– Ilaisa Garcia, an eighth grader at Parthum School.
By Yadira Betances
Almost one year to the day of receiving a $700,000 award from Working Families, city officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Family Resource Center.
On Jan. 15, 2014, Lawrence received the highest amount of money of the $1.8 million distributed to six Massachusetts cities. Lawrence was one of 20 municipalities in the running for the Working Cities Challenge, a competition led by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Living Cities Collaborative, the Mass Competitive Partnership, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as public and private nonprofit agencies.
The Family Resource Center is managed by Lawrence Community Works, a non-profit community development corporation that works with the city and more than 30 non profit agencies and community businesses.
Located on the lower floor of 60 Island St., the Family Resource Center has the centralized registration for all city’s schools, student support services, the special education and transportation departments.
Nelson Butten, it’s director said the center will be use by its partner agencies to offer workshops and for businesses to discusses the job opportunities available and how to apply for them.
One target group are families who are socially and economically challenged.
“If there’s instability in the family, the child does not focus in school, but if mom and dad are doing well and there is no stress or domestic violence, the child does well,” Butten said.
Another goal is to increase parent involvement in their child’s education and school. At the ribbon cutting ceremony members of the Parent Teacher Association decorated the center and many of them manned informational tables.
“This ties to the history of Lawrence as an immigrant city where people can come from places like New York like me, Dominican Republic or Guatemala and you need to build a new self, adapt and change. This place is the embodiment of that change,” said Jessica Andors, whose overseeing the initiative.
Elenita Belen agrees.
When she moved to Lawrence from Puerto Rico with her two daughters, she felt alone.
“I prayed to God, ‘This city is rejecting me. I might have to go back.’ Fifteen minutes after I said that, the telephone rang. I came here and left with a job offer,” Belen told the audience.
“You literally saved my life,” Belen concluded.
Lawrence Public Schools Receiver Jeff Riley originally came up with the plan for the Lawrence Family Initiative as part of his turnaround plan to address the connection between families economic challenges and student’s success.
“Our goal is to make it easier for parents. This is a good day for the district to come together as a community and work together on behalf of children and their families,” Riley said.
Before the Family Resource Center opened, parents had to go to different offices around the city to enroll their children in school and do other necessary errands after moving to Lawrence.
“This is a one shop facility where they can find the resources they need,” said Patricia Mariano, who represents District E on the Lawrence School Committee.
“I think the biggest advantage to the parents is that they can find all the resources in one place.”
At the ribbon cutting ceremony, members of the Lawrence High School Girl’s Choir performed and self-portraits done from telephone selfies students at Parthum School Middle School adorned the walls.
Ilaisa Garcia, an eighth grader at Parthum School was one of the students whose artwork was on display at the opening event.
“This publicity on Lawrence is good because people tend to look down on us and there is a lot of potential here,” added Garcia.
Alexis Korbey and Aileen Torres, members of the Lawrence High School Girl’s Choir were thrilled about the opportunities the center will offer.
“Lawrence is not as bad as they say. You actually have to live here to see it,” Alexis said.
Aileen agreed.
“We need to get as much support as we can and this is an amazing start. We only do better when we come together,” Aileen said.
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“Children in kindergarten through eighth grade come through here and it’s an important moment because we have a captive audience,” he said. “There is a lot of information in the community, but it’s difficult for families to streamline it so this will be the hub for that.”
Luz Rosado wished there had been a place like the Family Resource Center when she moved to Lawrence 20 years ago.
“Every time I had to go somewhere I wondered, ‘Do they speak Spanish?’ My biggest fear was that they only spoke English. As a parent I wanted the best for my three kids.” Eventually she took English as a Second language classes at Bruce School, continued her education and is now outreach and enrollment specialist at Greater Lawrence Family Health Center.
At the ribbon cutting ceremony, members of the Lawrence High School Girl’s Choir performed and self-portraits done from telephone selfies students at Parthum School Middle School adorned the walls. Several social service agencies and non profit groups set up tables to promote their services. Among them were Family Services, Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, Lawrence Training School, Northern Essex Community College, Greater Lawrence Community Action Council and Compass for Kids.
Ilaisa Garcia, an eighth grader at Parthum School was one of the students whose artwork was on display at the opening event.
“It makes me feel proud of myself,” she said of people viewing her self portrait. “This publicity on Lawrence is good because people tend to look down on us and there is a lot of potential here.“
Ilaisa said the Working Cities grant for the city.
“It will help a lot of people and open new doors,” she said. “It will be a whole new world for them which they have not done before.”
Heather Langlois, art coordinator for Lawrence Public Schools worked with the Parthum students and also created a Dr. Seuss’ inspired mural at the resource center with an inspirational quote, “Today is your day Your mountain is waiting. Go get on your way.” amid pink, orange, yellow, blue and green balloons and a castle atop a high mountain.
“This is a strong message of encouragement to the parents,” she said.
Langlois who has taught in Lawrence for 15 years is glad the city received the grant to help students and their parents.
“Our kids and families deserve the same opportunity as other communities. They work really hard and don’t get the credit they deserve and their work speaks for themselves,” Langlois said.
Alexis Korbey and Aileen Torres, members of the Lawrence High School Girl’s Choir were thrilled about the opportunities the center will offer.
“Lawrence is not as bad as they say. You actually have to live here to see it,” Alexis said.
Aileen agreed.
“We need to get as much support as we can and this is an amazing start. We only do better when we come together,” Aileen said.
“This is certainly a place where you can come together as a family,” Mayor Daniel Rivera said.
