People First
OUTREACH CENTER FOR COMMUNIT Y RESOURCES SEEKS TO IMPROVE FAMILIES’ LIVES
It’s a story whose outcome could have
been much different. others, affecting the lives of more than
5,000 families in our region. wrap-around programs to those battling
opioid use, or substance use disorders.
Two high school seniors had a child
together and sought the aid of
Scranton-based Outreach Center
for Community Resources. As part
of the center’s Parents as Teachers
program, they learned parenting skills
and were given the tools and support
they needed to stay in school. Now,
both parents are employed, and the
child’s mother has enrolled in a local
community college. “We put respect for the individual
fi rst because we fi rmly believe that
everyone who comes to Outreach
deserves to be treated with respect and
dignity,” Cianfi chi said. “Our program
participants are more than statistics—
they are individuals with hopes, dreams,
and fears. We meet each participant
where he or she is in life and work
together to devise plans to achieve the
skills and tools needed to move toward
stability and economic self-suffi ciency. “In one case, a man received his GED
through our class at the Lackawanna
County Prison,” Cianfi chi said. “After he
re-entered our community, he enrolled
in college and earned his bachelor’s
degree. He is now preparing to apply to
law school.”
“This outcome was critically important,”
said Kristin Cianfi chi, Director of
Community Outreach and Resource
Development. “It disrupts the cycle of
poverty and ensures the child has an
opportunity for success in school later on.”
Founded in 1988 as EOTC (Employment
Opportunity Training Center),
Outreach’s main mission is to help
families thrive by offering resources for
life skills, literacy, employment training,
parenting, early childhood education,
youth mentoring, behavioral health, and
wrap-around case management, among
8 • The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce
As a state-designated local Family
Center, Outreach provides programs
addressing the family as a unit, such as
Parents as Teachers and Incredible Years,
which help individuals develop positive
and healthy parenting skills and remove
risk factors, such as harsh or inconsistent
discipline, all with the goal of helping
children grow. It also collaborates with
other local organizations, such as the
Wright Center and the Treatment Court
Advocacy Center of Lackawanna County,
to provide life skills courses and other
“We fi nd that people want to help
themselves,” she continued. “Our
programs give them the much-needed
boost to set them on a course to achieve
their goals. Everyone deserves the
opportunity to succeed. This is what
motivates us to we do what we do.”
For more information, visit
www.outreachworks.org.