Mobile Family Resource Centers

Our Mobile Family Resource Centers (MFRCs) are funded by the Idaho Children's Trust Fund!

MFRC Banner

Our MFRCs provide resources through school-based family events and community events with the purpose of preventing child abuse and neglect. These centers offer resources in our 7-county area for the entire family, while using our existing programs to increase our reach and sustainability. Resources for children include afterschool programming, STEAM enrichment, social emotional learning, and regulation/coping strategies. Adult resources will include our Everyday Strong parenting toolkit, GED and continuing education, family literacy and education support, housing, employment, English language support, and resources for mental health.

Eastern Idaho Public Health's booth

 

With more than 40 non-profit partners, we set up tables and booths at local schools during family engagement events. Families are offered dinner, participate in STEAM activities, and through our Ready. Set. READ! program receive free books to help build home libraries. Families are encouraged to visit all community partner booths to learn about all resources offered to them. 

“There were so many great resources providing info that can truly benefit a ton of people. I'm so glad we came. I got info packets from each place and I know I will be able to either use or give them to friends who could use them, i.e., I didn't realize the Dept. of Health offered gun locks.”
- Parent Participant of Play it Safe

"This was our first encounter with the Mobile Family Resource Center and it is wonderful. Instilling a love of reading into our children is very important to us and it was great for them to see books as an important part of the event, and to be able to keep one for themselves. Beyond that, it was really nice for us to sit as a family and engage with the crafts together. Thank you all for this resource and this event!"
- Parent participant of Play it Safe

What benefit did the MFRC event have on you and/or your family?

"Getting to know all the organizations and learning all the resources they can provide for the community. Its beneficial for my children as well because they do fun activities and take home new books and crafts."
- Parent participant of an MFRC event

MFRC collage of partners

 

Play it Safe MFRC at Tautphaus Park

MFRC Playbook

United Way focuses on bringing Mobile Family Resource Centers (MFRC) to title I and rural schools in our 7-county service area.

When a school is booked for a MFRC event, we draft an agreement with the school which contains the following:

Event Date & Time

  • Schools choose a date that best work for them. Many schools choose to have their MFRC on the same date as other events like Back-to-School Night.
  • Schools choose a time that is going to work with parents' schedules. Most schools choose to start their MFRC between 6 and 7 PM, after which many parents are done with work. That may not be the case in every community, so it's good to get feedback from parents, if possible.
  • The event can last anywhere from 1.5-2 hours, depending on how much time the school feels they need.
  • We, along with our partners, show up about 30-60 minutes early to set up our materials and grab a bite to eat before we begin.

Sample Schedule

Schedule may vary depending on school's needs.

  • 5:00 PM Table and two chairs are set up for every community partner by the school
  • 5:30 PM United Way and partners arrive to set up their tables and eat dinner
  • 6:00 PM Event begins
    • Families check in at the entrance and are provided with a stamp card
    • Families eat dinner in the cafeteria
    • Parents visit organization booths while children engage in STEAM activities
    • Parents turn in their stamp card and leave with their children
  • 8:00 PM Event tear down and clean up

Meal

  • United Way takes care of providing a meal for their partners who host a table.
  • The school is responsible for providing a meal for students, parents, and their volunteers that attend. The school is also responsible for providing volunteers to serve the food.

EveryDay Strong Materials

  • United Way shares EveryDay Strong booklets in both English and Spanish. This booklet provides information on how to connect emotionally with children and help them build resiliency.

Think, Make, Create STEAM Activities

  • We provide two Think, Make, Create STEAM activities. We provide all of the materials and lesson plans while the school is responsible for providing the teacher volunteers to conduct the activities with students.
  • We provide two lists of activities to choose from; one activity will be for lower grades and another will be for upper grades. The following are some activities we can provide (list may vary depending on material availability):
    • Junkbots: Robots from Recycled Materials
    • Build an Instrument
    • Flowers from Mars
    • Paper Plate Buckyballs
    • Balloon Rocket
    • Air Cannon
    • Game On! Create a New Board Game
    • Build a Balloon Powered Car
    • Origami: Flowers, Yoda, and Bookmarks
    • Straw Rockets

Nonprofit Partners and Community Agencies

United Way will coordinate attendance from various nonprofit partners and community agencies who provide free or nearly free services. These partners and agencies include services and resources offering rental & utilities assistance, food pantries, domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse services, legal assistance, homeless shelters, addiction and recovery programs, afterschool programs, cultural programs, art programs, GED programs, ESL programs, continuing education programs, family volunteering activities, literacy programs, childcare programs, and mental health programs. We also have partners share information regarding summer programs and scholarship opportunities in addition to regular community services. 

Examples of agencies we invite (these may vary depending on their service area):

We encourage schools to invite school-based services, as well.

Ready. Set. Read!

We also bring our Ready. Set. Read! program, which aims to bring young learners up to reading proficiency by building home libraries with the hope to foster a love for learning. Every child who attends can choose one free book to take home with them. 

Punch Cards and a Raffle

To incentivize families to visit each booth, we provide punch cards that families can turn in to be entered into a raffle. The punch cards are stamped by each organization when a family has visited their table. Once families are done visiting the booths, they turn their punch card in and will be entered into the raffle. The raffle prizes are provided by both the school and United Way.

Survey

During the event, we provide a survey for families to take. We ask for demographic data and for feedback on the MFRC event they've attended. Not only does this help us know resources are best for the area but it also helps us understand how we can improve our events.

MFRC Agreement

We provide all of the information in an agreement that both parties (United Way and the school) can sign and agree on. And then we make the magic happen!

This project is funded by an Idaho Children's Trust Fund grant.

Idaho Children's Trust Fund Logo