About Us

Welcome to the Family Resource Network of the Panhandle

Corey Beahm, Executive Director

Meetings of FRNOTP Board of Directors are open to the public. Meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month at 11:30 a.m. in March, June, September, and December. For Meeting information contact our Executive Director at director@frnotp.org. Once approved, minutes of meetings within the past year can be made available by contacting the director.

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The Family Resource Network of the Panhandle (FRNOTP) is a 501(c)(3) corporation purposed to facilitate establishment of a system of prevention, education and early intervention activities aimed at enabling families, children and their communities to reach their fullest potential through community based planning activities for Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan Counties, along with other activities as described and established in accordance with §49-1-206. FRNOTP also serves as a clearinghouse for all human service resource information within the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. FRNOTP does not provide direct client services.

It is the mission of FRNOTP to serve as a voice of the people in our community, and serve as forum to communicate the needs of our families within our communities. FRNOTP facilitates collaborative efforts among agencies and organizations to ensure accessible, affordable and efficient family services throughout the entire Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. This program is being presented with financial assistance through a grant from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

In order to fulfill this mission, FRNOTP hosts and provides oversight to the Health and Human Services Collaborative (HHSC). This collaborative effort is comprised of its membership group of over 70 human service agencies within the Eastern Panhandle, as well as members of the community. The HHSC manages its efforts through a Steering Committee, and five strategic work groups: Behavioral Health Work Group, Health Work Group, Kids in Transition (KIT) Collaborative, and Strong and Stable Families Work Group.

MISSION

The Family Resource Network of the Panhandle, Inc. serves as a voice of the people in our community, and serves as forum to communicate the needs of the families in our community. The FRN facilitates collaborative efforts among agencies and organizations to ensure accessible, affordable and efficient family services. The FRN is committed to improving the diversity, scope, quality and effectiveness of these services throughout the entire Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

HISTORY

Since the early 1990s, the Family Resource Network of the Panhandle, Inc. has served as an information clearinghouse for the community in the areas of child and family services. It has facilitated discussions between organizations and agencies providing services, on how to best serve the needs of the community. The FRN strives to be a leader in community development and asset building.

COMMUNITY STRATEGIC PLAN

The Family Resource Network of the Panhandle, Inc. works to uphold the “Priorities of West Virginia Children and Families.”

  1. Families and their children will live in permanent stable homes and be safe in their homes, schools and communities.
  2. Families will have adequate resources and skills to support their children.
  3. Families will achieve and maintain good physical and mental health.
  4. Children will be ready to succeed in school.
  5. Families will possess marketable skills and have access to good jobs to become self-sufficient, contributing and self-sustaining.
  6. The effectiveness of the FRN is broadened to build the capacity of its local communities, reducing fragmentation and duplication.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

The Family Resource Network of the Panhandle, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) corporation managed by a Board of Directors representing Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson Counties. These are some of the hallmarks of the FRN:

  • Fifty percent of the Board is made up of community members and families receiving services.
  • It provides a forum in which the needs of families are communicated.
  • It seeks to reduce the fragmentation and duplication of services in the region.
  • It works with networks of service providers to respond to the needs of children.
  • It works for stronger definitions of children’s rights, grandparent’s and other relative caregiver’s rights.
  • It strives to improve West Virginia’s non-profit capacity.

The concept for the Family Resource Networks (FRN) was designed under what was The Governor’s Cabinet on Children and Families, now known as Bureau for Children and Families, in the early 1990’s, to assure that local communities would have a significant role to play in service delivery, and services would be provided as close to the community as possible. The Cabinet supported the establishment of FRNs because of the need for:

Multi-purpose local partners working with state government
Engaging diverse stakeholders in implementing policy decisions at the local level
Involving local folks that are closer to local needs and local solutions
A way to work with local communities whenever a new federal or state initiative is implemented
A forum for civic engagement and problem solving

The Cabinet defined a Family Resource Network as:

A non-profit community-based organization
A local forum for cross-system deliberation, planning and problem solving
A local infrastructure that supports priority setting, planning, community engagement and collaborative initiatives
Concerned citizens working together to make their community a better place to live

West Virginia’s Family Resource Networks are defined in WV State Code as follows:

§49-1-206 Family Resource Networks.

(a) “Family resource network” means a local community organization charged with service coordination, needs and resource assessment, planning, community mobilization and evaluation, and which has been recognized by the cabinet as having met the following criteria:

(1) Agreeing to a single governing entity;

(2) Agreeing to engage in activities to improve service systems for children and families within the community;

(3) Addressing a geographic area of a county or two or more contiguous counties;

(4) Having non-providers, which include family representatives and other members who are not employees of publicly funded agencies, as the majority of the members of the governing body, and having family representatives as the majority of the non-providers;

(5) Having representatives of local service agencies, including, but not limited to, the public health department, the behavioral health center, the local health and human resources agency and the county school district, on the governing body;

(6) Accepting principles consistent with the cabinet’s mission as part of its philosophy.

(b) A family resource network may not provide direct services, which means to provide programs or services directly to children and families.

Every county in West Virginia has a Family Resource Network

Family Resource Network of the Panhandle, Inc. (FRNOTP), Serving Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan Counties, West Virginia, became incorporated as a non-profit organization in September of 1997.

Legal and Financial

Click Here to view Bylaws

Click Here to view IRS Form 990

Click Here to view Policy ot use of logo(s)