Starfish Family Services, Inc.

Mission

Strengthening families to create brighter futures for children.

Ruling year info

1979

Chief Executive Officer

Ms. Ann Kalass

Main address

30000 Hiveley Road

Inkster, MI 48141 USA

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Formerly known as

Youth Living Centers

Northwestern Community Services

EIN

38-2230416

NTEE code info

Children's and Youth Services (P30)

Mental Health Treatment (F30)

Kindergarten, Nursery Schools, Preschool, Early Admissions (B21)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

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Programs and results

What we aim to solve

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Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Early Childhood Education

Starfish provides quality preschool programs, utilizing evidence-based curricula to prepare children for kindergarten. We’re committed to providing the best education possible for our youngest children, and one that supports the whole child and the whole family. Whole child includes mental, physical, social, and emotional development.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth

At Starfish, family means everything. Because the success of a happy and healthy child depends on the health and strength of the whole family. We’re here to help build a community of support. We offer parenting workshops, leadership coaching, advocacy-skills training, and peer-to-peer support groups. If we don’t offer a service, we help connect families with trusted resources for education, job training, counseling, or life-needs such as food or housing. Parents and care-givers are encouraged to be involved every step of the way, to set their family’s goals, and to forge their family’s own unique path. Starfish parents are active in our classrooms, and are decision makers throughout our agency, serving as board members, as well as on policy councils and internal work groups and committees.

Population(s) Served
Caregivers
Families
Infants and toddlers
Children
Parents

Well-being for the whole family. We invest in the health and wellness of children, youth, and families through programs that have a comprehensive and holistic approach. Starfish is a leading provider of Infant Mental Health services in southeast Michigan, providing a wide range of home-based services for pregnant women, infants, toddlers and their families.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Caregivers
Families
Parents

Where we work

Awards

Top Work Places 2010

Detroit Free Press

Best-Managed Nonprofits Finalist - Family Service Alliance for Southeastern Michigan 2010

Crain's Detroit Business

Best-Managed Nonprofit 2018

Crain's Detroit Business

Notable Nonprofit Board Members---W. Howard Morris, Starfish board president 2021

Crain's Detroit Business

Affiliations & memberships

Association of Fundraising Professionals - Member 2008

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Our agency goal is to achieve positive school readiness outcomes for low-income young children
ages 0 to 5, their families and early care/education providers. This includes ensuring children meet key
developmental milestones (physical well-being, motor-skill development and social/emotional development),
and have age-appropriate competencies in areas like problem solving, language and literacy. For families,
our aim is to foster healthy parent-child relationships and successful families, including ensuring basic needs
are met and that families are creating pathways to economic self-sufficiency. For early care and education
providers, our goal is that both professional preschool teachers and caregivers (family, friends, and
neighbors) are equipped with education, tools, and skills to provide high-quality early learning environments
for children.

In 2011, Starfish Family Services embarked on a transformational and long-term strategy to drive measurable community level change in young children’s outcomes in our home base of Inkster, Michigan. Based on a community needs assessment (conducted for Starfish by Data Driven Detroit) revealing that nowhere outside the City of Detroit are children in Wayne County at greater risk for school failure, Starfish is committed to this comprehensive agency and community plan that pursues a shared vision that All Inkster Children Start School Ready to Succeed.

The plan puts Inkster children ages 0 to 5 at the center of our strategy to improve school readiness outcomes by delivering high-quality early childhood care, education, and family support services. It also contains a strong community social change component aimed to engage a broad group of community takeholders around a common agenda of school readiness, build on community assets, forge partnership
through collaboration, and support families and children in order to drive durable, lasting change in Inkster.

To deliver our mission and vision of school readiness for young children, Starfish's strategy is to provide:
- Outstanding program delivery for children, families, and early care/education providers.
- Learning and outcomes measurement culture, including using results for ongoing program improvement.
- Community engagement/collaboration to establish and nurture community connections to maximize
support for young children, their families and caregivers.
- Resource Development to implement and sustain our mission and vision.

Starfish has a dedicated workforce of 300 teachers, social workers, psychiatrists, child development experts and
other professionals. Over 1,000 committed volunteers donate 10,000+ hours of service to Starfish annually.
Our programs and services meet the Council on Accreditation's (COA) rigorous standards for high-quality
social services agencies, and Starfish is ranked as one of Michigan's top mid-size businesses to work for by
the Detroit Free Press.

Across all of Starfish's service areas (both geographically and programmatically), we see incredible positive outcomes for the 10,000 children and families we serve annually, including:

- 88% of all Starfish’s Head Start children who were on their way to kindergarten in the fall of 2012 were ready for school.
- 75% of families who completed two years in our Family Success Program reported activity at self-sufficient levels in life domains ranging from parenting and social supports to housing, utilities, finances and education.
- Of the 280 parents who attended our parent education workshops, 98% changed their parenting behaviors and practices to be more nurturing.

Financials

Starfish Family Services, Inc.
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

Starfish Family Services, Inc.

Board of directors
as of 12/03/2021
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board co-chair

Jonathan Citrin

President, Citrin Group, LLC

Term: 2009 -


Board co-chair

Ron Sollish

Maddin Hauser Wartell Roth & Helter PC

Jonathan Citrin

President, Citrin Group, LLC

Ron Sollish

Attorney, Maddin Hauser Wartell Roth & Helter PC

Dennis J. Pheney

Partner, McElroy & Pheney

Boyd Pethel

Senior Vice President, PNC Bank

Rebecca Boylan

Community Volunteer

Phillip Wm. Fisher

Philanthropist, Mission Throttle

Daniel A. Frattarelli

Vice-Chief, Department of Pediatrics, Oakwood Hospital

Hilliard L. Hampton

Mayor, City of Inkster

Errol Hau

Freedom One Financial Group

Jerry A. Johnson

Sr. Associate Medical Director, Blue Cross Blue Shiled of Michigan

Elaine Koons

Community Volunteer

Janet Lawson

Director, Ford Volunteer Corps

William S. Mitchell

Community Volunteer

Julie E. Roberston

Attorney, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn, LLP

Stephen F. Secrest

Community Volunteer

Larry R. Schulman

Attorney, Bodman PLC

Sabrina Smith-Campbell

Adjunct Faculty, Wayne State University

AJ Wagner

President/CEO AJ Wagner & Associates

April Foster

Community Volunteer