Our Family Advocates can assist all family sizes and structures. The services provided are specific to the unique obstacles that families may face such as utility assistance, rent/mortgage assistance, crisis intervention, medical insurance assistance, general aid, food, and Family Success Coaching.
Youth Services
Children’s Circle provides an opportunity each week for parents and children to spend quality time together. The crafts each week focus on hand-eye coordination, fine motor, social skills, and so much more! Everyone is welcome to join us every Wednesday from 11am - 12pm in our downstairs room.
Family Success Coaching
Sponsored by First 5 Kern, we offer support to families with young children, ages 0-5. These coaching services include monthly home visits to bring needed supplies (such as diapers and food), monitor children’s development through the Ages and Stages questionnaire, and provide timely parent education. We connect our families with available resources, including rental and utility assistance; health insurance, cash aid, and food stamps applications and advocacy; medical, dental, behavioral health, and WIC referrals; Toys for Tots/Gifts for Teens and holiday meal programs; prescription assistance; bus tickets; and other programs as they become available.
Assistance with Confidential Matters
Our Advocates are trained in privacy and confidentiality procedures in order to help you with sensitive matters. We will never share your information except as needed to assist you and only with your written consent.
Food Assistance
Our food pantry allows us to provide food boxes to clients right in our office. In addition to our pantry, we have a food referral form with valuable information to connect families to resources such as Commodities or other food bank locations. When available, we can also provide a Market Gift Voucher to either the Frazier Park Market or Pine Mountain Club General Store. To create a sustainable food source for your family, we have applications to apply for Cal-fresh which we can submit the same day.
Hygiene, Diapers, Wipes and Formula
While our Advocates do their best to connect clients with long-term sustainability, we recognize that emergencies come up and we have the resources to assist. Through donations, we are able to provide hygiene supplies and kits along with cleaning supplies to those in need. If a parent is in need of diapers, wipes, or formula, our office carries a supply to assist the family in making it through the week.
Utility Assistance
When funded, our Advocates can connect community members to assistance for gas, electric, propane, firewood, and water utilities, including when they are in threat of termination. We can also assist with submitting requests for weatherization services and additional utility assistance through the LiHEAP program. Our Advocates explore other saving options like providing applications for the SoCal Edison’s CARE program for low-income individuals and families.
Rent/Mortgage Assistance
When funded, rent and mortgage assistance is another way we are able to help families avoid homelessness. If you are currently homeless or in danger of becoming so, our Advocates are able to connect you to shelters in Bakersfield. If you are in need of these resources, give us a call today to see how we can help.
General Aid and Medi-Cal Insurance
Connecting families with medical and dental insurance is important. At our office, we have Department of Human Services applications that can be completed and submitted the same day. If you are looking for general aid, or as some call it cash aid, you can apply using this same application.
Crisis Intervention
When you are in crisis, our Advocates have the resources and referrals to assist you through these challenging times. This can include resources specific to domestic violence support, shelters, restraining order information, mental health, and legal assistance. Our advocates can also assist in reporting cases of suspected child and elder abuse.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .