Spring, 2001, No. 10 National Network of Partnership Schools
Project in Grand Blanc, Michigan Provides Valuable Resource to Parents
The Resource and Referral Booklet project was submitted to the National Network’s collection of Promising Partnership Practices—2000 by District Facilitator Martha Weiss, of Grand Blanc Community Schools. The goal of the project was to create a parent-friendly information booklet that identified current, accurate, and relevant referral resources in the community for the district’s families. With this information, more parents would be able to find appropriate services to support their families and children.
A district level team of social workers, psychologists, and mental health professionals met to determine the most common needs and requests of families in the district. Similar meetings were held with directors of programs such as Parents as Partners, Children’s Garden, and Family Service Centers. Social workers and psychologists were asked to designate the professionals and agencies from the Resource Book that they would recommend based on past experience.
Many Local Services
Based on information gained from these professionals, the Resource and Referral Booklet contains listings for clothing assistance, counseling assistance, education support services, food assistance, hotlines, legal assistance, parenting information and services, support groups, and other referral sources. A strong effort was made to list resources that were geographically close to families in the Grand Blanc Community School District. This made the district Resource and Referrals Booklet more user-friendly than references for services at great distances from across the county.
The Resource and Referral Booklet listed the names of the professionals and agencies, their addresses and phone numbers, and a brief description of the services provided. A final phone call was made to each of the contact persons to check for accuracy before the booklet was printed.
Widespread Distribution
Copies of the Resource and Referral Booklet were distributed to the home-school liaisons in all elementary schools, the counselors in all middle and high schools, and the social workers and directors of programs within the school district. All of these leaders make the booklet available to families as needed.
Adapted from: Promising Partnership Practices—2000, National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University.
