Tuesday, September 29, 2009

ESC sponsors 'Agency Fair' event for schools

Darci Ditmer
Staff Writer

Tuesday, September 29, 2009


The Educational Service Center held an agency fair, Wednesday, Sept. 23 to bring different agencies in the community together and raise awareness of what is available to kids and families in Preble County.

"This is an event that brings all the different agencies serving communities in Preble County together in one place. Today we have all the guidance counselors from the elementary schools in Preble County here for the meetings. We wanted to reintroduce them to these agencies and introduce those for the first time to others, so that we can put together a network where we're working cooperatively on behalf of the families and children that live in Preble County," said Kevin Turner, ESC Superintendent, during the event.

"The agency fair is a way to make sure we all know what resources are available to kids, and families especially. It started out with needing to educate each other. We have scheduled it in conjunction with our guidance counselor meetings, so our school guidance counselors are then going to be able to come through and get the information" said Michelle Gehhart, of school based mental health services.

Several agencies available during the fair included:

Preble County TASC, Marie Dwyer, Preble County Mental Health and Recovery Board, Samaritan Behavior Health, Preble County Juvenile Court, The Safe Program, Preble County Victim Witness, United Way, Job Center; Job and Family Services, Preble County Health Department, Council and World Services, Early Head Start, Community Action Partnership, Domestic Violence Shelter, Preble Promise, Sinclair Learning Center, H.I.T. Foundation, Board of Developmental Disabilities, Oak Tree Corner, and the E.S.C.