About 120 families every year get personalized help to become healthier, earn more money, parent better and achieve other goals at the La Plata Family Centers Coalition.
Over the next three years, a study will examine how effectively the center is helping families become more economically secure, healthier and resilient as part of a larger effort funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said Mariel Balbuena, executive director of the center.
The OMNI Institute will complete the study, and if it proves the strategy is effective, it could open new funding opportunities for the center and establish the center’s program as a scientifically proven approach, she said.
The Family Centers and two other centers in Colorado were selected to participate in the study that will examine Family Support Services, a program that uses motivational interviewing to help families select their own goals. A family in the program works with a family advocate center at their own pace to achieve goals, said Lauren Patterson, a program planning and evaluation consultant who is helping with the study.
“People have an opportunity to really examine different facets of their family,” Patterson said.
The program is not aimed at families earning a specific income or children of a specific age.
The goals parents identify can vary widely and can include buying a house, continuing their education, improving their parenting, living healthier, among other aims.
“Depending on what the family is interested in, how we help them get there – it looks a little bit different for everyone,” Balbuena said.
The changes families make are intended to help them be successful in the long term, she said.
mshinn@ durangoherald.com
If you go
The La Plata Family Centers Coalition will celebrate its 35th anniversary with a Heart to Heart Masquerade Party from 6 to 9 p.m. April 6 in the Grange Hall at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Tickets are $40 for adults and $20 for children. Children younger than 5 can attend for free. Costumes are encouraged.
