The Community Partnership for Families of San Joaquin (CPFSJ) board of directors have announced that on Dec. 8, they appointed Meredith Baker as Executive Director. Baker has led the organization as Interim Executive Director since June of this year.

The San Joaquin County native has spent her career working in nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, including five years working at CPFSJ. Baker joined CPFSJ in 2011 as the director for youth services. In that role, she helped develop new programs, such as the youth program, which has continued to grow rapidly and now annually serves more than 120 previously incarcerated and/or gang-involved youth.

During her time with CPFSJ she has also initiated a more-thorough data collection system for the organization in order to assess the success of its programs. The data collected includes measures of the mental and physical health of program participants and tracks their overall well-being.

“We want to know how resilient our youth are. How they are doing: psycho-emotionally, physically, socially, and if they feel safe,” she said.

Baker said she looks forward to continuing to strengthen existing partnerships with funders and collaborative agencies and to forge new working relationships and further CPFSJ’s mission, which is to provide tools, resources, and connections to help families improve their quality of life.

“CPFSJ will be moving forward into the new year with a plan for improved foundational success, including a clear process for keeping our funders and partners informed of our work through data collection and outcome communication,” Baker said.

The CPFSJ is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1998 and dedicated to helping families move from poverty and government assistance to financial and social independence. The CPFSJ provides tools and resources, including a mobile unit and five Family Resource Centers, which are located in the most at risk neighborhoods throughout San Joaquin County. The partnership promotes policies and programs that enable groups to work together in a systematic manner to serve these high risk neighborhoods.