Wayfinder Family Services
The senior leadership team of Wayfinder Family Services is comprised of 12 remarkable professionals, who, individually are recognized in the field as great leaders in the nonprofit sector, but as a group, are a particularly effective team. Their extraordinary impact is testament to the power of teamwork. The team worked together for several years leading up to the pandemic, but the public health and economic crises created by COVID-19 revealed their true mettle – they are masters of their craft, devoted to the children and youth they serve and resilient leaders. The Wayfinder senior team brings life to the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” When COVID-19 disrupted Los Angeles and put Wayfinder’s already vulnerable clients at further disadvantage, the team stepped up and into every gap.
Wayfinder is one of Los Angeles’ largest nonprofit organizations, known for its life-changing services for children with disabilities and foster youth. Founded in 1953, Wayfinder is known for opening their doors to those who have nowhere else to turn, children with multiple, complex disabilities as well as foster youth who have suffered unspeakable trauma and neglect. Wayfinder’s leaders have always believed in the potential for, and in, each and every one of them.
The pandemic presented chaotic circumstances, but the leadership team of Wayfinder Family Services responded nimbly and steadily, putting the health and wellbeing of clients and staff first.
The Wayfinder senior leadership team leads more than 500 staff members across Los Angeles and beyond. When the pandemic hit, the senior leadership team quickly assembled a small team to guide the daily (and often hourly) decisions that had to be made to keep the children in residence at Wayfinder safe and healthy. This included daily calls with the organization’s medical team, creating strict protocols, procedures and protective measures, as well as communication about vaccinations and exposure notices.
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