Hope Place serves families and individuals of Escambia County with referrals, resources, support, and services. The programs below represent approximately:

¨      300 Families served monthly

¨      600 Individuals served monthly

¨      45 Children served after school 1-3 times weekly

¨      Program delivery since 1990

Services provided:

¨      Parenting classes

¨      The Parent Project

¨      Home visitation (Parents As Teachers, PAT)

¨      Right From Birth & Going to School (APT series)

¨      School Readiness Skills Development

¨      Certified Marriage Training

(PREP- Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program

¨      Certified Remarriage Training

(Smart Steps- for Adults and children in Stepfamilies)

¨      Connections + PREP (for high school students)

¨      After-school tutoring

¨      Character Education Class for children and parents

¨      Family And Child Training System (FACTS)

(able to lead multiple family and child training units)

¨      FACTS - Certified Family Development Credential instruction

¨      Childcare provider training

¨      GED

¨      Job Readiness, Job Coaching, Job Placement

¨      Clothes Closet

¨      Referrals to agencies

¨      Grant writing assistance

¨      Non-profit organization mentoring

¨      Collaborative projects

The following components are individual programs, which operate under the umbrella of Hope Place. Each of these programs can stand alone in service delivery and integrity:

A parent home visitation program serving high-risk families in Escambia County. These families are provided with a 1-hour visit monthly for 5 years to support and teach parenting skills based on child development. The curriculums used are Parents as Teachers, Building Strong Families, and Principles of Parenting.  This program has been in existence since 1990.

Parenting classes are provided weekly at Hope Place, these classes are open to anyone. Many participants are court ordered or referred by DHR.  Various agencies contract the services of Hope Place to provide parenting classes for specific groups they are addressing.  These classes have been extremely beneficial to families and agencies that are struggling to provide specific focused services. Certified trainers and CEU's offered.

The series is designed for use as separate workshop sessions for parents with children 0 - four.  The extensive video series published by Alabama Public Television (APT) and narrated by Drs. Craig and Sharon Ramey provides stimulating and current child development information which enables parents to nurture children in appropriate developmental areas.       

A comprehensive, award-winning model for high-risk families. This highly innovative program has been successfully incorporated in law enforcement, school, and community based prevention and intervention programs nationwide.  It is designed for today's parent and post-modern teenager.  The course gives solutions to parents of destructive adolescents while helping teens explore positive alternatives. The class meets for ten weeks with adults in Changing Destructive Adolescent Behavior and teenagers (11-19) in a separate class Choosing Success…Choosing Life.  Both are activity based.                   

The Learning Center is an after-school-tutoring program, which assists approximately 50 children two hours daily three afternoons a week with a staff of 6 tutors. During these sessions children work on homework assignments, skill building, prepare for tests, and life skills enrichment.  This project has met with overwhelming success and participation.  Started in October of 1999, the Learning Center has operated in Atmore at Escambia County Middle School and in Brewton at Brewton Elementary and Middle Schools, and Baptist Hill Baptist Church.

Job Readiness, job training, post-employment, and job coaching are provided for individuals seeking employment. This program provides hands on experience in conjunction with classroom experience to stimulate and direct participants toward an enriching work experience. The WORKSHOP provides an array of services to accompany this program and help complete the total integration of employment for individuals.

Adult education is a fundamental component for assisting individuals attain self-sustainability.  Hope Place provides classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. allowing participants the opportunity to engage in education and life skills curriculum.

Family and Child Training Systems is an educational training component which was created to offer strength-based family support training through collaboration, credentialing, distance learning, and education.  This project is a special project of the Corporate Foundation for Children and provides family support workers and professionals with innovative techniques.  Classes are provided by two certified trainers. Certified trainers, undergraduate college credit, and CEU's offered.

Hope Place staff conducts Character Education classes for students in the following schools:        

Pollard McCall School

Flomaton Middle and Elementary Schools

W. S. Neal Middle and Elementary Schools

Brewton Middle and Elementary Schools

These classes have instructed students to develop strong characteristics, which will help them in making critical decisions and life choices. Discovering that character is the basis of our everyday living will help students form stronger support systems and make better decisions for the future. Certified trainers and CEU's offered.

Conducting childcare provider classes strengthens the direct services and care of the children of Escambia County. To remain a licensed childcare provider each childcare worker must have 20 classroom hours of instruction per year. Hope Place serves as outreach and service delivery in this area of expertise. Certified trainers and CEU's offered.

Hope Place partnered with the Child Advocacy Center Board in 2002 and was instrumental in the initial stages of housing and partial funding for the CAC.  The CAC now serves as a vital stand-alone organization, which provides services for children and families who have been physically and sexually abused.  The staff members of the Child Advocacy Center and Hope Place work closely to provide education and awareness of child sexual abuse to the children and citizens of Escambia County.

Escambia County is participating in a pilot project, Healthy Families-Healthy Couples, conducted through the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, which focuses on family and marriage training as a constructive tool to strengthening parenting skills. Dr. Francesca Adler-Baeder conducts the project, which is similar to a successful statewide project in Oklahoma.   Alabama is currently looking at marriage initiatives and the viability of support and education. 

Certified trainers and CEU's offered.

Smart Steps is a new research-based program developed through collaboration between Cornell Cooperative Extension in Jefferson County, NY and the Stepfamily Association of America.  The program provides a comprehensive educational base that recognizes the complexities and the interdependent nature of relationships within stepfamilies.  This 12-hour program is designed to be offered as six two-hour sessions held once a week for parents and children ages 6-14 living in stepfamilies.  Separate sessions are held concurrently with participants coming together the last 20 minutes of each session for a family activity/discussion.

Certified trainers and CEU's offered.

Connections + PREP is designed to prepare teenage students to reach for their dreams concerning marriage and family life.  Instructors provide students with critical current data, explore expectations, discuss values, and develop skills that will help them in the years to come while making wise choices about relationships. These modules of instruction will assist students to be better prepared in developing strong and happy marriages and families in their adult lives. Connections + PREP has completed the pilot phase at T. R. Miller High School during the spring of 2004.

Funded by contributions from:

Children's Trust Fund

Alabama Civil Justice Foundation

D. W. McMillan Foundation

W. T. Neal Trust

Alabama Department of Public Health

Alabama Cooperative Extension System

Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs

Southern Pine Electric Cooperative

Greater Brewton Foundation

United Fund

Governor's Office of Faith Based Initiatives

Americorp

Southwest Mental Health