Tara Jaramillo and her son Frank Jaramillo. Tara was preparing to hand off the role of Positive Outcomes CEO to her son Frank, who has been working in the business since he was a teen, at the end of 2022.

According to El Defensor Chieftain readers, the best place to work in Socorro County is Positive Outcomes. Readers also chose Positive Outcomes as the best customer service and it tied with SCOPE Health Council for best community service/nonprofit organization.

Positive Outcomes began in 1999, when Tara Jaramillo was looking for supportive services for her daughter, who is autistic. Jaramillo was CEO of Positive Outcomes until the end of 2022, when she was set to retire and hand leadership of the business to her son Frank Jaramillo.

“They weren’t here, so we decided to build them. I was working at Presbyterian Hospital and I decided to leave that job to do this work for her,” said Jaramillo.

The early intervention program offers services from birth through age 3. What began as an employee daycare program grew into a pre-k and early pre-k program, plus Positive Outcomes does ancillary programs through schools, in home care and an outpatient facility. Family support agency Casa de Luz is also a department within Positive Outcomes.

When people choose Positive Outcomes, “we want them to feel that when they join with us, they’re part of a family,” said Jaramillo.

The company was recognized by readers for customer service and for being a good place to work.

“I always wanted the company to be the place that I wish I had when I was raising kids,” said Jaramillo.

Positive Outcomes employees work in-person and remotely, and the company is focused on celebrating employees and recognizing how hard the work they do can be.

“A lot of work that we do is social service work and that can be really, really hard on people,” said Jaramillo.

One thing the business does is hold catered lunches twice a week to give employees a moment to sit down, relax and deescalate. The company also invests in “growing therapists,” teachers, and nurses by offering scholarships.

“A lot of our philosophy is we invest in you, because you invest in us,” said Jaramillo.