Firefly hoping to open resource center

A local organization has requested funds to create a family resource center in Jay County.

Firefly Children and Family Alliance requested $50,000 from Jay County Commissioners on Monday to hire a coordinator who would engage the community and coordinate services used in a family resource center.

Tasha Weaver, Firefly Children and Family Alliance region 7 director of prevention services, and Justin Litman of Jay County’s branch of the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) shared a presentation with commissioners about how a family resource center would look in Jay County if operated by Firefly Children and Family Alliance, Indiana’s primary prevention program.

Firefly Children and Family Alliance partnered with Indiana University School of Social Work about four years ago to open family resource centers in Madison, Tipton, Delaware and Grant counties. Indiana Department of Child Services is now funding the creation of new sites in Wayne, Tippecanoe, Laporte, Elkhart and Clark counties.

Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition is a resource for families seeking help, explained Litman.

“There’s also stigma that comes with walking in there for drug treatment,” he said. “This would be a secondary place where they can walk in, get help for anything and not have that stigma attached to it, at least that’s the goal.”

A family resource center, Weaver said, acts as a “one-stop shop” for residents to seek services, such as workforce development, comprehensive family support case management, parenting education, financial literacy, early childhood education, food or hygiene pantries, computer labs and addiction-recovery programming.

Litman pointed out individuals from Dunkirk, Redkey and other municipalities may have transportation issues that make it difficult for them to get the help they need with current resources mainly located in Portland.

The goal would be to create a family resource center that could “float” to serve different Jay County municipalities throughout the week.

He explained Firefly Children and Family Alliance would like to hire a family resource center coordinator for Jay County.

“The coordinator’s going to serve as that foundation for us, so that person’s going to be able to do the same work that we’ve been doing, but just better,” he said. “Their sole focus is going to be to get this off the ground and get this out to parents, community members, everybody that we want to … utilize this.”

Approximately 17.4% of children in Jay County experience food insecurity, explained Litman. About 25% of children younger than 5 years old in Jay County are living in poverty. As of August, Jay County had 56 children in need of services, which is up from last year’s total of 37. (A child in need of services is defined by DCS as a child younger than 18 who is being abused, neglected or fits into one of several threatening conditions in their life.) In 2022, he added, Jay County had a ratio of approximately 1,134 residents to one mental health provider.

Commissioners president Chad Aker noted some of the services sound similar to those formerly provided by Community Family Services.

“I see this as picking up where they left off in order to provide more services to Jay County,” said Aker.

Commissioners express-ed interest in the program but pointed out the county’s deficit budget. Commissioner Brian McGalliard noted his main concern would be how the position is funded annually. Litman said the plan is to seek state or federal grants to continue to be funded. Once established, he said, a family resource center in Jay County would have a better chance of receiving grants. 

McGalliard added Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) 2.0 could also be an option for funding.

Commissioners decided to forward the request to Jay County Council, which meets at 6 p.m. tonight.

Commissioners also approved creating a board to review finances for Jay County Country Living and its options moving forward. The group — it still needs to be formally approved by council — will include council president Jeanne Houchins, council members Harold Towell and Cindy Bracy, commissioner Brian McGalliard, Jay County clerk Jon Eads and local residents Virginia Burke, Nancy Cline, Paul VanCise and Camile Elick-Shawver.

Commissioners also received information from Jay County Development Corporation executive director Travis Richards about READI 2.0. The state funding program recently released information about its goals, focus areas, application requirements and timeline. Regions are expected to develop their applications by February. In April, allocations will be disbursed to regions. Richards noted he and Jay County Chamber of Commerce director Tabby Sprunger are Jay County’s representatives on the steering committee. (Later in the meeting, McGalliard expressed a desire to have Richards give READI 2.0 updates monthly at commissioners meetings.)

In other business, commissioners Rex Journay, McGalliard and Aker:

•Heard from local residents Seth Huelskamp and Richard Price about the recent ordinance amendment that prohibited trucks from driving on several county roads during construction on Indiana 26 and U.S. 27. Huelskamp, a truck driver living on Division Road, expressed his dislike of the new rules, with Aker pointing to road safety and preservation. Price, a resident on county road 200 West between 200 South and 400 South, told commissioners semi traffic has increased on his road. Aker noted local truck drivers, such as those heading to POET Bioprocessing, use the route.

•Asked highway superintendent Eric Butcher to look into the weight limit for vehicles. Huelskamp alleged highway department trucks carry as much as 20,000 pounds over the legal limit.

•Gave Butcher permission to modify a 2011 Kenworth chassis, adding on distributor equipment currently attached to a 2000 International truck. The cost, which will come out of Butcher’s budget, will be between $90,000 and $130,000. (Butcher noted purchasing a new distributor would have cost between $375,000 and $400,000.)

•OK’d Jay County Emergency Management Agency director Samantha Rhodehammel to apply for a $13,500 state grant application, which is annually used for training

•Approved a three-year contract with Community Fiber Solutions for the EMA’s phone service. The cost will be about $29 monthly.

•Created an ordinance establishing a county school safety commission, which is now required by the state

•OK’d reducing attorneys’ fees from 33.3% to 8.7% on ongoing opioid settlements with Cohen and Malad

•Approved claims, including a $1,883.20 claim for a new conference table in Jay County Prosecutor’s Office

•Tabled an offer to purchase microphone headsets at $54.99 each. Commissioners noted council is free to purchase the headsets for themselves, but they were not interested in using headsets for meetings.