January 11, 2016

Welcome Jodi Saitowitz, Our First Executive Director

CCFHH

Jodi SaitowitzWe are pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Jodi Saitowitz as its first Executive Director. Beginning in February 2016, Saitowitz will be leading the collaborative‘s first initiative as a Children’s Health Home serving children and Families in New York City, Westchester, Suffolk, and Nassau counties.

“CCF’s board and 30 member organizations are happy to welcome Jodi Saitowitz as our first Executive Director,” said Alan Mucatel, Chair of the Collaborative for Children and Families and Executive Director of Leake & Watts Services, Inc. “As a Health Home, we must provide an unprecedented level of care, collaboration, and vision. We are confident that Ms. Saitowitz is the leader we need to drive these important changes for New York State.”

Saitowitz has worked with some of the most impoverished communities throughout the USA and abroad. Her specialty has been working with disabled children and their families in child welfare for over twenty-five years. As a clinician, Saitowitz worked as a psychotherapist in one of the largest residential treatment facilities in the state of Maryland.

“I am thrilled to join CCF and work with such an impressive network of leaders across New York,” said Saitowitz. “Children in the Medicaid system deserve the best, but far too often, they aren’t able to access the support they need. In partnership with CCF’s member agencies, I’m looking forward to implementing innovative programs that improve the lives of tens of thousands of vulnerable children.”

As Executive Director, Saitowitz will lead CCF’s efforts to evolve and expand service provision for children in New York’s Medicaid program. The CCF Health Home is a premiere initiative intended to coordinate care among multiple caregivers, which reduces health care costs and improves long-term health outcomes. Saitowitz will facilitate collaboration across CCF’s 30 member agencies, which covers the vast majority of children in New York’s foster care and family preservation services, and city and community organizations to implement the Health Home model.

Saitowitz has a proven track record of improving business processes, such as increasing operating efficiencies and improving client service delivery outcomes as an Associate Executive Director of one of the city’s most specialized non-profit child welfare agencies. In addition, Saitowitz is a trauma, risk, and crisis management expert, certified in human resource management and clinical social work. Saitowitz is a member of the NY State Medicaid Redesign Children subcommittee and closely partners with the Office of Mental Health (OMH), the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), and the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) to improve supports for children with special needs.

Saitowitz is an accomplished public speaker and trainer on child welfare, adoption, and mental health issues for children & families. Saitowitz has an undergraduate degree in social work from Colorado State University and a Masters in clinical social work from the University of Maryland.

About the Collaborative for Children and Families
Founded in early 2014, the Collaborative for Children and Families (CCF) was formed in anticipation of changes in the delivery of health care services to children eligible for New York State’s Medicaid program. The CCF is a New York State nonprofit comprised of 30 member agencies that serve children and families throughout the five boroughs of New York City and Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties. The CCF offers comprehensive services to children and families in a more coordinated manner than could be achieved individually.