INKSTER, MICH. April 22, 2016 – Starfish Family Services is pleased to announce Mark E. Baker has been appointed to the organization’s Board of Directors.

Mark E. Baker is the senior vice president and commercial banking group manager for PNC Bank-Southeast Michigan. He has been associated with PNC since 2005.  He currently serves on the board of Ann Arbor SPARK, Grow Michigan Fund, and the Northville Educational Foundation.

“We are really excited to add Mark’s perspective, energy, and commitment to the community to our board.  His strategic thinking and leadership will help move our organization forward,” said Ann Kalass, Chief Executive Officer.

Though Mark grew up just two miles away from Starfish headquarters in Westland, Michigan, he learned of Starfish through PNC colleagues.  Starfish and PNC share a commitment to the healthy development of young children.  “My colleagues had great things to say about Starfish, and as a son of two educators I’ve always valued early education. My mom taught special education so my family experience was one of helping those who could use additional resources.” He continues, “I’m looking forward to contributing to the great work that Starfish does.”

Mr. Baker received a B.S. in Actuarial Mathematics from the University of Michigan. He resides in Northville, Michigan with his wife and son.

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INKSTER, MICH. (February 22, 2016) – Starfish Family Services (SFS), is pleased to announce it has received a $65,000 grant from the GCH Heritage Foundation. The funds will be used by Starfish to enhance maternal and early childhood health services in the city of Inkster and surrounding communities.

Services supported by the grant include a range of behavioral, social-emotional and cognitive assessments for young children.  Evaluations and the corresponding treatments will be provided by a multidisciplinary team of professionals including social workers, speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, and psychologists. These professionals will work together to assess family needs and link kids to services that help prepare them and their families for school success.

“Our organization admires Starfish’s well regarded work in the area of early intervention services and therapies for developmental delays in young children. We wanted to support this essential work,” said Gary Ley, Executive Director of GCH Heritage Foundation.

“Assessing young children before they show noticeable signs of developmental delays allows us to intervene early and reduce the likelihood that children will need special education services,” said Ann Kalass, CEO of Starfish. She continued, “Our goal is to provide children in our community improved access to services like speech and occupational therapy that are often not covered by insurance or the public system. We want to help kids have a successful start to school.”

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