Special Treatment Education & Prevention Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
953111169
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Bakersfield, CA, USA
Phone
6618713535
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Drunk Driving Related

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,315,350
Expenses
$1,745,918
Assets
$2,745,627
Liabilities
$329,827

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DON FOWLER (PRESIDENT)
  • URIEL PACHECO (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • BRYAN BURROW (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

People named in this filing

  • DON FOWLER (PRESIDENT)
  • URIEL PACHECO (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • PAUL WELLER (TREASURER)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of steps is to promote community awareness and individual recovery through safety, education and substance abuse counseling. The major portion of the program focuses on those who have been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Steps provides education, group and individual counseling to help the participants avoid driving under the influence and re-offending. Steps also offers traffic school instruction to individuals who have received a traffic citation.a variety of prevention services are also offered, including education including focusing on underage drinkers as well as those who are over-served alcohol. The responsible beverage service training provides services at a variety of sites throughout kern county and the surrounding area.

What it reported doing in 2024

The outpatient drug-free program is designed to provide outpatient services to clients who are in need of substance use disorder services. There are two levels of treatment, level 1.0 allows clients to attend 2-3 times per week for 1.5 hours each, while also having no less than one individual counseling session per month. The 2.1 program has clients receiving approximately 9-12 hours per week of intensive outpatient services in addition to no less than one individual session monthly. All clients receive regular drug testing. While most clients are referred by either probation or children's protective services, some clients are self referred. Many of the participants are co-occurring, which means they have both substance use disorders and serious mental health challenges. Clients undergo an intake, assessment, and work with the therapist to develop a treatment plan that works with their individual needs. Clients receive group and individual services, as well as crisis services when necessary. Clients are drug tested regularly.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 66% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.2%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 89.8%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 24.6%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.57; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.2% of revenue deployed · 89.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.