FOCUS

FOCUS stands for Families Of the Community United with Schools and our mission is to involve families, schools and community in an effort to help our children make healthy and responsible decisions. Children in our community, like children everywhere, face risks such as drug/alcohol use, sexual activity and violence. Through FOCUS, we can work together to reduce risk behaviors in our children.

FOCUS was founded in 1998 by a group of concerned parents in our school district. Over the years, the organization has provided many informative and helpful programs for parents, students and staff. Working together with our school administrators and parent leaders, FOCUS has become an integral part of our schools providing classroom programs to children, as well as workshops for parents. FOCUS also maintains a Parent Resource Center comprised of books, videos and pamphlets on a variety of topics. The Parent Resource Center is housed at the Cold Spring Harbor Library and materials can be borrowed by library cardholders.

In 2003, FOCUS established the SAFE HOMES program in the Cold Spring Harbor School District. This national program, utilized by school districts nationwide, is an effective way for parents to join together to provide a safer environment for their children. As members of SAFE HOMES, parents sign a pledge agreeing to abide by the requirements of the SAFE HOMES program. Families who sign the pledge are listed in a directory that is distributed to all SAFE HOMES families. Parents can utilize this directory whenever their child is invited to someone's house. If the host family is a member of SAFE HOMES, parents know that their child will be supervised while in that home and that certain precautions will be followed. They also know that the host family welcomes communication from them and that they can feel comfortable calling to ask any questions they may have about the activity or the environment. By 2005, more than 400 families in the Cold Spring Harbor School District were members of SAFE HOMES.