By Eagle Times Staff
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services has chosen Jeff Fleischer to be director of the Division for Children, Youth and Families.
Fleischer is nationally known for his work running nonprofit Youth Advocate Programs (YAP Inc.) for 38 years, 20 at the helm. YAP Inc. is international, community-based organization that operates community alternatives to incarceration and out-of-home placements on behalf of children, youth, young adults and their families.
Under Fleischer’s leadership, YAP Inc. has scaled up to operate more than 150 program sites, serving 20,000 youth and their families annually and employing 2,000 staff, all recruited from the communities where the youth live.
Fleischer has decades of experience partnering with child welfare and juvenile justice departments across the nation to apply data-driven, family-centered strategies to keep communities safe and reduce the number of youth needing out-of-home placements and detention settings.
He served as Chair of the National Human Service Assembly from 2019 to 2022.
“With his skills in strategic leadership, programmatic oversight, community collaboration, and executive management, Jeff is the ideal individual to guide DCYF’s next chapter,” said Health and Human Services Interim Commission Lori Weaver. “He is inheriting a high-performing leadership team, thanks in large part to the dynamic talents of Marie Noonan, who recently served as Interim Director — building on more than two decades of service at DCYF — and will be a critical co-pilot to Jeff in her role as Chief of Operations. From parents and families to Division staff and community partners, it takes all of us, and Jeff will be an exceptional addition, helping ensure the strength of New Hampshire’s next generation.”
Mr. Fleischer holds a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in Social Work from Rutgers University. At YAP Inc., his work spanned more than 33 states plus Washington, DC, and several countries, including Australia, Guatemala, Ireland, Sierra Leone, and Sweden. Prior to his nearly 40 years at YAP Inc., Mr. Fleischer directed La Casa De Don Pedro’s Youth Programs in Newark, NJ, developing programs serving high risk youth and gangs.
The DCYF director leads a division of approximately 700 staff serving 15,000 children and their families annually. The director provides strategic leadership, programmatic oversight, management, and operational direction for agency-wide programs and staff of DCYF, including Child Protection and Juvenile Justice Services.
Fleischer will begin his job on Aug. 1.
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