BRATTLEBORO — The Winston Prouty Center for Child Development has been awarded a grant from the Vermont Agency of Human Services to implement a new program in the community.
Family Supportive Housing (FSH) is a pilot grant the state is funding in three communities that have a high number of children and families accessing emergency shelter or living in motels. The funding will provide intensive supports to these families with young children to help them find and maintain permanent, affordable housing.
Supports will include customized case management and service coordination aimed at establishing strong working partnerships with families and community partners in order to identify housing and other resources.
Prouty says it is hiring two full-time family supportive housing coordinators, who will work closely with the staff in Children's Integrated Services (CIS) at Prouty and with community partners at Brattleboro Housing Authority, Windham and Windsor Housing Trust, Morningside Shelter, Youth Services, Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA), and the Agency of Human Services.
Although it is a new program, Family Supportive Housing reflects the diversity of work taking place with children and families at the Prouty Center.
The center said in a press statement that it's grown from an organization that primarily worked with children with developmental delays and their families to one that includes all families with young children in our community. It says it continues its nearly 45-year legacy of supporting children and families to participate meaningfully in community through all of its programs: Children's Integrated Services, the Early Learning Center, and now Family Supportive Housing.