About the Nonprofit
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CFI is a private, nonprofit human services organization dedicated to restoring hope, building futures and changing lives for Iowa's most vulnerable children and families. During Fiscal Year 2021-2022, CFI served 12,852 individuals and indirectly impacted the lives of 23,523 more through the following family-centered, evidence-based, interconnected program areas: domestic violence prevention and intervention, workforce readiness, family support, early childhood development, mental health therapy, and substance abuse treatment.
CFI delivers its mission through the following family-centered, interconnected program areas, which are available to all residents of Iowa:
- Family support services delivered by CFI include in-home counseling, foster care support, and an overall focus on keeping families healthy, safe, and – when possible – together. CFI’s staff visit clients in their homes in order to determine any safety hazards that may affect children, as well as any physical and mental health-related needs for which the family may require referrals. CFI also provides parent education for caregivers who have proven to need instruction on age-appropriate disciplinary and parenting techniques.
- CFI provides affordable, quality early childhood development services at CFI’s Child Development Center. This center focuses on providing care for children ages two weeks to 10 years, who are from low-income families. These children’s caretakers are often teens, grandparents, other extended family, or have been recently hospitalized or incarcerated. Through the center, CFI also provides therapeutic child care for children dealing with serious behavioral disorders, and/or who have histories of trauma.
- CFI provides mental and behavioral health services for individuals and families, delivered by highly-trained mental health professionals. These services equip clients with life skills to cope with crises and overcome trauma, as well as tools to help bring families back together after relationships have been broken or compromised. An integral part of these services is telehealth, CFI’s videoconferencing system that allows clients to remotely visit psychiatrists. Also offered are integrated health home services for families with children who have been diagnosed with a mental illness. These services help families coordinate various appointments with doctors, social workers, and any other entity involved in a child’s care.
- CFI offers substance abuse services for individuals of all ages. Staff members trained in co-occurring disorders guide clients from addiction to recovery, while making referrals to other helpful CFI and outside resources along the way. CFI’s substance abuse services are designed to halt the progression of alcohol and substance abuse at its earliest stages, before chronic dependency sets in. Clients are eligible to receive individual counseling from Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors (CADCs) as well as attend group sessions where they can encourage one another and share their successes and setbacks. These services are provided with constant interaction with CFI’s mental health services, with an understanding that substance abuse and mental illness often go hand-in-hand.
- CFI’s domestic violence services are based out of CFI’s domestic violence shelter, a 62-bed facility offering safe shelter to individuals of any gender and age. Services include a local, toll-free crisis line staffed by certified domestic abuse advocates 24 hours a day; housing assistance in the form of rental and utility assistance for individuals building a new life after the chaos of abuse; outreach, advocacy, and education for survivors and the community in general; and support groups for individuals recovering from domestic violence in any of its forms.
- Workforce readiness services through CFI prepare clients of all ages to find and maintain employment. CFI has multiple workforce readiness programs, each designed for a different target population, including teens and young adults, adult and dislocated workers, and SSI/SSDI recipients. Services provided can be tailored to individual needs, such as: career pathway planning, resume writing, interview skills, financial literacy instruction, job training and development, work experience programs, and community mentorships. CFI also connects clients to resources as they pursue education and training necessary to reach their goals.
