New Program Supervisor Plans to Engage Wooster Community

The Village Network recently hired a new day treatment program supervisor at its Wooster, Ohio location to continue to build a community that rallies behind our youth and works together to meet their needs. David Hargrave, former CEO of OHuddle, will now serve as the program supervisor for day treatment, mentoring and community relationships.

Hargrave said one of the main reasons he applied for the position was because he felt The Village Network’s core values aligned perfectly with his personal values. More specifically, the core value of believing quality programs are developed through partnerships with the local community and its members particularly caught Hargrave’s attention.

“When the opportunity came for me to join The Village Network, specifically to promote and enhance community engagement and relationships with youth and families, I thought, ‘that’s my wheelhouse,’” Hargrave said.

Hargrave is a licensed social worker with 19 years of direct care experience in a variety of helping roles.

“I am excited to bring someone like David into our organization,” President and CEO of The Village Network Richard Graziano said. “In addition to his past experience and varied skills, David is a well known member of the community, which makes him a perfect match for the position.”

Hargrave’s role at The Village Network will be to support the current day treatment staff and grow the program through new community partnerships. Through mentoring relationships, youth in our care will have more opportunities to build the genuine, ongoing relationships they crave.

“It is my experience that in many cases, a clinician is the most real, genuine relationship a client may have in his life, but due to clinical boundaries, ongoing relationships with clients is often times unethical,” Hargrave said. “That dynamic caused me to ask myself, ‘how do we engage the community more?’”

Hargrave plans to engage the Wooster community by reaching out to local congregations, businesses and organizations to find individuals who want to partner with The Village Network in its mission to work in partnerships that will empower youth and their families to build brighter futures. Hargrave said he plans to start building relationships in Wooster but will eventually grow community supporters in all of The Village Network’s regions.

“It seems like our world is becoming more and more polarized around differences, and we’re weaker as a community when that happens,” Hargrave said. “I think who I am as a person and the mission of The Village Network intersect perfectly not only to address organizational objectives, but also to reduce social barriers to enhanced community collaboration.”