Fr. Scott is pleased to announce the promotion of Elizabeth Sorice to associate vice president of strategy and projects, effective October 15.
Sorice moves into the role left vacant by the departure of Patrick Needham with whom she worked closely during the recent COA review process. As AVP, she will lead strategic planning for the Home, perform project management and other activities that result from our strategic plan, support the administration and functionality of leadership teams, assist the quality improvement and program evaluation process, use evaluation results in strategic and operational planning, and lead the Agency’s accreditation compliance.
“Throughout her years at Mercy Home, Elizabeth has demonstrated talent and commitment to the work we do on behalf of the young people entrusted to our care,” said Fr. Scott. “I welcome her to the leadership team and look forward to working with her to strengthen and advance this life-enhancing mission.”
While Sorice will continue to assist in the philanthropy division of advancement for the remainder of the calendar year, her first focus in her new role as AVP will be the opening of Noha Home in January, a program within our Home that will care for 8 young people ages 18-21. Mercy Home’s thoughtful and thorough approach to planning, she says, will be critical in bringing Noha back online successfully following its closure during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s one thing to say, ‘we want to open up Noha Home,'” Sorice said. But now, a few months until we open its doors, she said it’s not like simply turning on a switch and having kids move in. “[It’s] how do we make sure that the youth and the staff are ready,” she said.
Throughout her 16 years working at Mercy Home, Sorice has seen how Mercy Home’s high practice standards, continuous self-evaluation, and intentional approach to our work permeate the culture and every position she has held. Now, she will have the opportunity to leverage her extensive experiences to help evolve our work and impact more kids going forward.
“For the home, it’s thinking where do we want to be in the next three to five years,” she said, “and then what do we need to do to make that happen for those goals to come to fruition.”
It’s an opportunity she’s looking forward to. “I’m excited now to work with various programs and departments that will be for the continued growth of Mercy Home,” she said.
Sorice received her bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies from the College of Wooster in Ohio. Upon graduation, she worked at Action for Healthy Kids on policy related issues about childhood obesity, but quickly realized she wanted to work with youth one-on-one. She began working at Mercy Home in April 2008 as a Day Coordinator in Seton Home.
“It was a great way to start in terms of just learning more about residential treatment, which I wasn’t too familiar with,” she said. “Being a day coordinator … was really I think a great first step to understanding more about Mercy Home.”
After a little over a year as a day coordinator, Sorice joined our education team, where she worked for the next 13 years in various roles, including education coordinator, manager, and finally director.
Education was always very important to Sorice.
“Growing up, my parents really valued education,” she explained. “It was something that they always instilled into me and my sisters. I went to a private school and my parents worked over-time and long hours to pay tuition so we had a good education. So, I saw all the effort, time and sacrifices they made.”
While working in our education department, Sorice completed the University of Chicago‘s Social Service Administration Master’s program (MSW) and later became an LCSW.
In October of 2021, she moved to Agency Advancement, where she worked with our corporate and foundation partners, including grant writing and management, before joining the philanthropy team where she has gained experience working directly with donors. Her advancement experience gave her expanded insights into how robust our organization’s programming is and what it is that sets Mercy Home apart in our field. “I think that Mercy Home is a leader when it comes to residential care,” she said, citing the regular analysis of our outcomes, the wraparound services we provide, the outreach we do to community partners, and the training we offer coworkers.
Sorice is looking forward to taking a collaborative approach to her new role. “I think part of that is including lots of different voices at the table and trying to get feedback on how are things working, what needs to be improved, what are areas of growth, she said, “And just to make sure that we’re doing our due diligence to make sure that we’re doing the best we can for our kids and families.”
Join us in congratulating Elizabeth Sorice as our new AVP of strategy and projects.
