Bright Futures
Meeting the Challenges of Positive Parenting
Printable PDF Version (2 pages)
A Healthy-Start Initiative
Bright Futures is
a home-based parenting education program that is a collaborative effort
between the Mississippi Department of Human Services and the Mississippi
State University Extension Service. The Extension Service conducts the
Bright Futures program.
The program teaches
the importance of parenting skills and providing a safe environment where
children can grow. Bright Futures focuses on reducing the number of teen
births, repeat pregnancies, and cases of child abuse and neglect.
Bright Futures is
helping families deal with some of the challenges that put them at risk
for poor development. The primary target audience consists of low-birth-weight
babies, children living in poverty, and single-parent families. The program
promotes family values as well as teaches resource management. Bright
Futures provides the educational training needed for individuals to become
healthy and productive adults. Training includes the following components:
- Child Development
Skills
- Family and Child
Nutrition
- Health Education
- Life-Skills Education
- Parenting Skills
- Values Clarification
The Vision
Bright Futures helps
families become aware of the importance of family stability and resilience.
It explores practical ways of maintaining the health and well-being of
individuals and families. The program teaches families the steps needed
to help their children become healthy and productive citizens.
The Approach
Bright Futures uses
case management teams—family-life educators and family support workers—to
provide contact with at-risk families in their homes.
Each family completes
an educational survey and is asked what it wants to learn in the areas
of family and child development. The case management team documents the
goals and develops an individualized family plan.
A major objective
of the program is to get mothers to value their children. The case management
team works together to provide a link of services for these at-risk families.
The Goals
The Bright Futures
Program provides educational programs and parent-mentor services through
home visits and case management to strengthen the lives of families and
children in Mississippi.
The goals of the program
are
- to provide pregnancy
prevention programming to teens to reduce the number of births and repeat
pregnancies.
- to provide programs
to help parents develop positive parenting skills and reduce the number
of child abuse/neglect cases.
- to provide training
for basic job skills/readiness to assist at-risk families in securing
jobs.
- to conduct educational
programs to strengthen the role of fathers and help them become more
aware of family responsibilities and the needs of their children.
- to help parents
develop life skills in order to improve their quality of life and strengthen
family stability.
For additional information
about the Bright Futures Program, contact one of the following Mississippi
State University Extension Service offices:
Bolivar County
406 N. Martin Luther King Drive
Cleveland, MS 38732
(662) 843-8371
Coahoma County
503 E. Second Street
Clarksdale, MS 38614
(662) 624-3072
Covington County
68 Collins Industrial Park Drive
Collins, MS 39428
(601) 765-0359
Forrest County
400 Forrest Street, Suite 200
Hattiesburg, MS 39401
(601) 545-6083
Holmes County
P.O. Box 330
Lexington, MS 39095
(601) 834-2795
Jefferson Davis County
P.O. Box 580
Prentiss, MS 39474
(601) 792-5121
Leflore County
Lock Drawer C
Greenwood, MS 38935
(662) 453-6804
Washington County
148 N. Edison
Greenville, MS 38701
(662) 335-8946
Stephanie Gilmore
State Coordinator
Box 9640
Mississippi State, MS 39762
(662) 325-6640
Sponsored by
the Mississippi Department of Human Services -- Division of Family and
Children Services
Conducted by the Mississippi State University Extension Service
Distributed by Stephanie
Gilmore, Bright Futures State Coordinator
Publication 2191
Extension Service of Mississippi State University, cooperating with U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Published in furtherance of Acts of Congress, May 8 and June 30, 1914.
Joe H. McGilberry, Interim Director
(rev-2M-09-01)
Copyright 2001 by
Mississippi State University. All rights reserved.
This document may
be copied and distributed for nonprofit educational purposes provided
that credit is given to the Mississippi State University Extension Service.
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