The Families First for Mississippi Resource Center is now open in downtown Indianola and Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat came by recently for a special visit to welcome the children and their parents to the new facility.
“This is one of the best kept secrets in Mississippi,” resource center Director Ben Gaston said.
Gaston is inviting the community to come and see what the center has to offer and take advantage of its many services.
The pronounced mission of Families First is to provide quality educational and support services in a family-based and child friendly environment to promote healthy families and communities. Gaston said one of their funding partners is the Mississippi Department of Human Services, so Families First has adopted the Generation Plus approach to helping Mississippi families.
He said DHS provides lots of referrals and as a result, the center could actually be serving three different generations of one family at one time.
“We deal with the whole family, not just one individual,” said Gaston. He explained that they do an initial assessment and whatever is needed they can help.
If the father needs help with a job, there are certain things that can be done through workforce development to help the wage-earner. Or, if a child is experiencing issues, they can assist with that, but if not, there are referrals that can be made.
“We even get the grandparents involved,” Gaston said. He cited that all of the concerns are apt to be related.
As part of the services that Families First provides, they are also working together with the court systems to get referrals from the drug courts plus chancery and circuit courts.
One of their more widely known undertakings is the online high school graduation program, which is accredited through the state of Mississippi. Gaston said it was implemented to assist Gentry High and Ruleville Central High students in getting their diploma but a great number of older adults enroll in order to acquire their high school diploma. He said some are 60 years old.
“It’s not a GED now, it is a diploma because they have to actually go through the courses and they learn from those courses just like you did when you were in high school,” said Gaston. Janice Galloway facilitates the program.
In addition to the high school courses, the center offers classes in effective parenting, co-parenting, healthy relationships, domestic violence, anger management, conflict resolution, plus a variety of soft skills and life skills.
“We use our social workers to teach classes,” Gaston said.
Classes are conducted after-hours for parents that work during the day as well as during the day for parents who work at night. The center even provides a playroom area so children can be kept occupied while their parents take part in the classes. The computer learning-lab can accommodate up to 10 adults at once.
Classes are held at the Front Street location or in some cases taken off-site. Gaston said they also partner with several faith-based groups and will go to the organization to teach classes.
For more information on class schedules and services, stop in at the 100 Front Street location, the former Atmos Energy building, or visit online at: www.familiesfirstforms.org or www.frcnms.org.
