The Children & Family Services Center is a highly efficient nine-agency source of assistance. The agencies at this central location collaborate with each other and with agencies throughout the county, such as the United Way, Crisis Assistance Ministry, and The Family Center, to offer comprehensive services to clients. In this way, coordinators can make sure each family member gets the exact help he or she needs, whether from an internal agency or outside source.

What we'll do even better:

• Reduce crime
• Reduce homelessness
• Enhance community
• Foster self reliance
• Educate children properly
• Keep families together
• Decrease abuse & neglect

Going Where We're Needed Most
The easier it is for people to get assistance, the faster they can regain dignity and independence.  In considering a location for the Children & Family Services Center, First Ward seemed a natural choice. This community of mixed housing and incomes is thought to be the most diverse of uptown's four wards. The Children & Family Services Center will not only add to the ongoing revitalization of First Ward, but will enhance the overall urban community development of Charlotte.  First Ward's very transformation from a neighborhood dominated by a blighted public housing complex to a vibrant community is an ideal metaphor for the kind of empowerment we wish to foster through this Center. From a practical standpoint, First Ward is near public transportation and court systems, putting help within easy reach.  The Children & Family Services Center is seen as a vital contribution to the City Within A City (CWAC) initiative. Supporters of the Center helped it acquire land that is leased from the City of Charlotte on a long-term basis. This arrangement is what allows for a cost significantly below market rate.  It is estimated that roughly $500,000 annually can be redirected to assist families.

Proposed Children & Family Services Center

• Architect: Stanfield Studios
• Contractor: Shelco, Inc.
• Developer: New South Properties
• Bordered by Davidson, Alexander, Fifth and Sixth Streets
• Completion Goal: Early 2003
• Five stories
• 100,000 sq. ft. total
• 68,000 sq. ft. Children & Family Services Center
• 32,000 sq. ft. available to third parties at competitive market rental rates

These nine agencies have performed valiantly in the toughest of circumstances.  Imagine what they can do when collaboration is maximized!  They are all well established, private, non-profit agencies operating to serve children and families in our community.

Since there is no profit or little glory in this work, the agencies perform because of their deep commitment to those less fortunate.  When the question, "Isn't there someone who can do something?" is asked, these men and women are honored to be that someone.

Description

Founded in 1989, A Child’s Place ensures the physical, educational, social and emotional needs of homeless children are met, enabling them to succeed in school.

Mission

To erase the impact of homelessness on children and their education.

Clients Served & Programs
ACP Social Work Teams are located in six CMS elementary schools with high numbers of homeless students.  ACP’s primary program goal is to ensure homeless children in our area have the tools they need to learn, from clothing and school supplies to medical care and tutors for children who have fallen behind.  Secondarily, ACP Social Workers help shorten children’s periods of homelessness by assisting homeless parents’ efforts to identify and resolve the issues behind their housing crisis.  Services are available to CMS-enrolled children and their families.

Description
Founded in 1888, Alexander Youth Network provides a comprehensive array of services developed to treat children with, or at risk for, serious emotional disturbance.

Mission
Alexander Youth Network provides quality professional treatment to children with, or at risk of, serious emotional and behavioral problems.  We deliver an effective and efficient array of services, enabling children and their families to exercise self determination, achieve their potential, and become positive contributors to society.

Clients Served & Programs
Alexander Youth Network offers a continuum of services designated to provide a more stable progression from one level of treatment to another.  The wide array of services offers continuity when a child "steps down" to a less restrictive, less intensive level of care and treatment.

Alexander operates programs serving children from 5 to 18 years of age, including:
-Residential Treatment
-Day Treatment
-Outpatient Therapy
-Therapeutic Foster Care
-Multisystemic Therapy
-Home-based Family Services
-Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF)
-Group Home Treatment
-Programs for youth offenders and sexually aggressive youth
-The Relatives Crisis Shelter

Services are provided by trained staff that include certified therapists, licensed clinical social workers, licensed psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists and board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrists.

Description

Founded in 1985. Connects community resources with children, youth, and families at the children's schools.

Mission

To help young people stay in school, successfully learn, and prepare for life by connecting needed community resources with schools.

Clients Served & Programs

Description

Established in 1955, Community Health Services compassionately provides preventive healthcare for underserved children and adults.  Our services target Mecklenburg County residents who are uninsured, underinsured, or otherwise lacking access to affordable, timely, and high quality health care. 

Mission

To empower individuals with limited resources to establish and maintain good health.

Vision

All residents in our community have access to high quality, affordable, and timely healthcare.

Description
Founded in 1929. Functions to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty.

Mission 
To utilize community resources efficiently to provide effective individualized long-term services to break the cycle of poverty among individuals and families.

Clients Served & Programs
Last year helped more than 100 families move from shelters into apartments. Customized services link clients to counseling, job training, educational programs, substance abuse programs, and any other resource needed to move toward independence. Support may last up to two years.

Description

The Council for Children’s Rights is unique to the region and offers the most comprehensive range of specialized advocacy and legal services for children in North Carolina.

Mission

Our mission is to protect, promote, and passionately represent children, their needs, and their issues, by providing a unified, comprehensive continuum of advocacy and legal services for children’s issues, including research, legal representation, best interest advocacy, systems advocacy, and public education. 

Clients Served & Programs

Council for Children's Rights works primarily in the areas of special education, abuse/neglect, mental health, custody, domestic violence, and juvenile justice; however, we take on any case where we feel that a child is in danger or when their right to receive government or community services mandated by law is in jeopardy of being violated. 

Description

Smart Start of Mecklenburg County is the local chapter of a statewide public-private initiative, operating as a nonprofit that funds community programs to improve the quality, affordability, and accessibility of family support, health and early care & education services. 

Mission

To ensure that all children ages birth to five in Mecklenburg County enter school healthy and ready to succeed. 

Clients Served & Programs

With more than 75,000-plus children, Smart Start partners with community organizations to provide the necessary services to achieve its mission.   A few of these services include: child care subsidy, pre-k classrooms for bilingual and at-risk children, advanced education for child care providers, dental services, community education and outreach. 

Description

Founded in 1909 as a human services agency offering programs and counseling services to strengthen and support individuals, families and communities in Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Union and South Iredell Counties. 

Mission

To inspire individuals, families and communities to find solutions that create a better future.

Clients Served & Programs

Description

Youth Homes Inc. is a COA nationally accredited, private non-profit agency that has been providing foster care and supportive services to children and families in Charlotte/Mecklenburg County since 1975.

Mission

To build promising futures with children and their families.

Clients Served & Programs

Capacity to serve more than 200 children & families daily YHI provides an array of responsive programs to give hope, help and healing to children in need of temporary out-of home care and to youth and families in need of supportive services and care.

• YHI Foster Care Services (Family, Specialized & Independent Living)
• YHI Delinquency Prevention Services (Emergency/Second Wind, Temporary, MST)
• YHI In-Home Family Services (Intensive, Traditional, Family Restoration)
• YHI Therapeutic Foster Care (Professional Parenting)

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