Resource Development

Marshall County Family Resource Center

The FRN, in partnership with local family support agencies, is establishing a Family Resource Center (FRC) to operate out of The Sanford Center in Moundsville, West Virginia. The FRC will bring local family and community resources together into the same venue, increasing the reach and cooperation of each, and expanding awareness and access to these services for all local families.

The FRC's community-based programs will support family strengths, promote community investment and ownership, and provide the needed resources for families to improve their family well-being and reduce the risk of child abuse, child neglect, and juvenile delinquency. The FRN has already secured a great number of important partners in this plan. These partners include locals schools, the local DHHR office, juvenile justice systems, area mental health programs, local health departments, and most importantly, local families themselves who desire more accessible and unified community resources.

The FRN does not seek to replace or compete with local services, but to coordinate and facilitate county-wide partnerships that enhance and expand the reach of Marshall County's services to wider populations.

It is abundantly clear from the great support offered by so many local organizations that there is certainly an important need in Marshall County for the unifying and coordinating role of the FRN's FRC. With the combined outreach and referral services of each agency working in tandem, Marshall County families will also be assured of being linked with the most relevant and beneficial resources our community has to offer.

The Family Resource Center will be a place to go for information events, programs for families and youth both onsite and offsite.  Moreover, being located in an active community center, already offering a growing amount of community programs for all ages, ensures that the FRC will have warm and welcoming atmosphere. The vision of this FRC is of a broad community center that centralizes Marshall County's resources to meet the needs and enrich the lives of all Marshall County families.

 

Strategic Planning and Development Program

The FRN is beginning a new Strategic Planning and Development Program in Marshall County.  Through this program, the FRN staff will be able to provide training and technical support to community organizations in the areas of assessment, capacity building, planning, implementation, evaluation, and sustainability.  Staff will also provide training and technical assistance in the areas of facilitation, grant writing, and grant administration.

Much of the success that the FRN has experienced is due to strategic planning.  Before tackling any community issue, staff members assess available data to determine if there is in fact an actual problem to be solved.  The FRN then work with community partners to develop a plan to address the problem.  One component of every plan is an evaluation.  Staff members compare original assessment data to data obtained after the FRN and its partners have intervened.  This allows staff members and community partners to determine if progress has been made on the issue.

 

Success in Strategic Planning

One example of the FRN’s successes due to strategic planning is in the area of substance abuse prevention.  In 2006, the FRN was awarded a Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant.  With the input of from the Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition, the FRN staff developed a comprehensive substance abuse prevention plan for Marshall County.  Through this plan and a variety of evidence-based interventions, the illegal underage alcohol sales rates in the county declined from 93.75% in 2008 to 12.62% in 2009.  The FRN and the coalition also helped to bring change to WV legislation in the area of underage drinking, changing the law from a status offense to a delinquency offense in 2009.

Having experienced such success as a result of strategic planning, the FRN decided to formally share its knowledge with other community groups.  In 2010, the FRN applied for and was awarded the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant for Region One in WV.  This grant funds the FRN’s United in Prevention (UP) Project.  Through the UP Project, the FRN staff provides community coalitions and organizations in sixteen counties training in thee Strategic Prevention Framework (assessment, capacity building, planning, implementation, evaluation, and sustainability) and worked with them to develop comprehensive substance abuse prevention plans for each county in the region.  To date, prevention professionals in Tyler and Harrison Counties have used their plan to leverage additional substance abuse prevention funds for their communities.