Case Study 2: Renovation, Wonderfund and DCF
The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) offices work in partnership with families and communities to help children stay safe from abuse and neglect. DCF offices provided support and a safe location for children and families to visit each other while in the system. In 1998 DCF Kids Fund was created and in 2016 first Lady Lauren Baker joined the non-profit and helped rebrand that non-profit to what is now known as the Wonderfund . Wonderfund service children and families engaged with DCF. The Wonderfund has many different programs and while working with the children and social workers they quickly realized that many of the DCF offices were old and had unwelcoming visiting rooms.
The Wonderfund started slowly renovating offices that needed the most help. Over 2 years they renovated 28 rooms. At this time the Wonderfund approached the Shah Family Foundation to get help in funding, organization and strategy. After viewing a few offices that had yet to be renovated the Shah Foundation committed to partnering with the Wonderfund to finish renovating the remaining DCF office in Massachusetts, 21 office sites and 152 rooms.
The Wonderfund and Shah Foundation created a strategy together. Originally assuming that each office would want a room that would accommodate an infant, a toddler/kid room and a teen room, but after many meetings and visits to offices we found that not one office was the same. We created a system that would help each office individualize their rooms based on their needs. Together the Shah Foundation and Wonderfund started looking at furniture ideas that would provide a welcoming feeling but also would be durable, comfortable and safe. The Wonderfund then created an “online store” of furniture that fit this criteria. This “online store” is a platform for the office being renovated to pick items that work best for them.
An example: The Chelsea DCF office supports mainly young children and infants. They created more rooms that fit infants and toddlers/kids. While they still support teenagers they only felt they needed two rooms for that age group. Since the renovation at Chelsea the office has reported back that the infant rooms are a huge hit for social workers and families.
Together the Wonderfund and Shah Family Foundation have renovated 2 DCF offices 12 rooms and are continuing to work together to finish the remaining 19 office sites.