Laurel Multiservice Center - New Location, Room for Expansion

Thursday, September 2, 2010

(Janene Holzberg) --

The North Laurel-Savage Multiservice Center re-opened July 21 in larger quarters that will allow twice as many southeastern Howard County residents to begin receiving assistance from 10 county agencies housed together under one roof.

The Multiservice Center operates at Patuxent Square, located at 9900 Washington Boulevard.

The 3,200-square-foot location provides twice as much space for the agencies that share offices in the center allows for partnerships with an expanded list of service providers.

"We are hoping to offer financial counseling, a satellite library, and an expanded food pantry," said Bita Dayhoff, president of the Community Action Council of Howard County. CAC handles the initial consultations with all income-eligible residents.

A summer lunch program, set to serve as a pilot study in July at the Dasher Green Head Start Center in Columbia, could come to the multi-service center in 2011, she said. Nourishing meals for eligible students and their siblings will be provided during the months when school is not in session and meals normally would not be available.

"Hopefully, we will expand this program to all Head Start centers and to the North Laurel-Savage site next summer," Dayhoff said.

Though space in the new offices was reserved for a Head Start classroom, funding did not come through this year, she said, adding staff will be reapplying for the necessary financial assistance in order to add the valuable program to the center’s list of services.

Parents as Teachers, which joined the agencies at the center in March, will soon have its own space at the new location, she said.

As many as 3,500 clients will be helped annually in the enlarged office space where the waiting area will double in size, thus reducing the number of people who must return for assistance at another time, she explained.

"The relocation of the site will bring greater convenience, accessibility, and visibility to the Center," Dayhoff said. "In addition, it will provide a more comfortable setting and an educational entertainment space for children of families waiting to be served."

The new center will also promote walk-in visits and attract residents who rely on public transportation to reach the center.

A new meeting space that can seat 25 people instead of 10 will allow for a bigger variety of community-wide classes. Events such as distributing Thanksgiving dinners, vision and hearing screenings, clothing drives, and financial workshops are also expected to be offered, she said.

The Multiservice Center was initially developed by the Horizon Foundation’s SE Horizon Community Council. The Foundation is one of the center’s current funders. Funding has also been awarded by the Columbia Foundation and through the county’s Community Service Partnership Grants.

Ten organizations aside from offer services in seven areas to income-eligible residents of North Laurel, Savage, Scaggsville and the Route 1 Corridor:

Services for families are provided by Community Action Council, which provides programs and emergency services for residents to alleviate the effects of poverty; Howard County Department of Social Services, which supplies such assistance as grants for families without income, help in purchasing food, and paying for health care; Family and Child Services, which provides counseling for individuals, couples and families, as well as in-home assistance for the elderly and adults with disabilities; and Parents as Teachers, a program that provides developmental screenings for children under 5 and information about parenting skills, child development and school readiness activities.

Crisis services are offered by Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, a 24-hour phone and walk-in crisis center that also offers emergency and transitional shelter as well as educational resources; and Domestic Violence Center, which helps women, children and men impacted by violence by offering a 24-hour hotline, shelter, and other assistance;

Mother/child services are provided by Women, Infants and Children, which supplies supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for income-eligible women, infants and children up to age 5 who are found to be at risk.
Legal services are offered by Legal Aid Bureau, which provides free civil legal assistance to income-eligible residents whose basic necessities, including housing, custodial relationships and health, are at risk.

Employment and training services are provided by the Howard County Office of Workforce Development, which also provides access to jobs databases and teaches resume writing; and
Immigrant services, such as job, crisis and literacy counseling, are supplied by the Foreign-born Information and Referral Network (FIRN), as are interpreters and other resources.

Staffing the center are Quinton Askew, center coordinator; Vidia Dhanraj, outreach coordinator; Faye Glover, community worker; and Sylvia Maldonado, receptionist.

The center’s hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday. For information, including eligibility guidelines that vary by agency, call 410-880-5917 or visit cac-online.org.