The Briljent Team enjoyed another successful and productive MESC conference in Chicago this year, and this time we did something different: Briljent hosted its first MESC event in which we showcased Briljent’s philanthropy foundation, the Luminous Fund. The Luminous Fund was founded in 2016 by Briljent CEO, Kathy Carrier, Briljent President, Matt Odum, and their families. Their mission was to pass the foundation of giving and service to their families and employees. They were inspired by the idea that Briljent’s success will continue to bless their families, their employees, and the lives of others.

It all began one Christmas season when Briljent employees were interested in hosting a company Christmas party. After thinking it over, Briljent leadership proposed an alternative: why not donate the money that could be used for a Christmas party to charities that Briljent employees were involved in?

The choice was clear and instant, and that season, Briljent donated over $16,000 to local charities chosen by employees. The initiative took off and has grown substantially since then. Kathy Carrier remarked, “We’ve applied our consulting expertise to The Luminous Fund; working to improve what we do and how we do it. For example, next month we are attending a conference sponsored by the National Center on Family Philanthropy so that we can continue to implement philanthropy best practices.”

Since its inception, the Luminous Fund has gone through 3 grant cycles, giving and growing each year. To date, the Luminous Fund has gifted over $300,000 to charities chosen by employees and family members. In 2019 alone, over $100,000 has been given. This offers Briljent employees a direct way to support causes they care about.

The Briljent Team is proud of the work and giving we’ve achieved through the Luminous Fund. We find as we compare Briljent with other entrepreneurial companies that The Luminous Fund is an unusual endeavor.

To that end, on September 23, 2019, the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne surprised Briljent’s CEO with the Paul Clarke Visionary Award. This was only the third time in the history of the Foundation that this award has been given out. It recognizes Kathy Carrier for her unusual vision and drive with her approach to family philanthropy through The Luminous Fund.

What Did the Luminous Fund Support in 2019?

The Foster Youth Internship Program

Our support for the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute goes to internship opportunities for young adults. Specifically, the Luminous Fund is funding The Foster Youth Internship Program which is a Congressional internship for young adults who spent many of their formative years in the foster care system. This unique leadership development program launches this vulnerable group of young people into their professional careers.

Community Services of Starke County

Community Services of Starke County serves the elderly and low-income people so they may maintain their independence in their own homes. The Luminous Fund’s grant assists with the goal of purchasing wheelchair accessible vans for transporting the elderly to doctor appointments.

Amani Family Services

Amani Family Services partners with immigrant and refugee families in Fort Wayne to promote safety, encourage personal growth, and foster a spirit of belonging. Our grant will be used to provide advocacy and counseling services to immigrant and refugee victims of crime.

Child Advocates

Child Advocates engages community volunteers and staff in Indianapolis to protect children who are victims of child abuse. The Luminous Fund is providing partial support for the Wishing Well Fund, which will provide financial assistance to meet the basic needs of abused and neglected children.

Colby & Cate’s Charities, Inc.

This organization enhances the lives of children with life-threatening or life-altering conditions by providing HOPE through innovative and unique experiences, funding pediatric cancer research and supporting Child Life.

All Stars Project of Chicago

Can you imagine a childhood without field trips? We couldn’t. So the Luminous Fund funded field trips for Chicago school children so they can learn about their community. This agency is unusual; completely run by college students to serve children in the Chicago Public School.

Females in Technology

Females in Technology offers a variety of activities and events designed to help women explore the many options available to them. The Luminous Fund is helping Females in Technology pursue professional development to support the growth of women in S.T.E.M careers.

Place of Grace

The mission of Place of Grace is to provide a therapeutic home with long-term recovery services to help women break their cycle of destructive behavior related to addiction, abuse, and poverty. The primary focus of the program is assisting women who are exiting incarceration and reentering the community. The program encourages spiritual growth, life skills, and recovery skills.

The Night Ministry

Serving the homeless in Chicago, we funded housing, healthcare, and human connection for the homeless in Chicago. One of our Briljent ambassadors, Benita Sinnarajah, is involved with this agency and several others with a passion and talent for serving the homeless. She is a rock star.

Women’s Care Center

Women’s Care Center is a pregnancy resource center dedicated to loving and serving moms and babies in the Fort Wayne community and beyond. With services including free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, goals counseling and parenting classes, they help moms maintain healthy pregnancies and reach self-sufficiency. The grant from Luminous Fund will allow the Women’s Care Center to provide valuable prenatal care and education to mothers who might not otherwise have access to it.

The Luminous Fund aligns with Briljent’s commitment to culture, community, and charity, and it’s our way of embracing our mantra: “To whom much is given, much is required.”

It is with this same spirit and sentiment that the Briljent Team supports Medicaid. Just as with our Luminous Fund endeavors, our work in Medicaid and the public sector ultimately improves the lives of those most in need.

From training, to Health Information Technology, to change management, staffing, and professional services, Briljent is committed to making a difference for our clients and ultimately the communities and populations they serve. After 21+ years of creating solutions, here are a few highlights we’re especially proud of:

• Over 2.5 million hours of training delivered to tens of thousands of learners across the nation
• Trained over 10,000 State staff on Medicaid Enterprise Systems across the nation
• Trained over 4,000 call center agents who managed 29 million calls annually at the federal level
• Call center agent accuracy maintained at 99%
• Achieved as much as 70% reduction in time to proficiency for new associate training
• We have worked with every State Medicaid office in the US and 6 US territories

As you can see, we’ve done a lot of work in Medicaid, and we have impacted countless systems and lives across the nation. We are driven to do our part and make a difference for those in need.

We are experts in helping address the human impact of systems and process change in the workplace. Our specialty is working with system integrators to ensure new functionality and procedures are effectively communicated to end users. Our goal is to ensure that users understand what is changing, why it’s important, and how it will affect the work they do every day, so they can hit the ground running when a system goes live.

As a team, we are entrepreneurial and innovative, and we take this approach in everything we do, including philanthropy. Through the Luminous Fund our passion and interest in giving is combined with our consulting expertise to give back to our communities and make a difference, to help create lasting solutions that change people’s lives. That’s our focus in Medicaid as well.

Some of our key Medicaid clients, projects, and outcomes include the following:

Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA)

We have provided several multifaceted learning and development solutions to FSSA over the last decade. These engagements span a breadth of services, mostly related to healthcare regulation and policy.

Our Contributions

• Development of Advanced Planning Documents (APDs) to secure CMS funding for improvements to Indiana’s Medicaid Heath Information Systems
• Development of a self-paced training program for case workers across multiple FSSA agencies to support the rollout of a new case management system, including the development and training of super-user coaches, as well as a robust curriculum of tutorials and quick reference guides that support roll-out of the new system to multiple user roles in three different agencies
• Training for the multi-year rollout of a new statewide Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS), including development and delivery of curriculums for State staff, Medicaid service providers, and the vendors who provide Medicaid claims processing for the State
• Organizational change management to optimize the new Indiana Eligibility Determination Services System (IEDSS) implementation

Project Outcomes

We have helped the State of Indiana secure federal funding to improve its Medicaid Health Information Systems, which will impact current and future social service programs. Our work within the State’s Medicaid Enterprise and Eligibility Systems, as well as our work within other agencies, has helped optimize the delivery of social services and has impacted thousands of lives across the state.

Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the Department of Human Services (HFS)

Briljent has been providing training services to Illinois State staff since January 2013. Over the course of this engagement, there were several instances of change in program needs and priorities which required Briljent to work collaboratively with State and contractor staff to maintain project success.

Our Contributions

• Our training staff maintained knowledge of changing policies and content throughout a complex implementation
• Implemented training across 3 rollout phases, scaling up and down as needed, flexing from 5 to as many as 30 staff
• Training staff adopted and adapted to new roles as changes in State administration and federal guidelines were made

Project Outcomes

Our work within Illinois’ Integrated Eligibility System has helped ensure eligible Medicaid recipients receive the care and support they need. This has impacted thousands of lives across the state.

Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW)

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) received a grant from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to support healthcare delivery transformation efforts, including the widespread implementation of patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) across 165 clinics. Briljent was hired by IDHW to develop and deliver the training and technical assistance necessary to support each clinic’s PCMH implementation.

Our Contributions

• Briljent’s PMP-certified project managers managed changing scope throughout the project
• Briljent, as Prime, provided project management services, oversaw a portal repository, as well as managed a participation payment distribution to medical practices for transformation into PCMHs
• Led focus groups with medical practices to inform development of Best Practices toolkits
• Conducted change management workshops and created Organizational Change Management toolkit
• Briljent designed and facilitated a sustainability workshop that brought together key leaders and stakeholders representing State, provider, payer, and patient viewpoints

Project Outcomes

As the prime vendor for this project, our work for Idaho’s PCMH model has helped optimize patient care across the state and continues to support the PCMH rollout. Our efforts are helping sustain the new model while also increasing the number of clinics that will participate in this new model. We helped identify emerging trends and challenges and helped the State develop its strategy for sustainability. Our project managers ensured the project was kept on schedule and on budget without any surprises to State or contract staff. These efforts have increased the performance and care delivered in medical homes across the state.

Our work in Medicaid is dedicated to improving the lives of those most in need. Likewise, our work with the Luminous Fund strives to do the same. Briljent leadership hopes the Luminous Fund will pass the tradition of giving to others and motivate them to use their unique talents and gifts to serve those in need.

It was only fitting that MESC 2019 was held in the heart of America this year. And you can be sure that when you work with the Briljent Team, we work from the heart.

To learn more about the Luminous Fund, please visit our website: http://theluminousfund.com/