Family Resource Centers

The primary goal of school Family Resources and Youth Services Centers (FRYSC) is to remove nonacademic barriers to learning as a means to enhance student academic success. 

     In order to best serve the students in our community and their families they maintain an office on each campus. Each center offers a unique blend of programs and services determined by the needs of the population being served, available resources, location and other local characteristics.

Family Resource Centers serve children under school age and in elementary school and coordinate:

• Preschool child care;
• After-school child day care;
• Families in training;
• Family literacy services; and,
• Health services and referrals.

Youth Services Centers serve students in middle and high school and coordinate:

• Referrals to health and social services;
• Career exploration and development;
• Summer and part-time job development (high school only);
• Substance abuse education and counseling; and,
• Family crisis and mental health counseling.

     FRYSCs have established a record of success based on improved student performance in class work, homework and peer relations as reported by teachers. Parents, too, report they experience greater satisfaction and involvement with the schools as a result of assistance through their local FRYSCs.

     The Kentucky Family Resource and Youth Services Centers were established as a component of the historic Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990. The mission of these school-based centers is to help academically at-risk students by enhancing the students’ ability to succeed in school through developing and sustaining partnerships that promote:

• Early learning and successful transition to school;
• Academic achievement and well-being; and
• Graduation and transition into adult life.

     FRYSCs are strengthened by community partnerships in their ability to provide vital programs, services and referrals to students and their families. These partnerships are critical in efforts that work on behalf of the students they serve.

     One part of First Christian Church’s efforts to advocate for children’s needs within our community is to join in partnership with these Family Resource Centers in the Paris and Bourbon County schools. Our Operation Back-Pack and Stuff the Bus programs will be ongoing collections that will be put directly into the hands of our children in need. Operation Back-Pack offers nutritious, easy to open individual food that little hands can manage themselves. These food items are discreetly placed in children and youth’s backpacks on Friday afternoons to ensure that children in low-income families are receiving nourishment over weekends and long holidays. We are adjusting our Stuff the Bus to not only collect back to school supplies in the fall, but to also make sure these Family Resource Centers have the wherewithal to supply the needs of students throughout the year to remove these non-academic barriers to learning.  The table in the fellowship hall will be our collection point for these items. Please keep up with requests throughout the year in our weekly newsletter.

Blessings,
Tracy