Ashley Brown, L.C.S.W. of KVC Nebraska has been promoted to President, effective July 11, 2018. She succeeds Jodie Austin, L.C.S.W. who is now Executive Vice President of the KVC Institute for Health Systems Innovation.

Ashley started with KVC Nebraska in 2009 as a Foster Care Supervisor, and hit the ground running to fulfill its mission to, “enrich and enhance the lives of Nebraska families.” She previously helped to lead the organization as Vice President. Prior to her work at KVC, Ashley worked in child welfare in a variety of capacities including foster care, in-home services, and outpatient mental health services.

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Jason Hooper

“Ashley is a seasoned leader and talented at overseeing our many programs and services,” said Jason Hooper, President, and CEO of KVC Health Systems. “I am impressed with Ashley’s leadership perspective and vision for KVC Nebraska. We’re excited to see how she grows KVC’s impact on the lives of Nebraska children and families.”

Meet Ashley Brown

Born and raised in South Dakota but a proud Nebraska resident for more than 15 years, Ashley has grown a deep sense of kinship and community in Nebraska and is devoted to serving the needs of its children and families. In her new role as KVC Nebraska’s President, Ashley will continue to support child welfare reform in Nebraska, focusing on safety, permanency, and wellbeing by assisting in the oversight of KVC’s child welfare and juvenile justice programs, the growth of KVC’s services to the developmental and intellectual disabilities population, and prevention services.

Ashley is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, with her BSW from the University of South Dakota and her MSW from the University of Nebraska Omaha.

Ashley is thrilled to take on this leadership role. Learn more from Ashley as she shares about when her passion for social work began, and how she plans to grow KVC Nebraska in the years to come.

Q: When did you first know you wanted to go into the social work field?

Ashley: I have always been a people person and someone who wanted to try and help in any way. While in undergrad at the University of South Dakota, I knew I wanted to help people, but I struggled to know which direction to take.

When I selected social work as my major, everything just clicked. I knew it was where I belonged. The values of service, social justice, human relationships, and integrity, and emphasis on dignity and worth, all match my own personal values. Now, after 15 years of serving children and families, I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I was destined to be a social worker!

Q: What does it mean to you to be a voice for children, clients, and families in the Nebraska community?

Ashley: The most important thing is to empower and elevate the voice and choice of the clients and families we serve. Closely following that is providing support and advocacy to those that need it the most. And to help individuals, families, groups, and communities enhance their individual and collective wellbeing. It’s an honor and a privilege to aid those in need and help develop their skills and abilities to utilize resources to keep their families and community safe, strong and stable.

Q: What do you hope to achieve with KVC Nebraska in the years to come?

Ashley: Our greatest goal is to help our clients and families live safe, healthy and happy lives. To do so, I’ll prioritize leading and collaborate in the great work KVC Nebraska is doing, growing our impact across the state by being a strong and dependable community and service delivery partner, and becoming even more of a leader in current and yet-to-be-determined areas of our work.

From an internal perspective, I strive to continue making KVC a great place to work by having a strong, well-trained, and dedicated workforce that has our mission and values at the core of all that we do. Our staff is critical to the positive impact we make on clients and families in Nebraska and just as much as they support our clients and families, I’m here as a leader to ensure they also receive the support they need. We want to provide the best care possible for our clients. When we continue to develop our leadership and front-line employees who work every day with the clients and families we serve, we can continue to improve the quality of services we offer. It’s so important to engage both staff and families to provide excellent outcomes.

Q: How can people in the community get involved to help the children, families, and clients KVC is serving?

Ashley: We welcome any and every level of involvement from the community and provide a variety of opportunities for people to get involved. Some of our programs include fostering, or if you can’t foster, become a volunteer, and if you can’t volunteer, there’s always donations. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something!

About KVC Nebraska

KVC Nebraska is a private, nonprofit organization that provides foster care, intensive family preservation, family support services, and extended family home services for individuals with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities. KVC Nebraska serves approximately 1,000 Nebraska children in foster care each year and more than 700 children and families in home-based programs such as family preservation. As one of the largest and highest quality child-placing agencies in the state of Nebraska, KVC recruits, trains, licenses, and supports foster families providing care for children and adolescents who have experienced abuse, neglect and other family challenges. KVC raises funds privately to underwrite an annual Resource Family Conference where approximately 600 resource foster parents, children, and volunteers come together to learn from and be inspired by national speakers and experts, network with each other, and enjoy family activities. The organization’s mission is to enrich and enhance the lives of Nebraska families.