Cascade launches program

The Cascade Union School District has a new program that will connect students and their families to health-related resources.

The District received a grant to start a Healthy Start program. An open house on Wednesday, Jan. 14 officially kicked off the program.

Now, parents can use the program to find health and social services ranging from dental and health care to basic needs and family support services. Healthy Start can also help provide academic support for children and employment and housing help for adults, "Basically, any resources that the parent feels like they need to help their family be stronger and healthier," said program coordinator Andrea Herr.

Verde Vale principal Genevre Williamson said she and her colleagues are excited to have the program, and the resources to help students and their families.

"We have a great academic program going on and we have outstanding students who make so much progress, but we do have some families and children that really have some health needs, whether it be dental health, families that have lost the place they are living, job situations and so forth," Williamson said.

With the economy in it's current state, there is no better time to have the program up and running, said the principal.

"It's really becoming much more difficult and challenging for families, so this is a really good opportunity to connect families to resources," she said.

The district first applied for the Healthy Start grant in the early 1990s. It initially didn't receive funds in the competitive process. But when administrators applied again recently, the district got grant funds from the State Department of Education, which will cover operating costs for the program's next four years.

"We could demonstrate that there was a lot of need in our community for resources for parents and resources to help build healthy families," said Herr.

The fact that the community was behind the program also helped the district secure grant funds, Healthy Start program officials said.

"The district has been the facilitator, but the people that are involved have been a collaboration of agencies, organizations, school staff and parents," Herr said.

After about a year of planning, the Healthy Start is ready to help connecting the community to resources. An open house was held at Verde Vale Elementary School to introduce the program to parents.

"We basically want to get the word out that we are up and running and that we're here," said Crystal Meyer, Family Resource Specialist.

"A lot of people have heard about healthy start, but they don't exactly know what it's for. So we want to meet the parents, teachers and community members who want to get to know us and what we are about. It's going to be a word of mouth spread," Meyer said.

The Healthy Start program is currently looking for participation for a Citizenship Class that's being held on Tuesday evenings. They are also ready to help connect families to resources.

Parents with children in the Cascade Union Elementary School District can learn more by calling Healthy Start program employees at 378-7040 Ext. 4212.