Safe Children Coalition Announces 2022-2023 Board of Directors

August 12, 2022 – Sarasota

Child welfare agency Safe Children Coalition is proud to announce its 2022-2023 board of directors, a volunteer leadership group tasked with providing expertise in areas including child welfare, fostering, adopting, education, banking, finance and accounting, and mental/behavioral health, and assisting the organization in achieving its organizational directives.

Michael Rahn is the new chair of the board. New directors are Jamara Clark and Lee Lipton; they join continuing directors Ken Alexander, Tony Gamelin, David Fairy, Brian Goodrich and Anne Marie Jones.

Rahn is the SWFL Regional Production Manager for SouthState Bank, with nearly 30 years as a mortgage broker in Sarasota/Manatee. He has served in multiple capacities with the Home Builders Association of Manatee-Sarasota as well as served as the vice chair of the Florida Home Builders Association. He was elected to the Florida Housing Hall of Fame in 2017 and sits on the National Association of Home Builders board. He currently serves on the Manatee County Planning Committee. This will be his third year on the board and his first as chair; he was previously vice chair.

Clark is currently the principal at Rowlett Middle Academy in Bradenton, Fla. and has over 15 years of experience as an educator in Manatee County. He has first-hand knowledge of how life events can directly impact a student’s ability to learn and grow, both academically and socially. He is passionate about creating safe, positive and supportive learning environments for students to enable them to have bright futures and become contributing members in our community.

Lipton spent nearly 30 years in the healthcare industry, working for national organizations in both the home health and physician management fields. He and his family are dedicated to the betterment of the local area and support a variety of community-based and environmental causes. Recently, he left the healthcare industry to focus on opening his own business and supporting local activities and causes.

In the coming year, SCC will continue to develop its leadership pool in order to create a pipeline of strong, compassionate board members for years to come. The board will also be charged with strengthening the capacity of the organization as well as supporting SCC in its efforts to continue providing safe, stable environments where children and families can thrive.

“While Safe Children Coalition is thrilled that – thanks to the budget recently passed by the Florida legislature and signed by Gov. DeSantis – our core services have received a significant financial boost for the coming year, the challenges our society is currently facing will require additional attention in the child welfare realm. Sharply increasing costs and runaway inflation are pushing new families into poverty and the drug crisis – which now includes opiates and fentanyl – is putting even more children at risk,” said SCC president and CEO Brena Slater. “We are so grateful to our incoming board for committing their time, resources and expertise to help us better serve the children and families of Circuit 12 and strengthen our community.”

The core functions provided by Safe Children Coalition (SCC) include child welfare case management, foster care, adoption, independent living, prevention, diversion, quality management, and support services. Last year, SCC served nearly 1,700 children in foster and out of home care as well as nearly 6,000 children in its diversion and prevention services. For more information, visit sccfl.org.