We’re thrilled to celebrate an incredible milestone—Jean M. Coppola, Billing System Administrator, has reached her 35th work anniversary at The Child Center! Her dedication, expertise, and passion have been instrumental to our organization’s success over the decades.

To honor this remarkable achievement, we sat down with Jean for a brief interview to reflect on her journey and the impact she’s made. Here’s to many more years of excellence and inspiration!

Can you share a bit about how you started your career here and what attracted you to TCCNY?

I had been working in the city and was planning on going back to school in the evenings, so I started looking for a job locally. I was interested in studying child psychology and I felt like this agency would be a good fit. I loved the idea of working for an agency that was doing such admirable work and providing mental health services to children. I began my career here as a secretary at the administrative office, which was in Flushing at the time. I was known as the “baby” of the agency. A year later, I became the administrative assistant and a couple years after that, the events manager. When patient billing was becoming electronic, I worked on the implementation of our first electronic billing software (in the ’90s), and my job took a different path. I became the billing supervisor. It was in that capacity that I navigated the Y2K panic and the eventual implementation of three subsequent billing systems, the current one being a total client electronic health record.

What are some of the most memorable moments, valuable lessons, or milestones from your time with us?

The most memorable moments for me were the fundraisers that I worked—the Golf Outing, the Dinner Dance, the Kids Run for Kids in Fresh Meadows Park.

Also, we would use staff members’ children for photoshoots to represent clients, and both my boys, from around ages 2 to 6, were “models” for our Dinner Dance journals and Golf Outing brochures.

A page from an event journal from the 1990s.

How has the company changed over the years? What do you think is in the future for TCCNY?

When I started at The Child Center of NY in 1989, it was known as Queens Child Guidance Center. I think we only had five clinics, one preventive program, and providers in a couple schools. I don’t remember how many social workers we had, but it was only five or six per clinic, and I knew them all personally. Our clients were only children, and we only provided mental health services at the time (I remember working on the application paperwork for the Substance Abuse Program). All billing for client services was done on paper, including Medicaid billing. The agency had only one computer. There was less than a dozen staff in the administrative office.

During my years at the agency, the administrative office moved from Flushing, to Jamaica, to Woodside and then to its current location in Forest Hills. I’ve been with the organization through so many ups and downs over the years, but I’ve also experienced vast expansion, new programs, new locations, in line with our mission to touch, help, and improve as many lives as possible. With so many dedicated staff and the ever-increasing need for services that we provide, I see TCCNY continuing to grow and positively impact the communities we serve.

The agency and I have grown and expanded together. When I started, I was in my early 20s, married only a few years, with no children. I am now older, still married to my wonderful husband and have four grown, wonderful children—my greatest accomplishment and most treasured blessings.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of working here for so long?

It has been the most rewarding to work at a place where I believe in the work that we do. I have dedicated myself to this agency and have never wavered from that dedication. I’ve met and worked with so many people over the years, some who have become lifelong friends. The people that I work with directly on a daily basis have become my work family. I feel recognized and appreciated and valued for what I do. When you love where you work and what you do, it just becomes a part of you, a part of your life. I thank TCCNY and the people here who have made it possible for me to commit myself so fully to this agency for the last 35 years and hopefully for many more years to come.