New boss, big vision for Island families
By Brittany Yap
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Howard Garval, the new president and CEO of Child and Family Service, is no stranger to diversity or working with children.
Aside from his 31 years of service in the social work field, he also taught Spanish at Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, N.J., a place that, like Hawai'i, has racial and economic diversity.
Garval, who took over the nonprofit social service organization eight weeks ago, said being a teacher taught him that young people often have serious problems in their everyday lives. He was inspired to do more for them than just teach a foreign language, and he decided to get his master's degree in social work.
"I saw a number of kids who had so many problems," Garval said. "The last thing they would do would be concentrating on Spanish."
Child and Family Service provides prevention, early intervention and treatment services for more than 47,000 people on Kaua'i, O'ahu, Maui, Lana'i, Moloka'i and the Big Island each year. It has an annual budget of more than $33 million. Of that, almost $31 million comes from government contracts.
Programs include domestic-abuse counseling and Head Start, which promotes early-childhood education for children ages 3 to 4.
Garval took over for Geri Marullo, who resigned as CEO at the end of last year after eight years with the organization. Marullo left to become head of the Consuelo Foundation.
Since arriving, Garval said he has mapped out immediate goals that include filling vacant positions, diversifying the organization's revenues and developing a new strategic plan.
He wants to increase the organization's private funding so that it does not heavily rely on government funds.
Also, "I'd love to see us build an endowment because we don't have one," he said.
Garval was attracted to the organization because it reaches statewide with a larger budget and it has more gerontology programs than his previous agency. Hawai'i's diversity also appealed to him.
"I'm comfortable in settings that are diverse," he said. "I'm looking forward to learning about the various cultures."
In the next three to five years, Garval hopes to open an inter-generational learning center, which was also a vision of his predecessor. It would be a place where grandparents and retirees could mentor and teach younger generations.
Garval said the organization is looking for volunteers. He strongly encourages students interested in social work and retirees to take part, get involved and make a difference .
As he tells his daughters, it's important "to give back to people who haven't had as good a life situation as you."
Reach Brittany Yap at byap@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Correction: Child and Family Service's name was misspelled in a previous version of this story.
