Representatives of Motivation Education & Training Inc. (MET) recently spoke to the Rotary Club of Livingston regarding the many services they provide to rural communities.
Some of the programs offered include: Head Start, Early Head Start, Pregnancy Services, Fatherhood Engagement, Senior Community Service, Employment Program, Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors, Parenting Classes and Workforce Training.
For example, MET offers pregnancy services in Polk, Liberty, Montgomery and Hardin counties where the goals are to improve healthy pregnancy and childbirth outcomes, improve child health and development, assist families in achieving economic self-sufficiency and stability by increasing workforce participation and promoting family formation for participating parents.
MET provides the following: workshops on positive parents and healthy adult relationships; referrals for health services, mental health services and basic needs assistance programs; parent leadership council; family goals; career assessment; workforce training; and job training.
The Fatherhood Engagement program is to help fathers and father figures understand the importance and impact of their role not only for their children, but within the family unit, and to assist fathers in reaching employment goals and furthering education. A component of the program is just as iron sharpens iron, fatherhood sharpens fatherhood.
All services through the Fatherhood Engagement program are available in English and Spanish and are totally free, including job search assistance, career assessments, resume assistance, parental education, financial assistance for certifications and program incentives. Financial assistance can also be provided for trades or tools, such as hoods for welders or clippers for barbers.
Head Start is a community-based program that serves women, children, infants, toddlers and pre-school aged children. Early Head Start focuses on building healthy positive relationships for parents, caregivers and children. Head Start also focuses on cognitive and social/emotional development, preparing preschoolers for kindergarten.
Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors is a parenting class that meets every week for 10 weeks and different topics are discussed and there is a big celebration at the end. It is created by Hispanics but can be tweaked for other ethnicities.
There is also a senior employment program that provides non-profit organizations with workers and provides workers with customer service skills and training.
To learn more about the services MET provides, go to www.metinc.org.
