Longtime president and CEO of The Village for Families & Children Galo Rodriguez will retire at the end of the year.The Village, founded in 1809, provides behavioral health, early- and childhood-youth development, substance-use treatment, and support services for children, families and adults in Greater Hartford.The board of directors has named Chief Operating Officer Hector Glynn […]
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Longtime president and CEO of The Village for Families & Children Galo Rodriguez will retire at the end of the year.
The Village, founded in 1809, provides behavioral health, early- and childhood-youth development, substance-use treatment, and support services for children, families and adults in Greater Hartford.
The board of directors has named Chief Operating Officer Hector Glynn as Rodriguez’s successor.
Glynn joined The Village in 2007, and has been in his current position since 2018.
Before that, he was the director of youth services for Catholic Charities, and then executive director of the CT Juvenile Justice Alliance.
“The Village is fortunate to have such a capable leader, with extensive knowledge of the agency, already serving on its executive management team,” said Board Chairman John Turgeon, who is managing director of accounting and advisory firm CohnReznick Affiliated Companies. “Hector’s experience and deep connection to the community will help ensure a seamless transition for staff and clients.”
Turgeon said The Village has grown substantially since Rodriguez became CEO in 2006. Rodriguez has expanded the agency’s programs, strengthened its finances and increased its reach to more than 60 towns and cities, and 20,000 clients.
Under Rodriguez’s leadership, The Village also added adult programming, including outpatient counseling, financial literacy training and support for domestic violence survivors.
In fiscal year 2022, The Village reported $45.3 million in program funding vs. $45.1 million in program expenses. Donors contributed $2.6 million to the nonprofit in fiscal 2022 — the most in 20 years, according to the organization.
The Village employs roughly 550 staff members at more than 30 sites, and is one of the state’s largest providers of mental health services for children and families.
New Hartford service
Meantime, the Village this month plans to open Hartford’s first urgent crisis center for children experiencing mental health emergencies.
The tentative opening is set for July 10. The facility is located at 1680 Albany Ave., in a building that previously housed The Village’s administrative offices.
The nonprofit recently moved its administrative headquarters to downtown Hartford, at 450 Church St. It bought the three-story, 32,000-square-foot office building in 2021 for $1.6 million.
The Albany Avenue mental health crisis center will be akin to an ER for kids experiencing a mental crisis.
“A child may be thinking that they’re going to die, that they won’t be able to breathe,” Rodriguez said. “There is no need to go to the emergency room in a situation like that. … People will go (to The Village’s new facility) and they will be assessed immediately. The staff will deescalate the event, the attack, and they will give a follow-up. It could be medications. It could be therapy. It could be sending them to the outpatient clinic.”
Rodriguez said it’s a better option than taking a child to a hospital ER, where the wait to receive treatment could take hours, or even days if the child is admitted for an in-patient evaluation.
At The Village’s urgent crisis center, patients will see a clinician immediately, he said.
The center will be staffed 24/7, including on holidays and weekends. People can call beforehand, or show up unannounced.
Rodriguez said patients may be discharged in as little as two hours, saving time and the additional cost brought on by a hospital visit.
The Village’s urgent crisis center commits to discharging patients within 24 hours of their arrival, he said. All forms of insurance are accepted.
The nation’s mental health crisis has had a profound effect on children. Nearly 20% of children between ages 3 and 17 have a mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral disorder, according to the National Institute of Health’s National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report.
These trends were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report.
The Village’s crisis center comprises 6,000 square feet of newly renovated space. Funding for the project came from a $120 million allocation by the state legislature for children’s mental health services and the Department of Children and Families.
