Sister Judith Brun, CSJ, executive director of the Community Initiatives Foundation (CIF), a 2006 established 501 (c ) (3), developed TakeCare at the request of Lee Barberito, founder of Manti Resources Inc. TakeCare is the second trademarked initiative of CIF.
Lee’s brother Tommy, a Jesuit priest, served as pastor of a church in north Baton Rouge, a high-poverty area. Though a brain tumor necessitated Tommy’s early retirement, his love for the children and his concern for the needs they faced were long-term. Shortly before his death, Tommy asked Lee to, one day, do something to take care of the children in Baton Rouge. Manti Resources is the founding partner of TakeCare.
TakeCare is a research-based, outcome measured, replicable response to the needs of children as well as the product of Sister Judith’s broad experience. After 25 years in a leadership role at St. Joseph’s Academy in Baton Rouge, Sister Judith began studying educational reform until the needs of displaced families post Hurricane Katrina became her priority. Her engagement with these new neighbors, especially the children and their caregivers, and her involvement in charter schools gave her an understanding of the self-defeating behaviors that poverty breeds and the potential for positive change.