Shortfall leads to FRC close

In a move described as a temporary hiatus, the Alleghany County Family Resource Center has closed for this month.

The decision to close the FRC is a result of the state budget crunch and the continuing uncertainty surrounding it.

"We have done a temporary layoff for the month of July," said Ellen Wright, interim director of the Alleghany Partnership for Children, the lead agency for the FRC. "We're waiting on word from the state."

She said one proposal being considered by state officials is to cut family resource centers entirely. Another involves cutting funding for the centers, leaving open the possibility state funding could come through other sources.

Alleghany's FRC's $75,000 annual budget comes entirely from state funds. Alternative funding sources are being investigated. Wright said the state department of social services (a division of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, through which the FRC is funded) is working on seeking federal funding for the centers. Officials are also writing some private grants.

"We don't have a definite answer now as to where the money will come from," she said. "It's just kind of a waiting game. I personally hope within the next couple of weeks to have some idea what's going to happen." Wright said the state house is expected to release its budget July 15.

She said the biggest program normally offered by the FRC during the summer is family literacy, in which adults can obtain their adult high school diplomas. "Building Blocks for Tots," the developmental play group, is another popular program. "Those programs are on hiatus," Wright said.

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