Family Resource Centers

Family resource centers are sometimes called family support centers, family centers, parent-child resource centers, family resource schools, or parent education centers. Family resource centers serve diverse populations and are located in a variety of community settings, including churches, school buildings, hospitals, housing projects, restored buildings, or new structures. Family resource centers promote both the strengthening of families through formal and informal support and the restoration of a strong sense of community. Services may include:

• Parent skill training
• Drop-in centers
• Home visiting
• Job training
• Substance abuse prevention
• Violence prevention
• Services for children with special needs
• Mental health or family counseling
• Childcare
• Literacy
• Respite and crisis care services
• Assistance with basic economic needs
• Housing

Best Practices: A Guide for Family Resource Centers (PDF - 119 KB)
United Way of Metropolitan Nashville (2001)
Describes a wide range of model programs and practices, including review projects conducted by Federal agencies and private foundations.

Building Blocks for the Sustainable FRC (PDF - 879 KB)
Armstrong & Alderson
Working Strategies, 8(3), 2005
Outlines four factors important for ensuring the sustainability of family resource centers and other family support programs.

Family Resource Centers: L.A.'s Opportunity to Strengthen and Support Families: A Report to the Los Angeles County Children and Families First Proposition 10 Commission (PDF - 564 KB)
Los Angeles County Children's Planning Council (2001)
Findings from a survey of family resource centers (FRCs) and site visits to 17 model FRCs in Los Angeles, with recommendations for improving services.

Family Resource Centers: "The Money Is Out There!": Sustaining Family Support Programs in a Time of Budget Cuts
Franklin
Children's Advocate, 2004
Seven steps for family support programs to sustain financial support.

Family Resource Centers: Vehicles for Change (PDF - 1,018 KB)
California Family Resource Center Learning Circle (2000)
The characteristics of effective family resource centers that are intended to strengthen families and communities.

Financing Family Resource Centers: A Guide to Funding Sources and Strategies (PDF - 950 KB)
Finance Project (2000)
Describes the characteristics of family resource centers, principles and strategies for financing them, current financing resources, and potential reforms for improving the financing movement.

Issue Topic: Family Resource Centers
Harvard Family Research Project
The Evaluation Exchange, 1996
A collection of articles exploring alternative ways of evaluating family resource centers.

Poverty and Family Resource Centers: Where We Are Today (PDF - 956 KB)
Marcus & Alderson
Working Strategies, 8(2), 2004
Reports statistics about poverty in California and describes how family resource centers can promote social change by coordinating community services to support poor families.

Santa Clara County's Comprehensive Services to Parents: Non-Threatening, Approachable and Engaging (PDF - 46 KB)
Fisher (2005)
Describes how the county implemented a nonthreatening approach for working with parents by developing community-based Family Resource Centers and utilizing Team Decision-Making in their Family to Family program.

Smart Cuts or Dumb Cuts: Family Support Programs in Tight Budget Times (PDF - 234 KB)
Gardner
What Works Policy Brief, 6, 2003
Reviews strategies for partnering with other community organizations, targeting clients, and financing operations.

Strategies: Strengthening Organizations to Support Families and Communities
California Office of Child Abuse Prevention
Offers publications, tools, and information on training and events to assist family resource centers and family support programs in the State of California.

A Study of New York State's Family Resource Center Network (PDF - 636 KB)
Center for Human Services Research (2006)
Provides a background and history of the family support movement, a basic description of the Family Resource Center Network, data from the program's management information system, and results from an administrative survey.

Using Family Resource Centers to Support California's Young Children and Their Families (PDF - 232 KB)
Waddell, Shannon, & Durr (2001)
Offers an overview of a family resource center and provides a list of recommendations to support the creation of an integrated system of information and services in support of the needs of families and young children.