Mountain Communities Family Resource Center, Inc.

Our organizational goals are to:
1. Reduce food insecurities for families with children, senior citizens and disabled individuals
2. Provide access to health insurance and increase knowledge on how to maintain and use health insurance
3. Reducing underage drinking and prescription drug abuse
4. Increase youth leadership in our community

1. Reduce food insecurities for families with children, senior citizens and disabled individuals.
a. We have enlarged are food pantry with local support from a hospital district and continue to seek other funding to sustain.
b. We have partnered with and Kern County Organization to purchase food at .19 cents per pound.
c. Create opportunities for local schools, bushiness and churches to conduct canned food drives.

2. Provide access to health insurance and increase knowledge on how to maintain and use health insurance.
a. Three staff are currently hold certification for Covered California Certified Application Counselor.
b. Educational classes are held for parents on the application process while area provider who cover our location are invited to inform clients on services and use.

3. Reducing underage drinking and prescription drug abuse.
1. Meet monthly with our coalition, Mountain Communities Coalition Against Substance Abuse (MCCASA) and utilizing environmental strategies (access, media, policies and ordinances, community norms) with our 12 sectors on the coalition.
4. Increase youth leadership in our community.
a. Send local junior high and high school students to California Association of Student Councils (CASC) to empower our youth.
b. CASC trained youth are now conducting a local 3-day youth leadership conference for local 7th graders. The youth run weekly meetings that plan and conduct drug and alcohol awareness campaigns -youth to youth- and are involved in the environmental strategies. Please see the MyC3 (Mountain Youth Can Change Communities) award-winning public service announcement at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3wcaTwDEn0.

The Mountain Communities Collaborative is an Accredited Collaborative with Integration of Services. It is renewed annually. Our collaborative partners assist us in our goals and help to increase resources. The FRC opened it's doors in 1999 (the school district is the fiscal agent for most grants) and the nonprofit was formed in 2011 to continue to bring in funds and resources for the established FRC. Management and staff continuity have allowed us to continually building on its foundation.

Staff training as allowed us to sustain many of our programs beyond the grants we have received. We constantly ask ourselves how to sustain a resource and work toward that goal without collaborative partners.

1. Reduce food insecurities for families with children, senior citizens and disabled individuals.
2. Provide access to health insurance and increase knowledge on how to maintain and use health insurance
3. Reducing underage drinking and prescription drug abuse
4. Increase youth leadership in our community

1. Reduce food insecurities for families with children, senior citizens and disabled individuals have: Our resources have increased for our food pantry so we had to double the size of the pantry.
Have Not: found a free sustainable source for food

2. Provide access to health insurance and increase knowledge on how to maintain and use health insurance
Have: We are the only entity in our rural location that completes the application process for individuals and will have an additional staff member trained by early November.

3. Reducing underage drinking and prescription drug abuse
Have: We have reduced underage drinking, access to prescription drugs
Have: Sustained the Medication Take-Bake program buy partnership with Kern County Sheriff and the placement of a permanent Medication Take Back box at the local substation.

4. Increase youth leadership in our community
Have: Conducted for two years now, a local leadership conference
Have: Increased the size of our MyC3 youth leadership group by 40%
Have: Conducted the fundraisers to continue to support our goal to increase leadership skills in our youth.