Building Strong Families, Individuals & Children

The Families, Individuals and Children (FIC) Community Council seeks to support and enhance community systems that make stronger individuals and families. To achieve this goal, the council works with programs that support effective parenting, strengthen the safety net for children and reduce family violence. The FIC Council also coordinates partnerships around the community to more fully address needs of citizens. 
 
The United Way has offered two rounds of competitive funding (2004 and 2005) for programs that target priorities in Facing Facts. Councils also work on a variety of Community Initiatives and projects to address the priorities of Facing Facts. To follow is a summary of the current work of the Families, Individuals and Children Community Council.
 
FIC Council Chair: Randy Scott, Richland County Sheriff's Office
United Way of the Midlands Director: Malik Whitaker
 

Families, Individuals & Children Community Council
Grants & Initiatives by Priority

 
 
Priority I. Supporting Effective Parenting  
 
As a family-focused treatment center for child abuse and neglect, The Nurturing Center has joined together with ParentingPartners, Sistercare and LRADAC to form the Midlands Effective Parenting Partnership (MEPP). The purpose of this partnership is to provide collaborative, coordinated services to families who are dealing with multiple risk factors that hinder effective parenting – specifically domestic violence, drugs, alcohol and other substance abuse and child abuse and neglect. This partnership focuses on coordinating services for families with children birth through age five in Richland and Lexington counties. Each partner agency offers its own specialized services to address these risk factors. The Nurturing Center provides treatment services, ParentingPartners provides in-home parenting services and parenting classes, Sistercare provides treatment and prevention for victims of domestic violence and LRADAC offers counseling and intervention to those who abuse alcohol, drugs and other substances. MEPP participants are recruited through the four MEPP agencies, as well as through referrals from local county DSS offices, schools and other community partners. Participating parents are demonstrating increased knowledge of child development and parenting skills and benefit from coordinated intervention and treatment plans. The MEPP grant was renewed in 2007 at $70,000.  
 
Priority II. Promoting Quality Care & Education  
 
Reaching for the Stars is a collaborative effort by Volunteers of America of the Carolinas and Vital Connections of the Midlands that targets young children ages six weeks to five years of families with social and economic risk factors linked to school failure, such as homelessness and low income. This funding has provided for a total of 10 scholarships for at-risk children at three different child care centers. The centers are Children's Garden, Arthurtown and Tender Years – all quality, non-profit, DSS licensed child development centers that have recently achieved accreditation through the National Association for the Education of Young Children. These at-risk children and their families selected to receive United Way slots benefit from these services they otherwise would not have. Each child care center is providing quality services that are being encompassed by Reaching for the Stars' strong early childhood literacy component and a parent involvement building block. Classroom environments are being made rich in literacy and language. The vision of this collaborative venture is to help working families by providing comprehensive child care services that will help at-risk children become ready for school. This program was renewed and expanded in 2007 for $100,000.  The renewal doubles the number of children who can participate from 10 to 20.  
 
Priority III. Reducing Family Violence  
 
The Lexington County Family and Intimate Partner Violence Reduction Program is a partnership of family service agencies that work together to ensure that battered women and their children receive a comprehensive range of services designed to meet their short-term intermediate and long-term needs. As lead agency, Sistercare provides court advocacy services, which include information on victims' legal rights, assistance with filing (Orders of Protection), obtaining available evidence for law enforcement agencies, completing court papers, accompanying clients to court, and filing Victims Compensation claims; safety plan preparation; assessments, family services plans and referrals to the partner agencies. The Nurturing Center provides a therapeutic program for children that encompasses play therapy, individual therapy, group therapy, parenting skills, supervised parent-child interactions, and transportation in rural areas of Lexington County.  ParentingPartners serves family violence victims by providing home-based intervention, parent support, parenting skills education, and child abuse prevention education. The Dickerson Center for Children conducts counseling for child victims of domestic violence who have been physically or sexually abused. Court advocacy services provided through this program resulted in Lexington County Court granting 90% of the orders of protection requested. The Family Court judges, Clerk of Court and court personnel have said how the coordination, organization and specialization of services have enhanced the court process dramatically, allowing for more favorable decisions and safety for the women and their children. In 2007, the grant amount was renewed for $90,000.
 
 
Families, Individuals and Children Community Council
Non-Competitive Grants
 
Agency
Program Name
Description
2007 Funding
Alston Wilkes Society
Community Services
Support to Ex-Offenders
$72,050
Federation Center of the Blind
Community Services
Advocacy and Community Services
$6,747
Senior Resources, Inc.
Information and Referral
Information and Referral Services for Seniors
$3,227