FORT HAMILTON, N.Y. – Fort Hamilton’s Youth Center has earned national accreditation from the Council on Accreditation, recognizing the program for its high performance, quality, and exceptional service to children, youth, and their families.
“This is amazing news,” said Col. Craig Martin, Fort Hamilton Garrison Commander. “This accreditation is a testament to the quality of the people we have here and the great work that they do.”
“I am very proud of their monumental accomplishment. This is no small feat, which many installation struggle with,” said Trevor Loew, Family and Morale, Welfare, and Recreation director. “Our success with this accreditation is solely due to the dedication and diligence of Roy Halvorsen and the Fort Hamilton Youth Center staff under the excellent leadership of Shauna Nunn.”
The COA is an international, independent, nonprofit organization that accredits over 1600 organizations that serve more than 7 million individuals and families in the U.S. and Canada. To earn COA accreditation, the Child and Youth Services team worked diligently through a year-long, self-study process.
“We conducted a self-evaluation of our organization, which is an in-depth review of our policies and procedures, practices, and patron satisfaction,” said Roy Halvorsen, CYS facility director of Fort Hamilton Youth Center. “This process looks at how we maintain high quality, and how we deliver our School Age Care program at Fort Hamilton. It involved writing narratives, providing documentation of our administrative, human resources, after-school/out-of-school programming functions, and demonstrating our practices to meet all 49 COA standards.”
The self-study was followed by a two-day site visit by a COA representative who conducted interviews with program personnel and management, children, parents and families to verify information and data.
“There is a great deal of pride involved when exceeding standards of quality,” said Shauna Nunn, CYS coordinator. “To have a school age program available to the world’s best customers that is sealed with the approval of Council on Accreditation is invaluable to our Soldiers. To have the ability to focus on their mission and feel confident that their children are safely thriving is of the upmost important to our team.”
The accreditation covers three years, and during this period, Halvorsen must conduct annual maintenance reports to ensure the Youth Center is on target or aligned with their long term plans, COA standards, and Fort Hamilton’s mission requirements.
“Our high quality is developed and supported by our Continuous Quality Improvement Team, which is comprised of our local stakeholders-our kids, parents, families, CYS staff and the Fort Hamilton community,” said Halvorsen.
For more information about Fort Hamilton’s Child and Youth Services, visit https://hamilton.armymwr.com/categories/cys-services
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