AIU Family Centers
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o the Commun t e g d i ity Br
By Dan Rinkus
Bluey!
T h e F a m i ly C e n t e r ’ s P u r p o s e The AIU’s 10 family centers are part of the Family and Community Education Services (FACES) branch of the AIU’s Early Childhood, Family and Community Services (ECFCS) division. It’s a wide ranging division that puts an emphasis on the success of the family unit — and every member of it — in every phase of life. “A family center is embedded in the community,” Duquesne and Wilkinsburg Site Director Medina Goudelock said. “They are here to help families through good and bad — ups and downs.”
It started with the music, a playful theme song familiar to many parents of small children. Then, miraculously, a blue dog — six feet tall and made of felt — appeared. “Bluey!” a group of children screamed in unison. The famous pup bounded into McKeesport’s Renzie Park and was instantly greeted with hugs and high-fives. The children danced, sang and snagged selfies with Bluey, the eponymous star of one of their favorite shows. It was a highlight of the annual Spring Around Story Time event, engineered in part by the AIU’s McKeesport Family Center. Little did they know, the person portraying Bluey was Laurie Bosnak Thompson, the center’s senior site director and one of the people responsible for the event. “It was so hot, I thought I was going to melt!” she said later. “But it’s a great thing to do for the kiddos.” That’s just one example of the lengths that staff from the AIU’s Family Centers will go to enrich families’ lives. 28
To that end, the structure of each family center differs depending on the size and complexity of each community’s needs. Hybrid family centers are located in Clairton, Homestead, McKeesport and Tarentum. Those centers primarily focus on families that have children from birth through age 18. “[Hybrid centers] have a resource manager, they have someone who can help with housing, they have someone who can help with WIC (Women, Infants and Children special nutritional program),” Goudelock said. Home Visiting family centers serve Duquesne, McKees Rocks, Penn Hills, Wilkinsburg and Wilmerding. They primarily provide services at home to families who have children from birth to age five. Meanwhile, the Carnegie Family Center is solely focused on resources for families, including monthly groups. However, every AIU Family Center can collect and distribute resources, including groceries and baby items. They offer everything from education to family counseling and birthday parties to parenting resources. The centers also support each other. Goudelock spoke over the din of children’s music at the same Spring Around Story Time event where other family centers were in attendance, along with representatives from Head Start and Project ELECT, a program that works with Allegheny County school districts to help teen parents attain their high school diplomas or GEDs. “We want to give our families the chance to be on an even playing field,” Goudelock said. “We have those supports in place if they need them.”
S ta r t i n g A n E d u c at i o n The AIU’s Family Centers are a stepping stone for local families who are starting their children’s educational journey. It’s a journey that starts with a knock on the door during a home visit. “Whether they ask us or not, we encourage [attending] pre-school,” said East Allegheny Site Director Melissa Rider during a rainy spring morning in her office. “Since we have a Pre-K Counts classroom in our building, we make that initial referral to them.” Whether it’s the AIU’s Head Start, Early Head Start or Pre-K Counts programs, it’s not just a matter of shuttling children into one classroom or another. “Assessing a child’s education needs is critical, not only to the child’s success, but to the family’s peace of mind,” Rider said as rain pelted her window. Allegheny Intermediate Unit • aiu3.net