North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T) in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), North Carolina Center for New North Carolinians (CNNC) and representatives from the Thriving Families neighborhood organization held a ribbon-cutting at the new Oakwood Community Education Center for Latino residents, Friday, Oct. 4 at the Oakwood Forest community on 4100 US Highway 29 N. Greensboro, N.C.

The community center will expand access to culturally-responsive mental health services for the Hispanic and Latino residents in Guilford County, according to organizers. The Supporting Thriving Families program that will be housed in the center is supported by a three-year $491,700 grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust.

“Our vision has always been to co-locate our clinical social work practice in the new center, with the goal of increasing access to culturally-responsive mental health services for the residents, many of whom are Hispanics/Latinos.,” said N.C. A&T’s Dr. Yoko Crume.

The project is based on a long history of strong collaboration between the social work programs of the two universities. The program’s principal investigators are Dr. Crume, associate professor and Dr. Maura Nsonwu, assistant professor in the department of sociology and social work at N. C. A&T and Dr. Jay Poole, assistant professor of social work and Dr. Raleigh Bailey, CNCC at UNCG.  Ms. Natosha Knight is the Project Coordinator.

Supporting Thriving Families features innovative ideas for sustainable mental health services such as: locating the service in the resident-supported activity center at the Oakwood Forest community, where the majority of the residents are Hispanics/Latinos; providing bilingual services by social workers, AmeriCorps members, and volunteers; training the next generation of social workers in meeting the needs of Hispanic/Latino residents in our community and engaging in research activities for community change and improvement.