Hanley Foundation Announces Kathryn Grace as Regional Coordinator of Prevention Services for Palm Beach and Broward Counties
Grace joins 13 New Prevention Staff Members Statewide to Conduct Substance Abuse Prevention Programs
in Local Communities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(West Palm Beach, FL) – Hanley Foundation CEO Jan Cairnes announced Kathryn Grace as the nonprofit’s new Regional Coordinator of Prevention Services for Palm Beach and Broward counties. Grace joins 12 new prevention staff members who will work in Foundation offices statewide to conduct prevention programs in schools and communities throughout Florida.
The new prevention staff members will serve 13 counties, including Palm Beach County. The new prevention specialists are Amanda Aiken and Johnkeria Kinglocke in Palm Beach County, Alexandra Hughes in Baker, Bradford and Clay counties, Nancy Valdes in Clay County, Traci Perkins in Collier County, Christine Kortbein in Desoto and Highlands counties, Marcia Tilson in Dixie, Levy and Gilchrist counties, Mark Axford and Phyllis Miller in Lee County, Susan Makowski and Arika McCormack in Manatee County and Lakisha Griffin in Putnam County.
Grace, a resident of Palm Beach Gardens, holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Loyola College in Baltimore and has worked for nearly 30 years in counseling, social services and related fields. From 2008 to 2015, she worked with Caron Treatment Centers in West Palm Beach when Caron was affiliated with Hanley Foundation. She first served in the Student Assistance Programs division, providing prevention services to students in Georgia and Florida, and then became the division’s regional director in 2012.
“We are delighted to have Kathryn Grace leading our prevention team in Palm Beach and Broward counties, and excited for the addition of so many new prevention specialists statewide,” said Ryan Wertepny, Hanley Foundation’s Executive Director of Prevention Services. “Kathy brings many years of experience in the field of prevention services, and our growing team reflects our success in increasing grant revenue and other funding. This expansion in staffing allows us to provide more services throughout Florida, reaching thousands more students statewide.”
In the early 1980s, Mary Jane and Jack Hanley retired to Palm Beach County to discover the absence of any facilities dedicated to quality substance abuse treatment. Through the couple’s visionary leadership and great support from the community, Hanley Center and the Hanley Center Foundation were established. Nearly 40 years later and now expanded throughout Florida, the community continues to recognize the stand-alone Hanley Foundation with great support for its thought leadership, grantmaking and evidence-based programming. The charitable 501(c)(3) organization provides statewide resources for substance use disorder advocacy, education and access to quality treatment. The organization’s prevention programming is available to schools, churches and community groups through grant funding provided by the Florida Department of Children and Families, office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. With your support, the Hanley Foundation is taking critical steps to change the conversation around substance use disorders.
Since 2014, Hanley Foundation has increased grant revenue 395 percent, from $621,711 to nearly $3.5 million. In 2018 alone, the Foundation’s work positively impacted the lives of more than 45,000 students, parents, teachers, caregivers, and community members across the state. Hanley Foundation’s prevention and education teams are first responders to the addiction battle in schools in 20 Florida counties.
Data shows the later the age of first use of substances by a child, the less likely the child will suffer with addiction as an adult. Over the next three years, the Foundation will serve more than 120,000 Florida students with in-school programming such as the Alcohol Literacy Challenge (ALC), which is designed to alter alcohol expectancies and reduce the quantity and frequency of alcohol use among middle and high school students. Hanley Foundation offers a variety of evidence-based programs in Florida, empowering students to combat peer pressure and guiding parents and caregivers in keeping communication open with their children.
For more information about substance abuse prevention and education programming, or Hanley Foundation events, please visit hanleyfoundation.org or call 561-268-2355.
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