During the Tuesday, June 25 planning session of the Morrison County Board of Commissioners, local officials engaged in an in-depth discussion about a potential opportunity to establish a family resource center serving the region. The conversation centered around a grant opportunity from the Sauer Family Foundation, which is offering funding to help communities explore and assess the feasibility of creating these community-driven family support hubs.
Health and Human Services Director Nathan Bertram provided a comprehensive overview of family resource centers and the vision behind them. He explained that these centers are meant to be welcoming, accessible spaces for all families, offering a range of services and resources tailored to the unique needs of the local community.
“Family resource centers are unique to the communities that they are built in, built by members of the community – parents and community members,” said Social Services Supervisor Melanie Erickson, who had the opportunity to visit a family resource center in Scott County. “It’s not about having an eligibility criteria. It’s not for families in poverty. It’s not for families with special needs. It’s for all families.”
Erickson went on to describe the key elements that make family resource centers successful, including a focus on child development, education, access to concrete supports and community engagement. She emphasized that these centers are not government-run, but rather community-driven initiatives that provide a hub for families to access a variety of services and support.
The grant opportunity from the Sauer Family Foundation would provide $223,000 to fund an exploration and assessment phase, during which a contracted vendor would conduct community meetings and identify the right organizations and resources to establish a family resource center in the region. Bertram noted that this would be a regional approach, potentially serving multiple counties in Region 5, as the concept of regional collaboration aligns with the way many other services, such as crisis response and mental health hubs, have been structured in the past.
The commissioners expressed both enthusiasm and caution about the proposal, recognizing the potential benefits while also acknowledging the complexities involved in establishing and maintaining such a community resource. Commissioner Jeffrey Jelinski raised practical questions about the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the facility, while Commissioner Greg Blaine emphasized the importance of engaging community partners beyond just county government to ensure the center is truly community-driven.
“I’m excited about this explore and assess phase,” Erickson said. “It really makes everybody slow down and take time to really study this and what’s best for each community. And the community members say what they want. And we can be there as helpers and supporters. But there are lots of nonprofits in our community and throughout region five that are all working towards the same goal, and so pooling of resources can be very effective.”
The commissioners also discussed the potential return on investment for such an initiative, with Bertram citing data from the National Families Support Network that suggests a social return of $4.93 for every dollar invested, $3.65 in savings for the child welfare system for every dollar invested, a 63% reduction in child abuse cases, a 50% reduction of out-of-home placements and 26% lower rates of community-level child abuse investigations. In addition, there were non-quantifiable benefits such as the gain in economic self-sufficiency, health, social support, family functioning and resiliency, child nurturing and healthy attachment, as well as an improvement in children’s educational success. This potential for long-term cost savings and improved outcomes for families was a key consideration for the Board.
While no formal action was taken during the planning session, the commissioners agreed to further discuss the grant opportunity at a future meeting, allowing time for additional questions and input from the public. The Board expressed a desire to thoroughly explore the potential benefits a family resource center could bring to the region, particularly in terms of supporting families and potentially reducing costs for social services down the line.
“This is a big animal. And I think that’s why the explore and assess phase is there,” Bertram said. “You eat an elephant one bite at a time. So I think this is a step to start moving in that direction that the explore and assess phase is really going to look at those community partners and see who is engaged and who can lead this initiative. We don’t have the capacity at the county to do it, nor do I want to be doing this in Health and Human Services. However, I would love this to be in our community and use it as a resource and hopefully offset costs five to 10 years down the road. But we’ve got to take the steps to kind of see if there’s the ability or the desire with some of our community partners to really step up and move this forward.”
The commissioners acknowledged the complexity of the endeavor, but also recognized the potential for a family resource center to have a transformative impact on the lives of families in the region. As they continue to deliberate on the grant opportunity, the Board emphasized the importance of engaging the community, listening to the needs and desires of local residents and exploring creative partnerships to ensure the success and sustainability of such an initiative.
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