November 13th 2023 - District Staff Meeting

**Cost is $35 - Please try to register and pay through Club runner**

Monday Nov 13 th

The Brownstone

Cost:$35.00

 In keeping with our focus on mental health our guest speaker will be Paramus Rotarian Joe Masciadaro. Come join us for this great program and learn more about what’s happening in the District.

Joe Masciandaro retired last year after 45 years as the president and CEO of CarePlus, a nonprofit based in Paramus that provides behavioral health services, medical care and a host of social services through some four dozen facilities in northern New Jersey. But his impact stretches far beyond the nonprofit’s 20,000-plus annual clients, according to colleagues and leaders in the field, who call him a “pioneer,” “mentor,” “strategist,” “visionary” and “Renaissance man” when describing Masciandaro, an Elizabeth resident. On June 6 he was presented with the Courage Award by the CarePlus Foundation, an entity he helped found years ago to support the broader mission, the latest in a long line of honors.

“Joe has left such a strong footprint on behavioral health here in the state of New Jersey. He’s not one out there to toot his own horn, to be front and center,” said Valerie Mielke, an assistant commissioner with the New Jersey Department of Human Services who oversees the community-based behavioral health organizations that provide psychiatric and addiction treatment to more than 70,000 residents each year. Her job as industry regulator sometimes put her at odds with Masciandaro and other behavioral health organizations.

“But he works very diligently, very quietly behind the scenes to make change,” Mielke said. “And he understands how systems change and that sometimes you have to look at the long game.”