It wasn’t the most typical move. In 1988 the Rev. Stephen J. Chinlund traded the position as Rector of Trinity Church in Southport, CT, for the position of Executive Director at Episcopal Social Services (ESS).

But Bishop Paul Moore’s victory in recruiting Chinlund was a fortunate event for ESS.

Achievements During 16 Years
In 1988 Chinlund joined the $6 million agency and by 2004 had quadrupled its size to $24 million. He doubled its employees to 360. And he added eight facilities: two medical clinics, a Bronx office, two group homes for mentally retarded adults, two supervised apartments for foster teens, and (coming in January) an early childhood center.

Chinlund also changed the agency’s name from “Episcopal Mission Society” to “Episcopal Social Services.”

“People need to know we do professional social service work, not missionary work,” Chinlund explained.

When funding changed, he eliminated two programs: refugee services and automotive occupational training. But during his tenure he also launched 11 new ones including medical clinics, mental health therapy, Project College Bound, an after-school program, foster care preventive services, Early Head Start, ESS-CUNY College Initiative and ESS-Bard Prison Initiative.

Chinlund succeeded the Rev. James A. Gusweller as Executive Director of ESS in 1988, and in December he will pass the mantle to Robert Gutheil.

ENY interviewed Chinlund about his tenure at ESS.

A Conversation with Chinlund

Q: Looking back, what are you most proud of?
A: My proudest achievements are the people in these photos. It is just wonderful to see that as an agency, we are making a difference every day. I watch parents brace up and feel new strength. I cheer when a six-year-old girl finally speaks again after therapy has helped address the legacy of her abuse. I hear the joy of a foster teen exclaiming his SAT scores after much hard work. I watch a mother’s chin tremble with gratitude because she has a Christmas gift, through us, for each of her three children.

Q: Has it been what you expected?
A: It has been more gratifying than I expected. I have loved the work, loved it beyond my highest dreams. And although I did expect ESS would grow, it has grown way beyond what I dreamed possible.

The priesthood does not prepare you for the potential of running a multi-program social service agency. In seminary, no one challenged me to imagine quadrupling my parishioners. Where would they fit?

Q: What are some highlights of your tenure?
A: I am proud of how quickly ESS responded to the latest thinking in human services work.

When we were asked to take some of the city’s most difficult cases in foster care, we rose to the challenge, intensifying staff training and adding psychotherapy services to help severely emotionally disturbed children.

When federal regulations for the care of retarded children quite rightly strengthened, we needed to go beyond traditional care of providing a clean home, good meals, and lots of TLC. Our staff took classes and re-worked our program to help our developmentally disabled consumers improve their level of competence.

And I am proud to have added four prison programs to ESS’ portfolio. I never encountered the body of Christ in a more powerful way than I have working with prisoners.

My prior work as Superintendent of the Taconic Correctional Facility and as Chairman of the Commission of Correction [appointed after the Attica uprising in 1971] proved to me what a difference it makes when we help men and women make best use of their time to succeed outside. Well, now ESS has four programs that do just that.

I have seen across all populations of people we work with that when you show people respect, they engage.

Meet with them, listen. Ask, ‘So, what would you really like to do?’ Help them start focusing on their dreams in a way that is safe and that shows practical steps to get there. Watching them change is so worthwhile.

Q: What are some of your saddest moments?
A: The hardest event was closing down the automotive occupational training program in the Bronx. You should have seen how proud our mechanics were at their first graduation ever, holding their certificates and Volkswagen job offers, and how proud wives and children were. I almost cried when the city cut off our funding.

And there was a wistful moment when it was time for the charter school ESS helped incubate to spin off. The Bronx Charter School for Children opens this fall.

Q: What goals do you have left before retiring on December 31?
A: I want to help achieve our $2.2 million capital campaign for Paul’s House, ESS’ new early childhood center. We named it in honor of Bishop Paul Moore’s tireless efforts to revitalize the South Bronx community it serves.

I also aim to strengthen the prison program.

Q: What plans do you have for retirement?
A: I aim to devote more time to prison work, to deepening the integration of prison, parole and private agency work — three parts of a healthy correctional system.

I want to paint watercolors and oils. Do portraits. Everybody says you can’t do watercolor portraits. I don’t believe it. I want to give it a try.

I plan to finish a play I wrote in 1990 about two 75-year-olds falling in love — a widow and a widower. It’s just as exciting at 75 as when you’re a teenager — but then having layers of history to share.

And I want to finish my book on prisons, introducing the public to a more complex view of prisons. It’s been too commonly attractive to write about prisons in stereotypes of horror.

Chinlund’s Successor — Robert Gutheil
The ESS Board selected Robert Gutheil, a widely respected social services leader and active Episcopalian, to succeed Chinlund upon his retirement at age 71 on December 31.

Gutheil served most recently as Executive Director of The Salvation Army Social Services for Children, a $50 million agency with program areas similar to ESS.

Gutheil said, “Steve’s leadership has been outstanding, and ESS is recognized as one of the leading human service agencies in our city. I especially look forward to building on this solid foundation. We’ll move forward together to even higher levels of service to the children, families and individuals of our great city.”

Gutheil serves on the vestry at St. Bartholomew’s, Manhattan, and the Board of Episcopal Charities and served on the Board of ESS until the end of his term in 2002.

 

                   

Left, a doctor examines a child at an ESS clinic. Middle, the Rev. Stephen J. Chinlund meets with ESS foster teens, and right, a mother and her two daughters visit an ESS medical clinic.

Photos courtesy of EPISCOPAL SOCIAL SERVICES

 

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