History

Our society is built around what we do for a living. In fact, the first question most people ask after being introduced to someone is “What do you do?” Because of the great importance we place on our jobs, what we do affects our self-esteem and level of confidence, and contributes to our overall well-being. The understanding of the effects that unemployment and underemployment have on one’s well-being coupled with the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to work fueled CVE’s inception in 1986.

Developmental Years (1986-1995)
CVE was founded in 1986 as a CMHS (now CBHS) contract agency. At the time, CVE’s services were the first to be available to all individuals with mental health disabilities, regardless of housing status. In 1987, CVE came under the Leadership of John Brauer. John was the first to recognize CVE’s potential as a social enterprise and founded CVE’s first business: a clerical staffing service. Under John’s leadership, CVE also opened a café at 1380 Howard street, another at 101 Grove Street, and CVE’s top notch Janitorial service. He also led CVE through the development of key programs which enhanced and widened the scope of client service: Job Development services, a Career Center, Youth Employment Services (YES), and Clerical Skillbuilders. In addition, the need for Occupational Therapy services for CVE clients was met through a strategic acquisition of Keystone, adding OT and Job Coaching.

Transitional Years (1996-2006)
In 1996, CVE became an independent non-profit, no longer under the fiscal sponsorship of its former parent organizations CPMC or the San Francisco Study Center. Early after becoming independent, CVE launched the Bilingual Employment Services & Training program, which is still thriving today. After great success with its first businesses, CVE attempted to broaden its enterprise base during this period of change, as it acquired a thrift store Nu2u2 and a Recycling Business from Youth Industries. Both were poor fits for CVE and were closed in 2002. Subsequently, CVE opened a mailing service which was later closed as well.

During this wave of change in business, CVE was simultaneously undergoing a great deal of transformation in its management team. This transformation continued up until the end of 2006 when CVE hired its most recent CEO, Lorna D. Jones. In 2001, CVE founder John Brauer left the organization and was replaced by long time member of the CVE family Michele Tatos. Michele recognized the need to growing human resources at CVE to support the growing organization and created positions for Program Monitor, VP of Community Relations, and Director of Marketing and Development. Under the leadership of Michelle Tatos, CVE also inaugurated one of its most important partnerships with REDF as a member of REDF’s portfolio of supported social enterprises.

“As a member of the REDF Portfolio of social enterprises, CVE actively engage[d] in an ongoing assessment process to measure the impact of social enterprise employment on its target population. Third party evaluation staff from BTW Consultants conduct six-month follow-up interviews with enterprise employees for up to two years after hire. Based on interview data collected from 250 enterprise employees between 1998 and 2005, this Social Impact Report highlights key findings across several outcome areas including employment, hourly wage, monthly income and criminal conviction rates. As this report shows, CVE has assisted individuals living with mental health disabilities in overcoming significant employment barriers. Overall, enterprise employees are maintaining employment during the follow-up period, advancing economically and making real progress in stabilizing their lives.”

CVE has enjoyed significant growth over the past 15 years. Last year, CVE served over 300 clients and was the largest employer of persons with psychiatric disabilities (198) in San Francisco.

Future Outlook (2007- )
Part of our current vision is to increase capacity to serve more clients. We plan to do this by building a more robust client pipeline and expand our infrastructure to serve our growing clientele. After participating in CVE’s classroom, one-on-one, and on-the-job training programs, many CVE clients are ready for community employment. However, the community is often not ready for the clients. One of our biggest initiatives is to work to change the stigma that is associated with hiring someone who has a mental health challenge. We believe that showcasing the abilities and talents of our clientele, along with demonstrating the impact a job has on our clients’ quality of life will help mitigate that stigma.

There are also several demands in the marketplace which CVE would like to meet in the near future. The first is the integration of mental health and substance abuse programs in San Francisco. Because CVE now is committed to working with individuals impacted by substance abuse, we would like to tailor our service offerings to accommodate their needs. Secondly, CVE would like to fill the job training service gap in San Francisco. We plan to create more job training programs which will teach soft skills (social and cultural competency), basic administrative and technological skills, and knowledge about health and wellness in the workplace. Finally, county mental health services departments in neighboring counties have asked CVE to replicate its model because of CVE’s track record in reducing client dependence on public assistance: CVE client dependence on public assistance was reduced from 70 to 30% after two years of initially contacting CVE. We look forward to meeting these demands over the next three to five years.