West Riviera Beacon Center
Connecting People To Resources
West Riviera Beacon Center at
West Riviera Elementary School
Tel: 561-494-1935
1057 West 6th Street
Riviera Beach, FL 33404
Fax: 561-844-5773
Beacon Director: Diedre Williams
Coming soon…. Bridges at Riviera Beach – a community hub concept!
Funding for the West Riviera Beacon Center is ending on September 30th, 2010 but a new project will begin in January to serve the community of Riviera Beach. The new program will be transitioning between now and January 1st, 2011. Please check back in January for news and activities provided by the new community hub, Bridges at Riviera Beach.
Bridges - a community hub concept
The purpose of the Bridges is to develop a coordinated and integrated, local system of care that is community-based and focused on increasing healthy births, decreasing child abuse and neglect and increasing school readiness in specific geographical areas.
The Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County (CSC) invests resources in programs and services that support the physical, social-emotional and psychological development of children. In order to have an impact in those areas, CSC has established the following four key, overarching child outcomes that guide its Early Childhood System of Care:
· Increase the number of healthy births
· Decrease abuse and neglect of children birth to five
· Increase the number of children entering school eager and ready to learn
· Increase the number of children who are on grade level at the end of third grade
The Bridges will serve as a critical link between hard-to-reach communities/populations and the services within CSC’s Early Childhood System of Care and other resources/ services within the community. The Community Partnership Group will be the lead agency for six Bridges sites in the communities of Belle Glade, Pahokee, Riviera Beach, Boynton Beach and two sites in Lake Worth.
Decades of research make it clear that investing in young children is the best way to ensure school success, improve current workforce performance and create long-lasting economic returns for families, businesses, and society as a whole. A productive life begins with a healthy childhood; research into the long-term impact of quality early childhood development supports this. Such studies regarding early brain development reveal remarkable returns to society that are much greater, in some cases, than investment in traditional brick-and-mortar development projects.
Community Partnership Group will be responsible for the Bridges core components: creating awareness about and providing education and support on parenting and early childhood development. The core components will be provided through the evidence-based Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) and a best practice program based on a Life Skills Approach model. The Bridges team will implement five key functions to accomplish its objectives, including (1) developing and maintaining partnerships/strategic alliances with local organizations, (2) coordination of services, (3) outreach, (4) engagement, (5) navigation. The promotion of early childhood awareness and engagement of parents, families and the community are cornerstones of each.