A 'Nurturing Place' for kids

Benjamin Bullard, The Cullman Times, Ala.
Updated ·2 min read

Apr. 27—It's been ten years since The Link of Cullman County first set out to serve as a local resource for people in crisis (or simply in times of difficult transition). After gaining the community's support and growing early, the nonprofit moved from its Third Avenue home to the former campus of the East Cullman Church of Christ in 2017, appropriating the facility piece by piece to accommodate its expanding roster of services.

This week, The Link took its next big step, cutting the ribbon on a newly-renovated on-campus children's center officially known as the Nurturing Place. Located in a church campus house that's been adaptively repurposed with young people in mind, the Nurturing Place is anchored by a spacious kitchen (vital as a teaching tool in the nonprofit's nutrition-focused parenting education program), with separate spaces for reception, child tutoring and reading, and consultation areas for both one-on-one sessions and for small groups.

Intended as a day-use facility with security measures built in, the Nurturing Place was funded through local contributions as well as in-kind sweat equity and donated materials. The result is a cozily appointed center that still feels like a home environment — only brighter, more modern in its appointments, and designed to give the children and families it serves appropriate areas to address their specific needs.

Those services can range from parental visitation between children and parents whose court-ordered custody arrangements prescribe supervised meetings, after-school tutoring through The Link's Volunteers in Public Schools program, a 30-student summertime day camp that focuses on educational enrichment, and life skills education for young parents (with director Melissa Betts relating that 81 children were born last year to Cullman County parents aged 17 or younger).

"Having our children have a space designed just for them; a place they can be safe when they come here and need service, was just such a need for us," Betts explained of the new center's origins. "We started dreaming about what that could look like...and decided that this little house will be the perfect answer.

"...All of our children's services were previously in our other building, and safety was a huge concern for us. So we created this space for the services we offer to children — with the dream that this be that safe space."

Benjamin Bullard can be reached by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 234.