

November-

The ECF Kayne Eras Center "Bulldogs" Varsity Football team enters the AMASE League Championships.

The ladies of SHARE visit the ECF Kayne Eras Center to consider our proposal for funding Education Therapy.

ECF enters escrow to purchase property in Arleta to become a permanent home for one of ECF's Early Childhood Development programs.

Indeed, we have many blessings to cherish and many memories to share from 2009.

With California's gloomy forecast, the year 2010 promises to offer us additional tests and challenges. However, for over a decade, I have experienced the resolve of ECF and witnessed, time after time, our ability to overcome obstacles placed before us. We continue to be positioned well to face the tough year ahead of us, and are planning some very exciting developments for the coming year. Here are a few of our plans:

+the celebration of our 64th Anniversary on February 6.

+the development of an ECF Art Center at our headquarters building, and ECF's first Art Center in West LA!

+our participation in the Early Head Start program, partnering with USC,

+our first "Walk-A-Thon," where friends of ECF will have the opportunity to walk from Studio to Studio in Culver City to raise the public's awareness to our programs,

+the launching of a campaign to raise the funds needed to develop our state of the art Childhood Development Center in Arleta

+the development of ECF's third Intermediate Care Facility (ICF) residence with the conversion of the Fairbanks Home.

+hosting the Interdisciplinary Professionals for the At Risk seminar at our Kayne Eras Center

+the expansion of parking at our Kayne Eras Center.