The May Dugan Center is committed to a comprehensive and caring approach to services. Each year, the Center is a lifeline to over 10,000 individuals and families from the Near West-Side and the Greater Cleveland community, offering effective programs that advance people’s lives, as well as services that help people meet their basic emergency needs. Programs are provided by a dedicated staff of 14 full-time and two part-time employees.
The Center offers its core services through the comprehensive
Case Management program. This program enables staff to assess needs and to provide effective programs that strengthen people’s life skills and increase their ability to be contributing members of the community. The case management model offers outreach, counseling, education, information and referral, and crisis intervention and emergency assistance. Services focus on the areas of: mental health, housing assistance, employment services, family and life skills, child and teen development, and reproductive health. Services are offered in English and in Spanish.
The
MomsFirst and Strong Start programs show the Center’s commitment to services that develop family and life skills.
MomsFirst serves pregnant teens, ages 13 to 21, through outreach and case management in the Cleveland Municipal School District’s high schools. The Enhanced Services component addresses any special needs or limitations of pregnant teens. The primary goal of both components is to ensure healthy births.
Strong Start is for couples, ages 16 to adult, who share the responsibility for a child three months or younger. It is designed to teach healthy communication and parenting skills that will enable young couples to understand and meet their children’s developmental needs.
The Food and Clothing Distribution program is offered to poverty-level, Near West Side residents only and provides emergency food assistance on the fourth Wednesday of each month. In addition to this formalized program, the Center also receives donations of clothing and household items that are distributed to clients. The Center also helps clients obtain food stamps and distributes furniture and household items to clients on as needed basis.
In addition, the May Dugan Center collaboration with “tenant” agencies helps ensure comprehensive, accessible services in the community. For example, staff from the Case Management program can readily refer clients for mental health counseling services, which are provided by the Center for Families and Children’s (CFC) Hispanic Office. Other “tenant” agencies offer services such as legal assistance for the homeless, heating assistance, HIV/AIDS educational programs, and tutoring assistance.