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What are the most pressing issues facing our clients in this coming year?

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What are the most pressing issues facing our clients in this coming year?                            1-17-11

Margaret Nelson, Executive Director, The River Center, A Family and Community Resource Center
I asked the staff at The River Center how they would answer this question. Some work with individuals who are looking for employment, some work with parents, some are part of the home visiting program, and one is our information and referral specialist who helps connect people with the services they need. Their answers reflect their specialties. But they also reflect common themes.
Family and economics undergird most of the pressing issues.
From the Employment Resource Center staff I hear that folks are getting prepared for jobs- getting their resumes updated and reading well, sharpening their interviewing skills, learning new computer skills and yet there just aren’t jobs out there. The need is simply, “getting work- any work”.
From our parenting program facilitators I am hearing that age-old parenting issues continue to press in on us. How do we parent our children successfully and confidently? Haven’t parents struggled with this since the beginning of parenting? Children are in the process of growing more and more independent from the day they are born. And we parents struggle with how much independence to give them and when and how to do that.
We have concerns about the young moms we see in our Home Visiting program which serves pregnant women up to their baby’s first birthday. This program relies heavily on Medicaid dollars which are in danger of being seriously reduced. How can we continue to provide these young women with basic health and parenting skills, encouragement, and support? Funding is necessary for this program to continue.
A repeated theme from the staff is that keeping a positive, hopeful attitude is very difficult as the family’s economic situation continues to look grim. Failed attempts in the job search, groceries to be purchased and consumed, ever-present housing costs, cars getting older and less dependable, and bank accounts dwindling—are all issues that cause emotional well-being to get frayed. Family relationships can get tense, simple matters get blown out of proportion, tempers rise and we find that hope becomes replaced with an overwhelming sense of despair.
This despair must be counteracted with support and encouragement—as well as tangible help from the community. When we despair we need someone else’s perspective to help us see things positively, sustain hope and help us take steps to get help. We are communal beings at our core. We need each other.
It’s a call for us as a community to care for each other: to reach out to our neighbors, our co-workers, our families, and to be there for each other. Bring a meal, offer a ride, give a call to see how someone’s doing. Do something. It’s too easy to ignore those around us and be concerned with our own issues. But there are needs right in front of us—all of us. And we all can do something to help.
If you would like to help and don’t know how, please call The River Center at 924-6800. We can help you be the neighbor you would like to be. And if you need help, if you are feeling hopeless, call The River Center and we will connect you with the programs or services that you need. For more information check out our website at www.Rivercenter.us. The River Center- A Family and Community Resource Center is located at 46 Concord St. in Peterborough and provides parenting and economic opportunity programs for individuals and families throughout the 14 towns of the Eastern Monadnock Region.