Brenda Hughes, executive director of Family Cornerstones, speaks during an open house event for the organization, which was formerly known as Bradley Initiative for Church and Community. The recent re-branding coincides with a focus on the organization's core mission of strengthening families, said Hughes.FOR MORE INFORMATIONFamily Cornerstones Inc.2810 Westside Drive NW, Suite EP.O. Box 5404Cleveland, TN 37320-5404Phone: 423-559-1112Web: www.familycornerstones.orgEmail: bhughes@familycornerstones.org
CLEVELAND, Tenn. - The launch of Family Cornerstones is not just a simple rebranding of Bradley Initiative for Church and Community, which has served as a Christian nonprofit community development agency in Cleveland for 15 years.
It's also a matter of refocusing the organization's mission to better align itself with its vision of "strengthening families for a strong community," said Brenda Hughes, executive director for Family Cornerstones.
On Wednesday, organization staff and board members hosted a ribbon cutting and an open house at their Westside Drive offices for community leaders and agency supporters.
"Our focus has changed from creating programs and programs and programs to just focusing on strengthening families," Hughes said. "Our mission is to provide the skills and the tools to parents, youth and children [so] that they would have a strong family unit."
The well-being of families has a great impact upon the community as a whole, said Jeff Morelock, president of Family Cornerstones' board of directors.
"Brenda and her staff have done numerous studies over the years and discovered [that] a lot of the problems we have in communities are due to weak families," he said. "We're trying to build strong families with these programs."
"Family Cornerstones" is a name that matches the organization's focus on a core group of "results-driven" programs intended to make families stronger, she said.
Key programs include "Starfish," which focuses on children up to the age of 5 years and provides "in-home parent education ... that recognizes the parents are the child's first and most important teacher," according to the Family Cornerstones' website.
"Bridging the Gap Mentoring" and "Transitions" seek to meet the needs of families with older children up through middle adolescence.
"Inspiring Tomorrow's Leaders Today" holds bi-monthly meetings and is meant to cultivate leadership capacity in students and encourage them to reinvest in their community.
Inside Family Cornerstones' entry room, Hughes showed the "Gallery of Hope" to touring visitors.
The centerpiece of the room is the nine-point "My Strong Family Pledge," which drives home the importance of love, respect, faith, integrity, communication, listening, commitment, legacy and time in the life of a family.
Pictures of families and mentors adorn the walls and frame the pledge.
"These are pictures of families and children who have been impacted by these programs," Hughes said.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. Email him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.