LANSING – Family Independence Agency (FIA) Director Marianne Udow announced today that a new Family Resource Center opened at Hull Middle School in Benton Harbor. This is one of 20 new centers opening across the state this school year. The addition of these 20 centers brings to 39 the total number of Family Resource Centers operating in Michigan schools.

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has responded to the challenge of turning around Michigan’s schools by creating school-based Family Resource Centers that are using a collaborative approach to improve human service delivery to school-aged children and their families.

“Family Resource Centers help children meet high standards by bringing the assistance that families need directly to them,” Governor Jennifer M. Granholm said. “Each center pools community resources of local agencies so that families can more efficiently access services. The collaboration helps families and students get the important services they need while allowing teachers and school officials to concentrate on their most important duty – educating tomorrow’s leaders.”

The FIA leads this initiative, which is supported by the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet. The Children’s Cabinet, chaired by FIA Director Marianne Udow, is focused on strengthening early childhood development and education programs and training of child care workers in Michigan.

Family Resource Centers have been established in selected priority elementary and middle schools throughout the state. The centers provide state and local agency child and family services in the school building and embody the state’s commitment to community partnerships. The FIA has relocated existing staff to schools at all 39 centers.

These centers are designed to help the schools improve academic performance by creating more efficient access to community services. In addition, the centers have goals to increase parental involvement and decrease absenteeism and behavior problems in school.

“Our staff members and those from affiliated agencies act as central coordination points for families with children in the schools,” Udow said. “These are priority services for our agency that we believe provide early intervention and prevent longer-term consequences for children and families.”

Site selection was based upon need – participating educational institutions are priority schools with more than half of their students qualifying for free or reduced lunches. In addition, school and local officials and community partners expressed interest in having the FIA work on standards to measure the latter three outcomes during the 2004-05 school year. Academic performance is measured on MEAP tests.

The new centers listed below are opening in 20 schools throughout the state:

County	City/District	School
Berrien	Benton Harbor	Hull Elementary School
Calhoun	Albion	Washington Gardner Elementary School
Ingham	Lansing	Wexford Elementary School
Jackson	Jackson	T.A. Wilson School
Kalamazoo	Kalamazoo	Spring Valley Elementary School
Kent	Grand Rapids	Burton Elementary School
Lenawee	Adrian	Michener Elementary School
Muskegon	Muskegon Hts.	Charles A. Lindbergh Elementary School
Muskegon	Muskegon	Marquette Elementary School
Oakland	Pontiac	Owen Elementary School
Oakland	Oak Park	Pepper Elementary School
Ottawa	West Ottawa	Pine Creek Elementary School
Presque	Isle Onaway	Onaway Elementary School
Saginaw	Buena Vista	C.F. Brunkow Elementary School
Saginaw	Buena Vista	Ricker Elementary School
Wayne	Detroit	Drew Middle School
Wayne	Detroit	Jordan Elementary School
Wayne	Detroit	McMichael Middle School
Wayne	Detroit	Webster Elementary School
Wayne	Detroit	Winship Elementary School

The new Family Resource Centers will follow a model developed in these 19 schools that were opened in the 2003-04 school year. Those schools were:

County	City/District	School
Berrien	Benton Harbor	Sorter Elementary School
Calhoun	Battle Creek	Ann J. Kellogg Elementary School
Genesee	Flint	Bryant Elementary School
Genesee	Flint	Durant Turri Mott Elementary School
Genesee	Flint	Washington Elementary School
Ingham	Lansing	Grand River Magnet Elementary School
Kent	Grand Rapids	Harrison Park Elementary School
Lenawee	Adrian	McKinley Elementary School
Macomb	Mt. Clemens	Mt. Clemens Middle School
Muskegon	Muskegon	Steele Junior High School
Saginaw	Saginaw	Heavenrich Elementary School
Wayne	Detroit	Bellevue Elementary School
Wayne	Detroit	McFarlane Elementary School
Wayne	Detroit	Sherrard Elementary School
Wayne	Detroit	Stewart Elementary School
Wayne	Detroit	Von Steuben Elementary School
Wayne	Hamtramck	Kosciuszko Elementary School
Wayne	Highland Park	Cortland Elementary School
Wayne	Taylor	Myers Elementary School