Pathways for Children has gotten a couple of funding boosts in recent weeks, with support coming from an expanded partnership between the Government Employees Health Association Inc. and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and the awarding of a $1.4 million Mosaic Family Resilience Grant to strengthen families impacted by the opioid crisis.
Emerson Avenue-based Pathways for Children, which offers Early Head Start, Head Start, and school-age care in Gloucester and Head Start in Salem and Beverly, was recently awarded a Family Resilience Grant from the Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership, funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, and powered by the RIZE Massachusetts Foundation.
Mosaic serves as a public-private partnership designed to pay for community-led initiatives addressing the opioid overdose crisis in historically underserved communities, Pathways for Children said.
The partnership supports organizations across the state working to reduce overdose deaths and strengthen family and community resilience, guided by those with lived experience.
Pathways for Children plans to use this grant to expand its capacity to provide essential support services and programming for children and families impacted by the opioid crisis.
The organization said services will focus on enhancing family stability, improving child well-being, and promoting resilience within communities across Essex County.
“This award will allow Pathways to deepen our support for children and families facing the far-reaching effects of substance use disorder,” President and CEO Eric Mitchell said. “By addressing trauma and fostering stability, our family-centered programming will seize this opportunity to fill a much-needed service gap in our community.”
Wraparound support
Pathways provided an example of an unnamed family about how its “wraparound approach” works in supporting those along their recovery journeys.
In 2023, a parent struggling with substance use disorder enrolled their child in the Pathways Head Start program. The assigned Pathways family advocate worked with the state Department of Children and Families and the family to develop a treatment plan.
With the child in full-day care at Pathways, the grandmother agreed to take temporary guardianship of the child. This allowed the parent to go into treatment and kept the child out of foster care.
The parent completed the treatment program after several months and became an active member of the recovery community. Required by DCF to complete a parent education program to regain custody, the parent enrolled in Pathways’ Nurturing Program and voluntarily met with a parent mentor to enhance their parenting skills.
The parent was able to regain custody, and were hired by the same treatment program where they got support to work as a peer coach using their lived experience to help others. The parent excelled and was soon promoted to site director.
Imagination Library boost
Pathways for Children was also the recent beneficiary of a $15,000 contribution for books from the Government Employees Health Association Inc. through its expanded partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in New England.
Through this collaboration, G.E.H.A. is supporting early childhood literacy by delivering monthly educational books to children up to 5 years old, the organization said.
G.E.H.A and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library have joined forces to advance childhood literacy and overall well-being by funding the purchase of 6,000 books for Pathways for Children. In all, G.E.H.A. also supported three programs in New England, Pathways for Children, Diane’s Library in New Hampshire and Friends of the Rogers Free Library in Bristol, Rhode Island, with funding for 18,000 books.
On Oct. 2, Mitchell and Rachel Herrick, who also works for Pathways, accepted an oversized check for $15,000 from G.E.H.A. to support its participation in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, during an event at the Boston Public Library. They did so and posed with a cardboard cutout of Dolly Parton.
Pathways for Children is thrilled to be the recipient of a $15,000 gift from G.E.H.A. to support its participation in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, according to an email from Laura O’Neill, director of institutional advancement.
Though its participation in the program was launched in 2021 with state funding secured by state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, ongoing operations are supported primarily by philanthropy. Gifts such as this one from G.E.H.A. ensures Pathways can maintain operations and continue to enroll new children each day, O’Neill said.
To date, more than 95,000 books have been mailed to children enrolled in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library through Pathways for Children’s affiliate participation.
There is no cost to participating families. Pathways for Children’s service area includes Rockport, Gloucester, Manchester, Essex, Beverly, Peabody and Salem.
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714, or at eforman@northofboston.com.