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2015 financial campaign to kick-off in June
YOUNGSTOWN
Since taking the reins of the Help Hotline Crisis Center in July 2014, Vincenzo “Vince” M. Vincent Brancaccio, said that even with 25 years in the behavioral health care field in Trumbull and Mahoning counties, he was surprised at the large number of programs and services the agency provides.
Even though Help Hotline answered 196,828 calls in 2014, it is not only a telephone referral hub, said Brancaccio, who reflected on his first 10 months as chief executive officer and what lies ahead.
When Brancaccio, 50, came aboard, he said he was aware Help Hotline was financially solid and had a good reputation in the communities that it serves.
“I also believe in Help Hotline’s mission,” he said.
The agency’s mission statement is to provide crisis intervention, suicide prevention and intervention, referrals, and support and counseling services to persons experiencing mental-health related and/or situational problems, according to its 2014 annual report.
Brancaccio said his two immediate major challenges are to make the public aware, as was he, of Help Hotline’s numerous services and programs; and, with its annual financial campaign set to get underway in June, to attract new funding sources and continue to be fiscally responsible.
“With the current trend of state and federal budget cuts, we have to look for more funding opportunities such as area charitable foundations,” he said.
Help Hotline serves the communities of Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Ashtabula and Lake counties “in more ways than people think,” he said.
Most recently, Help Hotline, in partnership with Meridian Community Care and Compass Family and Community Services, is poised to branch out into providing direct-housing services in the form of a 40-unit apartment complex on the site of the former Martin Luther King Jr. School at the corner of Covington Street and Madison Avenue on Youngstown’s North Side.
The complex, named Marian Commons, will have 20 apartments each for individuals and families dealing with mental health and addiction issues, he said.
“It’s an important step. The state has identified the lack of housing for this population in Mahoning County,” he said.
Another project on the horizon is an online database that, when it is up and running, will enable people to go on the Internet to find services if they are uncomfortable calling. The agency also plans to publish a new community reference guide, he said.
Brancaccio said he is particularly proud that Help Hotline recently received a three-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities and a five-year accreditation from the American Association of Suicidology.
The accreditations show that Help Hotline meets required service quality standards, he said.
Originally of Girard, Brancaccio, of Howland, received a bachelor’s degree in community health in 1988 from Youngstown State University, and a master of science degree in social administration in 1995 from Case Western Reserve University.
A licensed independent social worker, Brancaccio began his career in 1990 in child welfare at Trumbull County Children Services, did medical and psychiatric social work at Forum Health, moved to management in community mental health and addiction treatment at Parkview Counseling and Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic, and most recently worked at Meridian Community Care as vice president of programming.
He has taught at YSU since 2007 as an adjunct instructor in the School of Social Work.
He and his wife, Elaine, have two sons, Nico, a sophomore at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., and Luke, in the eighth grade at Howland Middle School.