Our Mission
To improve the quality of life for all citizens of Rockingham County by prodviding alternatives to litigation and incarceration. |
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WORDS OF WISDOM
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
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Elvis Tribute Artist
November 3rd @ 6:00PM
Sponsored by the Elks Lodge
To order tickets click here
For more Information call 336.342.5238 |
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To Our Readers:
In this issue, we bring you a story of how one of our local agencies dealt with a difficult challenge with the help of another. Happily, this story is not the exception but the rule. Another example of how well our local agencies work together is the partnership between Project SAFE Rockingham County and a number of local agencies. One of these agencies, Partnership for Children, is profiled in this issue. Finally, we celebrate new beginnings: programs, goals and jobs. Just for fun, ever wonder how crazy cat ladys get their start? We've got the answer.
With fall only a month away, we hope that you are ready to face the challenges that the rest of the year may bring
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Alexey, Bonnie, Joann and Guilio |
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 WHEN AGENCIES WORK TOGETHER
Budget cuts, loss of funding and increased demands for service. This has become the new reality for nonprofits.Too often the only way to deal with these problems has been to cut salaries, do away with positions or, sadly, even close the doors. Therefore, it is refreshing to hear how one local agency helped another deal with a financial loss.
Located in Reidsville, Remmsco was established in 1982 to rehabilitate men and women in Rockingham County and surrounding areas who are alcoholics or addicted to drugs.  Up until recently Remmsco had been able to obtain food from the Food Bank but changes in federal regulations meant the agency no longer qualified for this kind of assistance. With so many residents unable to find jobs or to make any type of financial payment, this was going to have a very detrimental impact on the agency's budget. A board member suggested that the Director, Monica O'Dell, apply for a $250 grant from the County's Agricultural Extension agency to start a garden.
Although Monica was successful in obtaining the grant, getting the garden going was more problematic. No one at Remmsco seemed to know much about gardening. Some of the seeds they bought didn't germinate and not everyone was enthusiastic about working in the garden. Once again, Monica turned to the Ag. Center for help. Today, they have a freezer almost filled with produce from the garden. They have learned where to buy seeds and plants that will grow and the residents are no longer reluctant to work in the garden. Next year their goal is to plant an even bigger garden.
This is a perfect illustration of what can be accomplished when agencies work together. The success of Project SAFE Rockingham County and its community partners in reducing violent crime in the county is another example. Most importantly, however, it's how we operate in Rockingham County. |
NEW BEGINNINGS
With the summer winding down and a new fiscal year starting, the end of August may be viewed as a time of new beginnings: new programs, new goals, and for some, new jobs. In this article, we take note of some of these.
 ReDirections wishes all of the students enrolled in Rockingham County's schools a successful new year. We look forward to teaching the ninth graders at Rockingham High School conflict resolution skills but hope we don't need to see many students and their parents in truancy mediations.
On Sept. 4th ReDirections will begin offering Anger Management classes. Click on this link to see if you need to take the class.
Guilio Dattero will begin a new year overseeing Project SAFE Rockingham County. This year he plans to:
- Develop a method for identifying at-risk youths and youth gang members who need assistance from community intervention services (one of grant objectives);
- Work more closely with Project Re-entry staff to encourage and direct notified offenders to participate in greater numbers in sign up for community services at the time of Call-in and beyond.
- Increase greater citizen involvement in PSRC through community education programs.
 Congratulations to several people who have assumed new positions in Rockingham County:
- To Cindy Sarwi who is the new Executive Director of the United Way of Rockingham County;
- To Laurie Suthard who is now the Coordinator of Goodwill's new career center in Mayodan;
- To Kim Gray who will take over Laurie's responsibilities with Project Reentry and Project Safe Rockingham County.
Finally, with deep sadness we prepare to say good-bye to Chief Edd Hunt who retires from the Reidsville police department on October 1, 2012. He and Chief Pyrtle are the reason Project SAFE Rockingham County is a program of ReDirections. We wish him the very best as he begins a new stage in his life.
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 SPOTLIGHT ON OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS The Rockingham County Partnership for Children (RCPC) is a public, private non-profit organization, which administers Smart Start funds and services for children prenatal to age five and their families in Rockingham County. Our mission is to ensure all children enter school healthy and ready to succeed. RCPC works towards this mission by seeking out agencies, organizations and individuals that work with young children and their families in order to create collaborations to enhance or create needed services. The Rockingham County Partnership for Children Board of Directors has adopted a set of 4 goals regarding the allocation of Smart Start funds. These goals are: - To increase the number of families accessing early childhood services in Rockingham County;
- To ensure that all children will have a primary provider of medical care who will look at vision, dental, immunization, blood lead levels, obesity, child abuse/neglect and provide developmental screenings;
- To increase compensation and benefits for child care providers and support access to high quality early childhood environments for all children; and
- To increase the number of children receiving subsidized child care who are enrolled in a high quality child care facility.
RCPC also administers the North Carolina Pre-kindergarten Program which serves at risk 4 year olds in an effort to prepare them for kindergarten. During the 2011-2012 school year there were spaces for 203 children in the program. Click Here to continue reading the RCPC article |
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