It is 9:20 on a typical morning at the Healthy Universal Beginnings (HUB) family center in New Hampshire. Under the guidance of their teachers, 15 preschool children are playing in the two brightly equipped classrooms. Their parents and one grandparent are gathered in the next room to hear a guest speaker. Several months ago, parents had recommended topics and speakers for their morning meetings. Some of their suggestions included positive parenting, special education, home decorating and budgeting, starting a home business, to simply hosting a regular parent support group. This particular morning the subject is nutrition and healthy meals with a guest speaker from the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension.

The HUB is one example of community concern put into positive action. Founded over three years ago by people representing a cross-section of the local population, including the hospital, clergy, school district, Head Start, local preschools, and parents, this collaborative group formed a Ready To Learn Task Force and initiated the HUB as a way to support young parents and children within this New Hampshire community. The center has grown from meeting one morning a week with a few mothers and children to its current program with over 100 regular participants weekly. The center is now open four days a week and at least one evening. It has a core administrative staff along with Family Literacy Home Visitors, an Adult Education Specialist, and a Homeless Family Specialist. The center has grown so quickly that it hopes to have a new site by the end of the year in order to accommodate and expand current programming.

Across the country, family resource centers like HUB are springing up in various locations, such as schools, libraries, churches, or recreation centers. When they are developed by local families and professionals and are given enough financial support, they have great flexibility to serve the community, particularly its "high-risk" families. Not only is the family center idea growing, but so is financial support for this concept. The U.S. Department of Education has funding available for projects like family resource centers through its Goals 2000 money and Title 1/Chapter 1. Larger family centers are typically funded by a collage of federal, state, and local agencies.

Increasingly, state agencies are assisting with the coordination and development of local family centers. In Connecticut in 1988, for example, the state legislature allocated money to pilot three Family Resource Centers. By September 1996, the number of centers in Connecticut had increased to at least 28. Combined federal and state funding for these centers has exceeded $2.5 million.

Guiding the movement for Connecticut is a vision of "...strengthening effective management practice and establishing a continuum of child care and support services that children and parents need" (Family Resource Center, ND.). This model strives for the following seven components:

1. Full-time preschool child care
2. School-age child care
3. Families in training
4. Adult Education
5. Support and training for family day care providers
6. Positive youth development services
7. Resource and referral services

(Family Resource Center, (ND).)

Although each family center has a unique mission that reflects the nature of the community, one goal they have in common is "connection." Successful family centers consistently cross boundaries to serve individual families and connect them with the greater community. Families that are connected to local support systems are less at risk for many problems, including school failure and abuse.

This connection can be initiated in a large or small way. The Center on School, Family and Community Partnerships has the following recommendations for starting a family center in your school:

* Get parents involved--offer coffee and doughnuts, and welcome younger siblings.
* Get the principal involved--include him/her in all meetings
* Find a space--remember that size is less important than the purpose.
* Make it comfortable--ask for donations of couch, tables, coffee pot.
* Staff the center--recruit a volunteer or pay a parent from the community.
* Don't give up--remember that change takes time.

(Johnson, Vivian.(ND) Building Community: How to Start a Family Center in Your School Family Center Starter Kit.)

Sources:

Family Resource Center. (ND). Middletown, CT: State Department of Education State Dept. of Education, 25 Industrial Park Road, Middletown, CT 06457.
Johnson, Vivian. (ND). Building Community: How to Start a Family Center in Your School. Family Center Starter Kit. Center on School, Family and Community Partnerships, Johns Hopkins University, 3505 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Telephone: 410-516-8800

For more information on developing a family resource center in your community, you may wish to contact the organizations we've included in the following list of resources.

Kari Sweeney, Program Manager, Connecticut Family Resource Centers, Connecticut State Dept. of Education, 25 Industrial Park Road, Middletown, CT 06457. Telephone: 860-638-4209

Center on School, Family and Community Partnerships, Johns Hopkins University, 3505 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Telephone: 410-516-8800

Healthy Universal Beginnings; Attn: Jean Briggs, Chapter 1 Director, Woodman Park School, Dover NH 03820.