The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Family Resource Center concerns addressed
Wickliffe residents got an opportunity to speak out about the Family Resource Center that the district plans to open, at a recent community meeting.
Attendees submitted written questions following presentations from Wickliffe Schools Superintendent Joseph Spiccia, Wickliffe Fire Chief James Powers, Lake County ADAMHS Board Executive Director Kim Fraser and Lake County Health District Commissioner Ron Graham.
Residents questioned how the center will be funded in the future; why it has to be located at the high school; what will be the hours of operations and how secure will it be?
The Family Resource Center
will be designed to bring together services and activities that educate, develop skills and promote health and well-being to improve outcomes for individuals, families and the community, Spiccia said.
“Our goal is that it will be self-sustaining,” he said. “The continuation of the center will come from assistance from our agency partners. Our partners will be staffing the facility and they are going to help us by paying a small fee to help balance out our utilities and custodial and maintenance costs. We are not interested, as a school district, in turning this into a revenue source.”
For four years, Spiccia and Director of Strategic Innovation Julie Ramos have been trying to establish a family resource center to meet the needs of the community.
First, the district received a $45,000 grant to conduct a feasibility study. The study revealed that every year about 1,500 residents would benefit from such a facility and it would have a positive economic impact on the community by creating jobs.
Following the feasibility study, they began seeking funding from the state capital budget with the help of state Sen. Kenny Yuko, DRichmond Heights, and his office.
As a result Wickliffe Schools was awarded a $250,000 grant for the family resource project.
Upon receiving the funding, Spiccia said they inquired about several properties in the city, but those facilities did not meet their needs.
“What the data indicates to us is that when these centers are located in schools, they are used more widely in the community,” he said. “It is the centralized and proximal place that people will come to.”
The plan is to renovate the former metal shop in the high school.
“It is the best and least costly space,” he said. “We are going to build a wall that will separate the Family Resource Center from the school building. This space will have its own entrance and its own exit.”
Spiccia said he hopes it will be renovated and ready to open by the end of January or early February 2019. The hours have not been finalized.
The center will provide educational programming, healthcare and social services to students, families and the community. While drug/alcohol treatment, psychiatric services and advanced medical services will not be provided, refer- rals will be offered.
Partners will include Lakeland Community College, College Now, AWT, Lake Health, Lake County General Health District, Signature Health Crossroads, Beacon Health, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Forbes House and Lifeline 211.
There is a great need for these resources on the western end of Lake County, Spiccia said.
“What research tells us is people who need social service assistance or people who need healthcare assistance rarely, if ever, travel more than 10 miles from home,” he said. “In the last five years we have more than doubled our enrollment in Crossroads counseling programs for our students. We also identified an increase of almost twice as many families in the district who are economically disadvantaged. With economic disadvantage comes other disadvantages from a social services, healthcare, family wellness perspective.”
Those circumstances also create negative academic outcomes from an educational standpoint for students, Spiccia added.
“We believe we have an ethical obligation to serve the members of our community,” he said. “The only way we can be successful as a community and the only way we can be successful as a school district is to ensure the health and well-being of everyone in it.”
Frasier said there is a ripple effect of mental illness and substance use disorder, but if people can get connected to resources, the classrooms will be healthier and the community as a whole will be healthier.
Graham said there are many educational, health and economic benefits of having a Family Resource Center.
“I’m in support of this, so people can have a better quality of life,” Powers said. “We need to make a difference in this community and this a great opportunity to make that difference.”