FRYSC Day in Kentucky is Wednesday, February 10.
Family Resource Centers and Youth Service Centers:
Removing barriers to student learning
When a student isn’t sure where they’ll get their next nutritious meal or if they will have appropriate clothes to wear to school, it’s nearly impossible for them to focus on learning.
Every day, the dedicated coordinators of our district’s Family Resource and Youth Service Centers work to reduce these barriers and to respond to student needs both in and out of school. They provide essentials such as clothing, food, school supplies, transportation, and health service referrals. They coordinate school supply drives before the start of the school year, and organize efforts for warm coats, hats, gloves, and more as winter approaches. They work with local organizations to help make the holidays happy. They help connect students and families to after-school activities, free summer camps, child care services, literacy programs, adult education opportunities, job training and employment support, drug and alcohol treatment, mental health services, and more. Our Family Resource and Youth Service Center coordinators also work together to operate two food pantries, open to all district families twice each month.
Every student in our school district has access to these Centers, which are funded through state grants and generous community donations.
If your family needs assistance, or if you would like to make a donation, please contact one of our coordinators:
Lloyd Memorial High School
Mrs. Maryann Moore | 859.342.5480
Tichenor Middle School
Mrs. Amber Evans | 859.342.2426
Miles Elementary
Mrs. Lauren Parker | 859.342.5201
Arnett, Lindeman, and Howell Elementary
Mrs. Tracy Molley | 859.342.2351
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Family Resource Youth Services Centers have been significantly impacting the lives of students and families in Kentucky for over 30 years. Following a declaration by the Kentucky Supreme Court that Kentucky’s education system was inefficient and inequitable, the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) was formed.
In response to growing concerns and desire to remove barriers to educational success, the Kentucky General Assembly created the Family Resource Youth Services Centers (FRYSC’s) as an integral part of the reform system. The need for education and human service systems to engage in the joint provision of services and support to children, youth, and families had rapidly increased. The growing number and complexity of problems faced by our society (e.g. poverty, family restructuring, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, and domestic and youth violence) have caused increasing levels of stress on families and children-stress that children bring to the classroom, which creates barriers to learning.
These problems have also placed a greater demand on public service agencies and demonstrate a need for community and schools to work together to restore family and child well-being. KERA provided an unprecedented state-level partnership between Kentucky’s Department of Education and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. These partnerships share the responsibility of implementing and sustaining centers across the state.
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services and Division of FRYSC have the responsibility for the administration of this program, where the Kentucky Department of Education provides technical support for the public education mandate. Today, the Kentucky Family Resource and Youth Services Centers are recognized as the nation’s largest school-based family support initiative.
These centers are designed to address the needs of children by developing partnerships with school, family, and community to help all public school students reach proficiency. Recent surveys report that educators, parents, and community partners feel that the Family Resource and Youth Services Centers are a “necessary component of Kentucky educational programming and “a program vital to students, empowering families, and helping to improve schools.”
In 1991, just over 100 Family Resource and Youth Services Centers were opened in Kentucky. In 2021 centers have grown to 857, serving 1200 schools.
Family Resource Youth Services Centers across the state are being recognized the week of February 8-12, and legislators are working to make the second Wednesday of February of each year FRYSC Day in Kentucky. This year’s recognition is Wednesday, February 10.