Photo provided Area service providers introduce themselves during a Community Connections gathering hosted by the JCESC Resource Network. Many new faces were in attendance to learn more about opportunities to make contacts and better serve the public.

WINTERSVILLE – The Jefferson County Educational Service Center Resource Network has gotten the word out that service providers have a ready means of coordinating using the tools and venues of the program. New service agencies joined to form partnerships at the Community Connections gathering June 10 at the Wintersville Methodist Church Center of Hope.

Developed and offered through the Jefferson County Educational Service Center (JCESC) and funded by the Jefferson County Commissioners, the Jefferson County Board of Developmental Disabilities, the Jefferson County General Health District and the Jefferson County Prevention and Recovery Board, the Resource Network has created a website and app as a one-stop hub to help the public navigate the many available resources.

Resource Network Coordinator Beth Rupert Warren greeted attendees with news that many community initiatives are yielding fruit. The Resource Network is working in conjunction with Franciscan University of Steubenville to provide a community navigator who will be available two days a week, eventually at all of the county’s libraries.

“There’ll be someplace they can go to,” she said. “There’ll literally sit down with people and help them assess what their needs are in their lives and help them make appointments, give them a sense of direction and help them navigate through the community and all the different systems.”

The initiative is expected to begin in the fall when classes resume.

Photo provided
JCESC Resource Network Coordinator Beth Rupert Warren welcomes service providers to a Community Connections gathering and shares the latest news. The Resource Network is committed to providing means for providers to coordinate and fill gaps of service.

The Community Connections email list has been busy, now with more than 450 addresses. The Resource Network is consistently sharing news about upcoming events and opportunities.

The Resource Network has been attentive to addressing gaps in services, such as the need for parenting classes. The program has been coordinating with multiple agencies, with training available for those interested in being instructors.

The Caregiver Café has grown to support more people raising children who are not their own. Families of many different backgrounds and school districts have forged relationships. The café is now operated by the Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development, and the Resource Network is searching for other partners to help sponsor a valued community project that is changing lives.

The Resource Network was also active in seeking out options for a homeless shelter and coordinating with agencies during the difficult winter. Officials are pleased to see a new shelter opening June 22, courtesy of the Community Action Agency of Columbiana County.

The network has partnered with organizations looking to recruit new foster parents.

Transportation is another pressing issue. The Resource Network announced the House of David nonprofit ministry is taking donated cars, restoring them and donating them in turn to families. The network has reached out to different businesses and nonprofits and is looking at transportation programs in other states.

Among the new faces at the Connections meeting was recruitment and admissions counselor Nadia Engel of Milton Hershey School, a cost-covered private boarding school in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Engel, who works in western Pennsylvania and Ohio, was making contacts in Jefferson County and soon came across the Resource Network.

“I heard about the Resource Network through multiple connections who introduced me,” she said. Engel soon saw the potential for quickly meeting the many groups that serve their communities.

“This is such a great networking opportunity, because unless different organizations know whatever organizations are out there, we don’t know how to work together,” she said. “I’m so impressed.”

She gained new contacts and said she will definitely be back at future Community Connections gatherings.