United Way opens East Central ISD family resource center to offer neighborhood services

Ale Alejandra Amaya, a staff member at United Way of San Antonio, told the East Central ISD board that United Way has opened the East Central ISD Family Resource Center to concentrate services where families live.

"We've opened the East Central ISD family resource center," Amaya said, describing the center as a neighborhood "one-stop shop" that gathers United Way's local resources into a single location. She said the site launched a little more than a month ago and is the second center in United Way's local network.

United Way framed the centers as a way to reduce barriers to services by co-locating mental-health supports, parenting resources and referrals rather than asking families to travel across the city. Amaya said every center will form a parent advisory committee composed of parents, caregivers and community members to help design services "because who better to tell you about community than the community itself?"

Amaya credited existing partners across the district — including the DePelton Children's Center and campus staff — for helping United Way mobilize resources quickly. She also noted that United Way coordinated holiday support in the district this year, including angel-tree efforts and adopting roughly 90 children for holiday gifts.

The presentation closed with an invitation to learn more from school principals and assistant principals about referring families to the new resource center and a reminder that United Way will publicize upcoming events tied to the center.

The board did not take formal action on the resource-center presentation; the item served as an information update.