A Platform and a Voice
Category: News
November 8, 2021
Clients as Board Members
Behind a great nonprofit is a great board of directors, and Any Baby Can is thrilled to have an exceptional cast of board members this year. We have board members with personal experience raising a child with special healthcare needs, and others with professional experience in family health. We have diversity in types of caregivers, as well as ages and ethnicities. In our work, we’re always looking for representation and experience that reflect our client families and the services we provide.
In that vein, this year we’ve added two clients to our board of directors, both of whom bring a wealth of professional expertise as well as unique personal perspective to their role. Welcoming clients to our board is another step we’re taking to improve equity and diversity at Any Baby Can and provide a platform for more voices.
Feedback and Collaboration
We’re always seeking to improve the feedback loop between our services and our staff. Our annual client survey is one of the many ways we do that and, this year, we’re developing more robust client communications to make sure every client family can fully benefit from all our services.
There’s a saying we’re fond of at Any Baby Can: Nothing about us without us. Adding clients to our board is an important way to incorporate real-time perspective and lived experience as we improve our services and how we communicate.
“For me, a barometer of the success of your organization—particularly one like ours—is how the people that you serve see your services. We wanted to obtain and implement client voice,” says Veronda Durden, Any Baby Can’s President and CEO.
In addition to adding client voice to our board, we also have a Community Advisory Board that includes current clients, professionals and community members, and provides feedback to our programs.
Learning from Lived Experience
In a recent finance committee, a board member asked about the utilization of the child tax credit. One of our new board members spoke up and shared her experience receiving and using this credit. She explained how it works and how she’s using the funds for childcare expenses. That perspective is incredibly valuable in how we make decisions, and in how we advocate for—and with—the families we serve.
We all learn from each other. Our client board members want to use their experience to support other families that have challenges similar to theirs. They want to lift someone else up and use their voice to make a positive impact.
Welcome to Zeena and Alexandria
We’d like to welcome two very accomplished women, who are focused on our mission to make life better for families and children that we serve.
Zeena Querbach
Zeena and her family have been Any Baby Can clients for a few years now. Zeena’s three-year-old daughter Leila just completed Early Childhood Intervention (ECI). They currently receive services through CARE. Zeena is also a lead event planner with a company called ButterFly Bridal & Events, here in Austin.
Alexandria Robertson
Alexandria is currently enrolled in our Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) Program. Her daughter Novah Elise is 14 months old. Alexandria graduated from Mississippi Valley State University with bachelor’s in Business/Accounting and has a Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration in Management. She is currently employed with the Texas Division of Emergency Management as a Financial Analyst 1.
Hear from Alexandria about why she joined the Any Baby Can board of directors.
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