CINCINNATI – (February 22, 2022) – St. Aloysius, tracing its heritage back to 1832, and The Children’s Home, initially founded in 1864, announced on Feb. 21 they would be merging teams and resources to form Greater Cincinnati’s longest-serving behavioral health organization for children and families.
The combined agency, Best Point Education and Behavioral Health, will serve more than 18,000 children and families in Greater Cincinnati and surrounding regions. It will employ more than 600 people.
The name Best Point reflects the agency’s mission to help lead children and families to the best point in their lives and to offer a single, best point for transformational services to Greater Cincinnati’s most vulnerable populations.
The announcement was made at a formal event at Cincinnati Music Hall where the new name was unveiled. Nearly 600 people, including Best Point staff, board members of the new organization as well as legacy board members from The Children’s Home and St. Aloysius, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval and friends and supporters of Best Point’s mission attended.
“The decision comes after more than a year of deliberate and meticulous planning that kept in mind the best interests of our colleagues, the children and families entrusted to us, and the long-term strength of both organizations,” said John Banchy, Best Point’s newly appointed president and CEO. Banchy formerly served as president and CEO of The Children’s Home.
All Children’s Home’s and St. Aloysius programs and services will continue to operate as usual for the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year. Best Point plans to preserve all current services, while introducing improved and expanded services in the months and years to come.
“By joining our teams and resources, we are immediately able to serve more children and families,” said Linda Hart, chief integration and growth officer and former executive director of St. Aloysius. “We also can build on the collective strengths of both of our programs to expand and improve client outcomes.”
Best Point is using internal integration teams made up of employees across the combined organization to assess and analyze programs and systems and additionally make collaborative decisions on meeting its objectives and goals moving forward.
What I’m excited about is the potential to simply do good,” said Mark Mercurio, board of trustee member and president and CEO of Gorilla Glue Company. “It’s not every day where a new organization can immediately help 18,000 people from day one. It’s no secret mental health challenges among vulnerable kids are on the rise nationwide. Best Point will help our community combat that surge.”
The similar history, mission and values of the organizations will only amplify Best Point’s ability to improve lives through its combined resources, said Banchy.
“Both St. Aloysius and The Children’s Home have traveled remarkably parallel paths for more than 150 years,” he said. “We both started as orphanages, providing housing and shelter for the poor and abandoned children of Cincinnati, and then evolved to transform the lives of at-risk children through education, behavioral, therapeutic health services, and autism services. We are stronger together, and together we will serve more children and families than ever before.”
Attendees included:
- Emily Baloun, Manager of Talent Acquisitions at First Financial Bank and Best Point Board Member
- Dr. Karen Bankston, Professor Emerita, Retired Hospital Executive and Best Point Board Member
- Dr. Gail Kist-Kline, President of The Christ Hospital College of Nursing and Best Point Board Member
- Carlos Teran, Retired Banking Executive and Best Point Board Member
- Brendon Cull, Executive Vice President, Greater Cincinnati Regional Chamber of Commerce
- Thomas Boggs, Retired Cincinnati Public Schools Principal
- Tony Hobson, Managing Partner of North American Properties and Best Point, Chairman of The Board, best Point Education and Behavioral Health
- Marc Manly, Retired Duke Energy Executive and Best Point Board Member
- Jeff March, CEO of BRG Reality Group
- Chip Gerhardt, CEO, Government Strategies Group
- Catherine Ingram, State Representative, State of Ohio
- Scotty Johnson, Cincinnati City Councilman
- Cecil Thomas, Ohio State Senator
- Jim Benedict, Vice President of Government Strategies Group
- Elizabeth Tonne, Retired CPA, TriHealth and Best Point Board Member
- Greg Vollmer, Managing Director at First Financial Bank and Officer of Best Point Board of Trustee
- Domonic Hopson, Cincinnati Health Department Interim Health Commissioner
- John Langenderfer, Senior Vice President at Huntington Bank, Best Point Board Member and Chairman of The Foundation for Children’s Home Board of Trustee
- Ross Wales, Former Partner and now of Counsel. Founding Board Member of The Foundation for The Children’s Home of Cincinnati
MEDIA: Representatives from Best Point are available for comment. Please contact Dr. Steven Wilson, communications director, for coordination and assistance. Steve may be reached at swilson@tchcincy.org; office: 513-527-7294; or cell: 859-240-2010. Learn more at www.bestpoint.org.
