Who we are
BACC, Inc. is a private, nonprofit, nationally accredited, multi-disciplinary comprehensive community mental health provider that serves more than 850 children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disabilities and children at risk of mental health problems in Miami-Dade County. Many of the clients served would need residential placement if BACC programs were not available to them. The Center’s community Board of Trustees, composed of outstanding leaders in education and mental health, is headed by Dr. Robert F. Moore, President, and Carolyn Jenkins-Jaeger, Chairman. Dr. Moore has a distinguished background in exceptional student education and is affiliated with the University of Miami. Mrs. Jenkins-Jaeger has been a leader in the field of child welfare and has been involved with BACC for more than 30 years, including previously serving as CEO.
The Center’s mission is to keep children and adolescents in school and functioning effectively in their homes so that they may become contributing members of our community. BACC provides comprehensive, integrated mental health/education services for students in its day treatment programs, as well as offering other evidence-based programs, including: therapeutic after school and summer programs, early intervention services, comprehensive assessments and transition. BACC's services include: individual, group and family therapies; assessments; parent consultation; teacher consultation; case management; psychiatric evaluations and consultations; and behavioral interventions.
In Miami-Dade County, BACC has served children with mental health problems that interfere with learning and daily living since 1962. The Center was named “#1 in the United States” in 1993 by the American Association of Psychiatric Services for Children. M-DCPS has recognized the Center over the years as “Outstanding Non-Profit Partner” and as a member of the “Hall of Fame”. In 1997, BACC was named “Exemplary County-wide Non-profit.”
Nationally, the Executive Director of BACC, Carolyn Jenkins-Jaeger, served a 3 year congressional appointment to the National Institutes of Health in Washington in recognition of the M-DCPS/BACC cooperative program for deaf and severely hearing impaired SED high school students in an effort to replicate the model in other communities. The STARSHIP (Special Teenage Resource System for Hearing Impaired) program was televised as an Education 2000 Special. The Executive Director serves on the national Board of the Child Welfare League of America. She serves on the American Association of Psychiatric Services for Children national advisory Board and is a member of the local and national Best Practices for Children's Mental Health Committees. In 1993, she received the Distinguished Educator award from the Association of Independent Schools of Florida. In April of 2000, she received the J.N. MacArthur Foundation award from the local international Red Cross chapter as a Distinguished Educator.
BACC’s Cooperative Agreements with M-DCPS, MCPS, The Public Health Trust and the University of Miami Miller Medical School are featured in the U.S. Department of Education’s Guidebook as outstanding examples of public and private partnerships for excellence in the education and treatment of students with serious emotional problems. The Center was spotlighted in the Winter, 1999 Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Problems, as one of three nationally recognized programs integrating treatment and education. Center staff members participate in numerous local and national conferences and training. BACC sponsored 12 local public television programs under the title Mental Health: Critical Beginnings.
Our partners are: Florida Department of Children and Families; Miami-Dade County Public Schools; University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Public Health Trust, Miami-Dade Department of Human Services; local universities; Health Foundation of South Florida; other foundations, private donors and the families of the children we serve.
