MU program connects resources to community
The Family Impact Center sews together town and gown.
The Family Impact Center, located at 105 E. Ash Street, is a fairly new community outreach center. Since its opening in May 2014, the center has worked to provide free services and resources to residents of the Columbia community. All of their service areas are student-ran and give students the opportunity to receive real experience outside of a structural classroom. All services are primarily funded through MU Extension.
Line of Services
The FIC offers services in a variety of different areas, including financial literacy, health, relationships, life skills and youth. Ashley Guillemette, the center’s director, believes these services are beneficial to both students and the community.
“We have MU students that are specially trained to help provide these services free of charge to the Columbia community, and it’s a really great thing,” she says.
The Family Impact Center’s financial counseling offers one-on-one financial advising from trained students from the MU’s Office for Financial Success. Individuals that want to seek advisement on how to budget, manage their credit or debt, file taxes or plan for retirement can schedule an appointment.
Health
The Integrative Behavioral Health Clinic, or IBHC, provides behavioral health care through therapy and support groups. Graduate students are trained to provide these services and are currently enrolled at the MU School of Social Work. This clinic offers comprehensive assessments of mental health, psychoeducational groups, therapy, support groups and more.
Social work student Melissa Stone works as the student manager for the clinic.
“I started in January 2015, and I would have to say that this is one of the biggest experiences of my grad school career,” says Stone. “We are able to take the different concepts and ideas we learn from class and apply them to gain real work experience. These programs are extremely impactful and helpful, and we’re able to exist and run the way we do because of the Family Impact Center.”
MedZou Community Health Center also works alongside the clinic every Thursday from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. to provide free primary health care to uninsured individuals.
Relationships
Building Strong Families is a research-based educational program that helps families build upon their strengths, face challenges, and make smart choices. The goal of this program is to strengthen families as a unit. Building Strong Families provides fast-paced, interactive sessions that allow families to learn from each other using hands-on activities.
The session topics differ from month-to-month and are held on the first Tuesday of every month, 12:30 to 2:00 p.m., and the second Tuesday of every month, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Youth
Camp Salsa is an 8-week long summer camp program specifically designed for high school students that come from low-income families. This program offers opportunities for students to work on projects that will foster important skills that they can carry with them into the workforce. The program works within three main components: grow, cook and sell. The program trains students to maintain a garden, discuss important nutrition, and research recipes to develop their own salsa, which they can brand and sell at Lucky’s Market.
Camp Ca-Pow (College Access — Planning Our Way) is a free camp for middle school students. This camp focuses on the importance of building a future, so students get the opportunity to visit different college campuses, explore different careers, and learn different strategies to make college achievable.
The Family Impact Center also offers the Columbia Public Schools adult learning center, English language classes and high-school equivalency courses. For more information on their lines of services, visit mufamilyimpact.org.