 The Youth Summer Digital Book Club starts next week. We will be encouraging youth to read 20 minutes a day with fun activities. Our staff Tricia and Kaylyn will both be meeting weekly with two groups of youth once a week for 6 weeks.Staff dropped off the kits of supplies to the programs for each youth enrolled today. Each kit has all of the supplies they need for the activities planned, and at least 5 books from the Pernet library (catered to their reading levels and interests from registration), a reading tracker, and other important information. We will be swapping out the books during the program as the youth finish them, using the same Covid-19 measures currently used by Public Libraries.
This is made possible partially by grants from The Fred Harris Daniels Foundation and Reliant Foundation and Carolyn M. from the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts (GSCWM) who donated 10 boxes of books earlier this year for her Gold Award Girl Scouts Project. #ThankYou #YouMadeThisHappen  Thanks to MCPHS University, Pernet was able to conduct a survey in March 2020 of its Parent Aide Program to get a deeper understanding of our clients, their needs, and the alignment with our services. Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing excerpts and information that we gained in the survey process. The survey included a good cross-section of clients, including some who were newly accessing services, along with others who had been accessing services for a longer period of time. The respondents were also from diverse backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, culturally and racially diverse, and were from across different generations and age groups.
We welcome your comments and questions, as they are truly informative and helpful in our program evaluation and ensuring that we're providing the most relevant services to meet our clients' unique needs. Below is some of the information we received from survey participants: 1. Almost 3/4 (72%) of survey participants were extremely satisfied with the services they receive from Pernet, with another 22% of respondents indicating that they were very satisfied. 2. Over half (53%) of survey participants felt that Pernet had done an extremely good job in satisfying their family's needs, with an additional 26% reporting that Pernet had done a very good job. Sixteen (16%) said their family's needs were adequately satisfied, and the remaining 5% felt that their needs were still unmet. 3. When asked how Pernet has helped them in the past year, respondents indicated a range of ways in which they have been helped including: learned how to discipline their kids; see their children more; allowed them to utilize the office space for supervised visits; supported their family needs; brought their family back in a more unified way; good advice; helped to plan a schedule; reached family goals; and helped to pick out nutritious foods. 4. Clients also reported that they felt connected to Pernet's staff: 69% reported that they felt "very" or "extremely" connected, with another 23% reporting that they felt adequately or somewhat connected. 5. Similarly, clients reported that they felt like Pernet's staff was trustworthy: 95% of respondents said that staff was extremely, very, or adequately trustworthy, with the largest number of respondents indicating that they felt staff was "extremely" trustworthy. 6. When asked to describe staff, clients said: "always a text away" and quick to respond to needs, good advice, helpful, understanding, good communication, help with communicating with other agencies and services, supportive, good advice, friendly, informative, validating, resourceful, kind, loyal, compassionate, convenient, helpful. We look forward to sharing more information from this wonderful survey conducted by MCHPS University students. Thank you again for helping us better understand and better serve our community!  We are grateful to all our donors and to the Worcester County Food Bank & Wegmans for making sure that our Food Pantry is stocked every week and we are able to serve individuals and families in need.
Big shout out to our staff Yildiz & Melissa and our volunteer Tony who have been working hard during the pandemic to keep the Food Pantry open. #ThankYou #PernetFoodPantry  We wish every father a Happy Father's Day. I would like to introduce you to the Father's & Family Program here at Pernet. It consists of two groups; The Nurturing Fathers Group and the Incarcerated Fathers Group.
The Nurturing Fathers Group contracted through the Department of Children & Families (DCF) is a 10 week group for fathers currently involved with DCF. Currently, group facilitators, Chris Nelson, Mary Jane Foley, and Volunteer Don Unger are conducting the group on Zoom with great success. The men are very happy to connect with each other and willingly open up about their parental and relational struggles. Recently a graduate of this group, one of many that had chosen to remain in the next group after graduating, was reunified with his children. He reported being grateful to have experienced the group as a means of learning new parenting strategies and just connecting with other men as fathers. Over 50 fathers have been served in the group over the past year. The second group is a 10 to 14 week group facilitated by Pernet staff Chris Nelson and Denise Rowan at the Worcester County House of Correction. Unfortunately, this group has been suspended during the Covid 19 outbreak. In addition we try to provide some support to graduates of the group upon their release. To date, we had served 35 fathers in this group. We were beginning to conduct a group in which select members were going to participate in a 4 session activity,that included direct interaction with their children. This group will be the first of its kind at the jail with inmates interacting directly with their families. We are planning to restart this group in July with necessary health restrictions. Numerous studies have shown how important it is to have a father figure in a child's life. This program works with fathers to help them make a strong and healthy connection with their children. They explore the reasons they are not with their children, how to work on themselves so that they can make that connection. These men become each other's support sharing life experiences and guiding each other. Happy (belated) Father's Day! Learn more about the Fathers Program Support the Fathers Program 
Our hearts are filled with joy, excitement and gratitute. Because of your belief in the capacity to rise beyond one's struggles you made a donation to the Pernet Virtual Baby Shower.
Thank you. Learn more about our work June 2, 2020
A JOINT STATEMENT FROM MEMBERS OF THE WORCESTER TOGETHER COALITION Together we rise, together we stand, and together we change. On behalf of the Worcester Together Coalition, comprising more than 100 individuals and organizations formed in response to the COVID-19 crisis, we rise and we stand in condemnation of the brutal acts perpetrated by Minneapolis police officers in the murder of George Floyd. We stand in the name of countless Black lives lost at the hands of police and civil vigilantes and in the name of all Communities of Color that have and continue to experience institutional inequity and brutality. We seek to create and make change to shift the oppressive imbalances in our country in the name of all Communities of Color that have experienced profound loss including for George Floyd, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Sandra Bland, Botham Jean, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and for whom their families and communities have endured deep pain, anger, frustration, and fear because of systemic racism and inequity. Silence is not an option. Action is paramount. Worcester Together has demonstrated our ability to act and respond in crisis through COVID-19. Today, we speak aloud in disgust and with deep sorrow for our community and our country, and to leverage our collective and unified power to act and make change. The devastating racial disparities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic are intrinsically related to our nation’s history of white supremacy and structural racism. It is a legacy that we must reject and dismantle. As we seek to address the COVID-19 crisis and to build a fair and just “new normal” we commit ourselves to these principles in all that we do, both individually and collectively: 1. We will acknowledge the reality of white supremacism in our history and its insidious presence in our institutions, public school system, police department, community based organizations, and ways of doing business and will facilitate courageous conversations and frank discussion of the issues at hand as a community. We will recognize our inadvertent complicity in the perpetuation of this injustice. 2. We will approach every initiative, policy or program that we undertake as an opportunity to dismantle racism. We will do this explicitly and embrace accountability for our results. 3. We will consistently and promptly identify, name, question, and actively resist and denounce policies in our criminal justice, law enforcement, education and health institutions that injure people of color and deprive them of the opportunity to participate fully in the life of our community. 4. We will center, elevate and defer to voices of People of Color and support the economic advancement of Communities of Color by using our collective purchasing power to support locally owned Black, Latino, and immigrant businesses. We are fallible humans acting in the name of humanity and cannot do this work alone. Please join us as we work together to create equity, shape and change our community and our country’s course. The Worcester Together Coalition as signed by: Action! by Design Mechanics Hall, Worcester County Mechanics Assoc. June 2, 2020 A JOINT STATEMENT FROM MEMBERS OF THE WORCESTER TOGETHER COALITION Together we rise, together we stand, and together we change. On behalf of the Worcester Together Coalition, comprising more than 100 individuals and organizations formed in response to the COVID-19 crisis, we rise and we stand in condemnation of the brutal acts perpetrated by Minneapolis police officers in the murder of George Floyd. We stand in the name of countless Black lives lost at the hands of police and civil vigilantes and in the name of all Communities of Color that have and continue to experience institutional inequity and brutality. We seek to create and make change to shift the oppressive imbalances in our country in the name of all Communities of Color that have experienced profound loss including for George Floyd, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Sandra Bland, Botham Jean, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and for whom their families and communities have endured deep pain, anger, frustration, and fear because of systemic racism and inequity. Silence is not an option. Action is paramount. Worcester Together has demonstrated our ability to act and respond in crisis through COVID-19. Today, we speak aloud in disgust and with deep sorrow for our community and our country, and to leverage our collective and unified power to act and make change. The devastating racial disparities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic are intrinsically related to our nation’s history of white supremacy and structural racism. It is a legacy that we must reject and dismantle. As we seek to address the COVID-19 crisis and to build a fair and just “new normal” we commit ourselves to these principles in all that we do, both individually and collectively: 1. We will acknowledge the reality of white supremacism in our history and its insidious presence in our institutions, public school system, police department, community based organizations, and ways of doing business and will facilitate courageous conversations and frank discussion of the issues at hand as a community. We will recognize our inadvertent complicity in the perpetuation of this injustice. 2. We will approach every initiative, policy or program that we undertake as an opportunity to dismantle racism. We will do this explicitly and embrace accountability for our results. 3. We will consistently and promptly identify, name, question, and actively resist and denounce policies in our criminal justice, law enforcement, education and health institutions that injure people of color and deprive them of the opportunity to participate fully in the life of our community. 4. We will center, elevate and defer to voices of People of Color and support the economic advancement of Communities of Color by using our collective purchasing power to support locally owned Black, Latino, and immigrant businesses. We are fallible humans acting in the name of humanity and cannot do this work alone. Please join us as we work together to create equity, shape and change our community and our country’s course. The Worcester Together Coalition as signed by: Action! by Design Mechanics Hall, Worcester County Mechanics Assoc. Alex M. Mooradian, Esq. Michael Sleeper, Imperial Distributors Ascentria Care Alliance Mission E4 Billy Fitzpatrick, College of the Holy Cross, 2020 Naomi Sleeper, Imperial Distributors Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor National Grid Boys & Girls Club of Worcester Open Sky Community Services Candy Mero-Carlson City Councilor, District 2 Organization for Nonprofit Excellence (ONE Worcester) Central Mass Housing Alliance Pernet Family Health Service CENTRO Project New Hope Inc. Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester Quinsigamond Community College Coghlin Electrical Contractors, Inc. Regional Environmental Council of Central MA Coghlin Network Services, Inc. Senator Ed Markey Community Health Link Senator Harriette L. Chandler Congressman Jim McGovern Seven Hills Foundation & Affiliates Department of Children and Families, Worcester East Southeast Asian Coalition Department of Youth Service, Central Region State Representative James O'Day Dress for Success Worcester State Representative John J. Mahoney Ed Augustus, City Manager, Worcester Straight Ahead Ministries Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center The Clemente Course in the Humanities, Worcester Edward Street Child Services The Guild of St. Agnes Elder Services of Worcester The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts Emma Davison, College of the Holy Cross, 2021 Together for Kids Coalition Face Mask Working Group - Mutual Aid Worcester UMass Memorial Health Care Friendly House United Way of Central Massachusetts Gina Plata-Nino, Esq. University of Massachusetts Medical School Greater Worcester Community Foundation University of Massachusetts Medical School Habitat for Humanity MetroWest/Greater Worcester Worcester Addresses Childhood Trauma HOPE Coalition Worcester Chamber Music Society/Neighborhood Strings Imperial Distributors Worcester Community Action Council Jeremiah's Inn Worcester Community Connections of YOU, Inc. Joe Ertle, College of the Holy Cross Worcester Cultural Coalition Journey Community Church, Revs. Tom Sparling, Paul Joyal, Lou Soiles Worcester Education Collaborative Kimberly Salmon, Worcester Resident Worcester Education Equity Roundtable Latino Education Institute Worcester Family Partnership Legendary Legacies Inc Worcester Housing Authority Living In Freedom Together-LIFT Worcester Interfaith Love Your Labels Worcester Public Schools Main South Community Development Corporation Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce Mark Richman, Professor, WPI Worcester State University MassHIRE Central Career Centers Worcester Telegram and Gazette MassHIRE Central Region Workforce Board YMCA of Central Massachusetts Mayor Joseph M. Petty YWCA Central Massachusetts  The generosity of so many in our community has enabled the Worcester Together Fund to provide financial support to essential non-profits in Worcester County during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pernet is grateful for the support to help us continue our important work during this difficult time!
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AuthorPernet Family Health Service, Inc. Archives
June 2020
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