Once a part of Community Mercy Health Partners, the center was recently defunded by the hospital system. The Rocking Horse Center, the non-profit health care provider for low-income children, stepped in to keep the services available.
“It extends our holistic approach to servicing underserved families in the community,” said Leslie Crew, director of development and quality assurance for the Rocking Horse Center.
After considering several locations, The Rocking Horse Center decided to move the Parent-Infant Center to the Catholic Charities building at 701 E. Columbia St. in downtown.
“We felt the Catholic services location was the best fit and they felt the same way,” said Dana Engle, CEO of Rocking Horse Center.
“We felt our missions were complimentary to each other.”
Engle said transportation is an important issue for clients and the location needed to be on a bus line.
PIC coordinator Beverly Dixon believes the move to the new location, which also houses Second Harvest Food Bank, will be beneficial for both services.
“It’s going to be a very good marriage with Catholic Social Services,” she said. “We’ll be able to refer to them, they’ll be able to refer to us.”
The Parent-Infant Center had been making cuts to its programs since 2009.
“The two big (programs) were Help Me Grow and abstinence education,” said Dixon.
She would like to see the programs reinstated one day.
“With Rocking Horse we may have some other opportunities,” she said.
Items provided by the Parent-Infant Center will continue to be available by appointment until Tuesday, March 23, at the 40 W. High Street location.
Any donations to the center should be held after today, March 19, until the new location opens.
“As always, we’re going to continue to need the support of the community. That’s what makes our program successful,” said Dixon.
“It’s just been wonderful, but needs are increasing.”
The Parent Infant Center is tentatively scheduled to open at their new location on Thursday, April 1.
Hours of operation will remain the same.
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