Akron Public Schools, United Way to expand Family Resource Centers into the Ellet cluster

Akron Public Schools is expanding its Family Resource Centers — places for students, families and community members to receive anything from toiletries to financial coaching — into the Ellet cluster of schools.

The district will open a new resource center inside Hyre Community Learning Center this fall. It will be the first to operate in a middle school building.

The centers are staffed and operated by United Way of Summit and Medina Counties, but have strong partnerships with the school district, which pays the upfront costs to outfit the center with furniture and another needs that turn unused classroom or office area into more of a living room type of space.

The centers allow for a full-time person to be on hand other than school staff for whatever needs arise during the day, whether it's a student who came to school hungry or a family that had its electricity shut off overnight. The centers host engagement nights with families, providing meals and coaching on topics like resume building and tax preparation. They can also refer families to resources that already exist in the community for issues like housing and jobs.

"It's a place where our families feel welcomed and they're able to be connected to referrals or different resources in the community to meant their specific need," Director of Student and Family Services Wanda Lash said told a school board committee this week.

The centers are housed in schools, but they are open to the whole community. Ellet will be the fifth cluster to have a Family Resource Center. They currently operate in the Garfield cluster at McEbright CLC, the Buchtel cluster at Helen Arnold CLC, the East cluster at Robinson CLC, and in the North cluster at North High School.

Another similar center exists at the I Promise School but it serves only I Promise families.

Lash said the goal is to have a Family Resource Center in every cluster of schools. That would require one more center to open in the Firestone cluster.

Larry Bender, principal of Hyre middle school, said he has been asking for more support in the Ellet cluster for a while.

Bender, an Akron native, said he knows the perception of Ellet is if a neighborhood with more stability. But his students face many of the same challenges as students anywhere in the city, he said, including a lack of basic needs like housing, heat, food and clothing. His staff has tried to meet needs and close gaps where they can.

"I know of families with no electric, no water," Bender said. "Our PTA’s tried to help out. Individually, we’ve done it. This is a community — they’re hurting."

Bender said he was thrilled for the addition of the resource center to help address the barriers that keep students from doing well in school, or even coming to school at all.

"This community's a very proud community, but not a lot of resources available," Bender said. "The Family Resource Center's going to help give our parents and our families the resources they need to make us even a stronger cluster, and especially Hyre, a stronger building."

Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron Public Schools to add Family Resource Center to Ellet cluster