Family Resource Centers (FRCs) are
not a new idea in Siskiyou County, in fact, there are now 10 in various stages of
development. District five has three FRCs – Happy Camp, Scott Valley FOCUS and Yreka.
Both Happy Camp and Yreka FRCs have full time staff, a
dedicated physical building and a range of established programs. FOCUS provides many of
its programs at the Fort Jones City Hall, but is now poised to expand. Other resource
centers, such as Weed and Mt. Shasta, are just beginning to form;
Through the Community Services Council, the State awarded a Small
Counties Initiative grant to Siskiyou County as part of its child abuse prevention
program. The grant was written to create the
position of a Family Resource Advocate, who will work with the 10 FRCs to increase their
roles in local communities as hubs for intergenerational activities and family support. In
addition, First Five Siskiyou has been a primary source of funding
to help support the activities of the FRCs, including networking.
Karen Pautz has been selected as the new FRC Advocate. Over the next
months, this dynamic lady’s task is to help the individual FRCs attract team members
and advisors; grow stronger as organizations; work toward financial diversity and self
sufficiency; facilitate technical assistance
and training; develop community partnerships; inventory resources and programs; and begin
strategic action planning.
A network of FRCs meets monthly on a rotating site basis. The group
honors the individuality of each FRC and respects the fact that each will reflect the
uniqueness of the community it serves. Karen will help the network hire several AmeriCorps
volunteers; allocate their efforts; share
resources, training and programs; and partner in funding opportunities
During the same period of time that Siskiyou County was forging ahead
as an innovator in developing its community FRCs, the State of California was developing a
new design in its approach to child welfare. The goal of the Redesign is to “form
community networks consisting of public agencies, non-profit organizations, and community
partners to share responsibility for child safety, permanency and child/family well-being.”
What this eventually means is that when a child welfare issue is
referred to Child Protective Services (CPS), it will be determined if the incident is a
crisis of abuse requiring County agency intervention or a situation that can be addressed
by community programs that educate, coach and support local families – or both. It is important to have community programs, such as
FRCs, to work with non-crisis referrals.
In its initial venture into the Redesign, Human Resouces/CPS
partnered with 18 organizations, (including FRCs) to identify families “at risk of
entering the Dependency or Delinquency system.” This community partnership committed
to supporting, educating and mentoring the families for one year ending in June 2004.
The program began with a highly successful camping experience right
here in Scott Valley. Recreation was accompanied by parent education, skill modeling and
family building activities. This is now being followed up by additional family programs,
leadership development and mentoring opportunities.
As we face impending State and County budget cuts, the safety net for
families is shifting away from government, back to local communities. It is to the great
credit of the many county and community people involved that this shift has been
anticipated and programs put in place. However, the FRCs are not yet able to take on the
role as safety net.
All three of District five’s FRCs have provided outreach to new
parents, classes and coaching in parenting, opportunities for networking and mentoring for
families, along with referrals to various social services. In addition, as a mature FRC,
Happy Camp engages the entire community through a full range of activities for all ages
– from educational, to recreational, to civic. As a nonprofit effort, funding is
always a challenge.
Our FRCs need your help. Scott
Valley FOCUS is now advertising for an FRC Center Director , It also needs Team Members.
(Contact Kathy Murray at Scott Valley Feed.) The
Yreka FRC is also in need of Board members. (Contact Michelle O’Gorman. ) All the
FRCs are in need of community involvement, partnerships with other organizations and lots
of volunteers of all ages. They need you. This can be such an exciting opportunity to
strengthen our local communities and have a lot of fun doing it.
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