The Emery Unified School District held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 26th to celebrate the opening of the Family Resource and Wellness Center. The ceremony was attended by many of the local partners that made the project possible, including 13th District Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Emeryville Mayor Kurt Brinkman, Emery Unified School Board Members Josh Simon and Miguel Dwin, and Superintendent Debbra Lindo, as well as staff and students of Emery Unified.
The Family and Community Wellness Center, an initial seed project of the Emeryville Center for Community life (ECCL), will be a center for students and their families to access services and information about the school and the broader community. The Wellness Center will provide much needed community space and resources to Emeryville Secondary School stakeholders and city residents.
The ceremony was the culmination of years of effort to take the Family Resource and Wellness Center from concept to reality. In 2009, Townsend Public Affairs worked closely with the District and Congresswoman Lee to secure a $190,000 federal appropriation to help facilitate the establishment of the Center. Since then, Wellness and Food Services Director Juliette Dunn and her staff have worked to develop targeted programs and establish partnerships within the community to ensure the successful opening of the Center. Townsend PA, a D.C. lobbying firm that the city has contracted according to its website exists to “help public agencies, non-profits, and private companies navigate government to achieve results”. Townsend is a heavy contributor to Lee’s campaign fund according to InfluenceExplorer.com
Now that the Center is open and operating it will serve as partner in the National Effective Parenting Initiative and work closely with the Emeryville Center for Community Life. The Family Resource and Wellness Center will also house the Emeryville Council of Family Service Providers, which will offer Emeryville residents access and referrals to area health and social services. | More on TownsendPA.com →
A recently promoted “Flyover” animation of the proposed ECCL plans created by Nexus Partners can be seen below.
[vimeo id=”61541096″ width=”620″ height=”360″]
