February 2003

Web site: http://www.cdesd.k12.or.us

OSBA’s February 2003 salute goes to the Crook-Deschutes ESD for a having a good heart. The ESD’s Family Access Network (FAN) has become a good "broker" for children who need extra help to succeed in school. FAN began in 1993 to match families with existing social services, health care and community groups.

WHAT IS FAN?

"We help children stay in school despite problems meeting basic needs such as health care, food and housing," says the ESD’s FAN coordinator Lolly Tweed. Today, FAN advocates serve more than 7,000 children a year through programs and family advocates in each school served by the ESD.

FAN provides a range of services from access to after school programs to help with food and housing. By focusing on connections and building relationships, FAN has been able to form the mortar that builds healthy families. The FAN service delivery system has shown that even the most vulnerable children and families in our communities have the strength to be successful when linked to basic supports.

FAN is a partnership of 15 Deschutes County organizations, with ties to numerous others. Those organizations include the Bend/LaPine, Redmond and Sisters School Districts, Bend Metro Parks and Recreation District, Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Oregon, Central Oregon Community Hospital, Crook Deschutes Education Service District, Deschutes County Community Justice, Deschutes County Health and Mental Health, Division of Child Support, Commission on Children and Families, Family Resource Center, and St. Charles Medical Center.

FAN provides programs, information and referral, and access to services in the following six areas:

1. Health and Mental Health Services
2. Parent and Family Training
3. Positive Youth Development
4. Connections to Community
5. Targeted Populations (Community Safety Net)
6. Alternative Learning Opportunities Beyond the School Day

BACKGROUND

Ten years ago, a nine year old named Jesse was frequently absent from school, had poor grades, was often sick and never had basic school supplies. Today a child like Jesse would probably be doing better because of FAN. The Family Access Network (FAN) started 10 years ago. At a time when services were fragmented and schools were isolated from community agencies, people in the Redmond community came together to determine how to help children with significant social service needs remain in school. The longer children remain in school, the better education they gain and the better their chances of being successful citizens. The vision became "Healthy Families Create Healthy Communities."

FAN advocates were hired and trained to be very knowledgeable in the community resources available to children and families. They were linked electronically by their computers so they could use each other and the entire social service system for problem solving. Advocates provide the links to necessary social supports for children and families.

WHERE ARE THEY?

The thirty FAN Centers and their service areas are:
(*Bold sites are also Community Learning Centers)

• Alyce Hatch Center
• *Bear Creek Elementary
• Bend Senior High School
• Buckingham Elementary
• *Cascade Middle School
• Elk Meadow Elementary
• *High Desert Middle School
• High Lakes Elementary
• Highland at Kenwood Elementary
• Jewell Elementary
• Juniper Elementary
• *LaPine—Serves Elementary, Middle School, and High Schools
• Lava Ridge Elementary
• Marshall High School
• Mtn. View High School
• *Pilot Butte Middle School
• *Sky View Middle School
• Summit High School
• *Three Rivers Elementary
• West Side Village at Kingston—Serves Amity Creek

PROGRESS

• Recognizing the gap in dental services for those children whose families had no insurance and could not access the Oregon Health Plan, FAN was instrumental in developing the H.M. Kemple Children’s Dental Clinic in 1998. The Kemple Clinic has served more than 2,000 children since opening. The Clinic uses 10 volunteer dentists who provide services to children who are in dental pain and cannot pay attention in school.
• Responding to the needs of sick children, FAN, the Health Department and school nurses provide wellness clinics in Bend, Redmond LaPine and Sisters. These clinics serve the immediate health needs of children whose families have no insurance and are unable to access the Oregon Health Plan. Sick children cannot focus on learning. More than 1,000 children served every year. Free or low cost prescription medications are provided in many cases.
• FAN, over the past ten years, has been a community leader in bringing organizations together to help children and families. Fifteen organizations form the county FAN Steering Committee and provide guidance and policy for the FAN system.
• FAN now provides a FAN advocate in every school and serves over 7,000 children and families every year.