Familymeans

“The audit committee reviews the 990 and approves it. The minutes of the audit committee meeting and the 990 are included in an email to the board for the board meeting. The 990 is available to all board members who are interested in reviewing it.”

“Annually the full board and all of the officers of the agency fill out and sign a new conflict of interest disclosure form. At the board and management meetings, where the forms are signed, everyone in the room is asked at that time, to verbally disclose any possible conflict of interest. If at that time, any board or management member felt that a conflict existed, the full board would review, and if necessary implement any possible restrictions on the person with the conflict. The president of familymeans leaves the board room when the board is discussing his/her annual performance review and any possible salary adjustments. Other than this, there have been no issues brought before the board that might create a conflict of interest. All employees of familymeans sign a conflict of interest disclosure at the time of their initial employment. The hr manager and president review the disclosures to determine if any conflict does indeed exist.”

“Compensation for the president of familymeans is established by the board of directors, based on comparable data available from various nonprofit salary surveys. On an annual basis the board chair reviews the president's performance. A summary of this review is brought to the full board. In a closed meeting the board reviews both performance and pay. Salary adjustments, if any, are made at this time. The board chair keeps minutes of the review process. This process was most recently undertaken in june 2024.”

“Financial statements, articles of incorporation, bylaws and the conflict of interest policy are available upon request.”

“Counseling and therapy familymeans is a mn and wi licensed mental health community center with offices in hudson, stillwater, st. Paul, and 16 schools located in 2 minnesota and 1 wisconsin districts. Services include outpatient assessment and counseling services to address a wide variety of mental health issues to all who request services, regardless of ability to pay. The center for grief and loss in st. Paul offers specialized outpatient services for clients who have experienced complicated or ambiguous loss, and significant trauma. The goal of the mental health and counseling program is to help clients understand their problems and see ways to begin solving these problems. Individual assessments are completed and therapy is offered to children, adolescents, and adults to mitigate issues such as emotional disturbances of depression or anxiety, school or employment problems, and other personal or relationship concerns. Family therapy assists groups of people functioning as a family unit with issues such as communication, conflict, and parenting. Group therapy is topic-specific and variable; groups may be in long-term or time-limited formats. School-located counseling programs allow students to access mental health therapy while reducing potential barriers such as transportation, financial or scheduling concerns; children in transition groups in elementary schools are offered to students whose parents are divorcing, as well as other group topics as needed at each school level. Our scheduling goal is to arrange appointments withing 3 weeks of an initial call for help. In 2024, we provided counseling services to 896 people in our stillwater and hudson offices, 429 in st. Paul, and 342 students in school-based counseling, while also providing 1,219 staff contacts and over 1,070 parent contacts.”

“Financial solutions financial solutions offers comprehensive services aimed at empowering individuals and families to achieve financial stability. Our offerings include budget and debt counseling, debt management programs, and financial education. Through one-on-one sessions with certified consumer credit counselors, clients receive personalized guidance on understanding their financial situation, exploring repayment and saving strategies, creating practical budgets, and establishing long-term financial goals-all provided at no cost. For some clients, enrollment in our debt management program enables them to repay unsecured debt while saving significant interest and fees over a fixed period. Family means does not pay their debt but designs a program in coordination with their creditors that provides them with a manageable payment plan. Our financial education programs, conducted in various settings for both students and adults, aim to impart money management skills to mitigate financial challenges. In 2024, we helped over 2200 families through budget and debt counseling, and our debt management clients repaid nearly $4 million of their unsecured debt. Additionally, our financial education programs and resource fairs reached 1285 people.”

“Caregiving and aging providing care to an older adult or a younger person with special needs can become a strain for the caregiver emotionally, physically, and financially. Since 1986, familymeans has offered a variety of services to help these unpaid family and friend caregivers effectively manage and sustain this important role while staying well themselves. We provide education, coaching and consultations, information and referral, support groups, and group and in-home respite. Caregivers receive guidance, resource connections, professional and peer support, and regular respite breaks that give them time to themselves. As a result, caregivers' stress and isolation decrease, and their confidence and capability increase. Recognizing the aging of our community and the increasing prevalence of dementia, we have specialized programming focused on older adults and families experiencing memory loss. We provide education and guidance to individuals who are exploring the possibilities of their older years, offer memory screenings, specialized dementia-related support groups, and meaningful opportunities for families to be together despite physical and cognitive challenges. To work toward long-term change, we engage community partners to plan and act together to develop a more age friendly community. We use a combination of virtual and in-person methods when possible to make our services accessible and effective for users in various circumstances. In 2024, we provided over 9,880 hours of caregiver support and aging services for 1,989 participants.”