Keith Robinson has been with Heartspring for more than 12 years. In his time here, he’s worked in many different roles from home paraeducator to the director of residential services. Keith’s passion for his work and to change lives has helped him advance his career and make an impact on Heartspring and the children we serve.

When Keith began his career at Heartspring twelve years ago, he was just looking for an extra job to pay the bills. He applied to Heartspring for a paraeducator position and began working in the residential homes. Overtime, he saw the impact he had on the children he worked with and it made him realize he wanted to build a career at Heartspring. His next step was as a home coordinator then staff trainer.  As a home coordinator, Keith was responsible for up to eight students and 18 staff members. He made sure the students’ programs were of a high quality and were consistently enforced. When he switched over to the training position, he saw his job as a way to get employees motivated and to help them realize what a big difference they will make in the children’s lives. This way, employees understand the importance of their jobs before they even work with the students. He was in that role for four years until the current director of residential services left Heartspring and asked Keith to apply for the job.

Even as the director of residential services, Keith never forgot his experiences as a paraeducator and the importance of what Heartspring does every day. He goes down to all of the homes on a daily basis. He feels the responsibility of knowing he has been put in charge of someone’s child who may be 1,500 miles away from his or her parents. He also gets to see the benefits. Parents come to Heartspring and can take their children to dinner, something they might not have been able to do before, or they send photos of their son or daughter on a home visit.

In his free time, Keith is often cheering on his son at sporting events or watching his daughter perform in a play. He has coached a number of sports teams from baseball to football and volunteers for his church.