“The Family Resource Center at Emma is my second home. My whole family feels we can count on them! We all volunteer, love our garden plot and enjoy each minute giving back because we had received so much!” Latino mother from Ecuador
“I like coming to Project MARCH because they help me with my homework. When I’m not trying, they tell me to try, they push me hard to do my homework. Learning Center is the best place I could ever get my homework done. My mom likes it to. Thanks for helping me.” -Jessica, 9 years old, Woodridge Learning Center
Children First/CIS of Buncombe County is a not-for-profit organization that offers direct services to economically disadvantaged children, youth and their families. These services include the Family Resource Center at Emma that helps over 700 English and Latino families (approximately 520 adults and 532 children) in crisis with a food pantry, clothing closet, emergency financial assistance, parenting classes and a community garden; Latino Outreach Program that offers a Motheread parent/child literacy program and the CCA basic computer class to learn Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, email and navigating the internet; Project MARCH Learning Centers that provides a safe haven afterschool for 60 at-risk elementary school aged youth (living in two public housing complexes and a section 8 apartment complex) to receive homework help, a healthy snack, enrichment activities and also includes a parent involvement component; and the Project POWER/AmeriCorps program that provides mentoring and enrichment activities to youth living in Buncombe County. In addition to direct services, Children First/CIS also provides advocacy and community education to raise awareness of, and develop sustainable solutions to, issues affecting children and families and breaking down barriers of poverty.
Children First/Communities In Schools Buncombe County
50 S. French Broad Ave. Ste. #246
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 259-9717
fax: (828) 281-3308