About Us
Extraordinary community spirit and vision, coupled with the determination of several individual citizens, helped Dothan establish and open the doors of Alabama's first Family Services Center on November 1st, 1994.
Dothan's Alfred Saliba Family Services Center is a public, non-profit social services agency that offers "one-stop-shopping" with prevention and intervention services that strengthens families and helps them help themselves. It offers a wide range of services under the "umbrella" of several components: an intake and assessment center, a Community Career Development Center, Even-Start Literacy Program, a child care center, an in-home visitation program, the Family Health Clinic, and an Early Head Start Program.
Not only does the center offer direct services to families and individuals, it also considers itself a "family" of agencies and organizations. More than 30 social service agencies are partners with the center.
How It Began
In the early 1990's, a community task force called the "Dothan 2000" was established. Led by a handful of Dothan leaders who understood the human toll of child abuse, teen pregnancy, high school drop-out rates, and illiteracy, this task force began to look for ways to curb these disturbing trends in the Dothan Community. At the same time, Dothan Mayor Alfred Saliba was looking for a way to help families. His ideas merged with those of the "Dothan 2000" task force and together they were inspired by a successful family resource center in Gainesville, Florida.
Convinced such a center would help Dothan families, Mayor Saliba took the lead in selling the idea in the community. He worked with the Dothan City School District and the city to secure the 1921 school building where the Family Services Center is housed, and he became the first chairman of the board of Center Directors that oversees it's operation.
Primary financial support comes from federal funds allocated under Early Head Start and the Family Preservation and Support Services Act. The Center also receives money from the Children's Trust Fund, Governors High Risk Grant, ADECA, Community Development Block Grant, Alabama Civil Justice Foundation, Even Start Literacy Grant, Early Head Start Grant, and Alabama Department of Public Health. Local civic groups and individuals contribute and in-kind support.
Our Mission
"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime."
We believe all children deserve to live in a family that provides food, shelter, love and a nurturing environment.
We believe all families deserve to live in a community that protects and supports them through policies and programs that insure the greatest possible cognitive, emotional, social and physical achievement.
We believe that to empower families to meet the needs of the children and all the members of the family, the current system of community support should be more coordinated, comprehensive, accessible and focused on prevention.
We believe such a program must be based on the family concerns, priorities and resources that build on the strengths of the family and identification of formal and informal support systems which will provide any needed assistance.
We believe that we must look to the family as the provider of a child's well being and as a community provide for those families who may be in need.
The goal of the Alfred Saliba Family Services Center is to improve the quality of life of the citizens of Dothan/Houston County by providing coordinated, comprehensive, and accessible support services focused on prevention.
Contact Information
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Main Telephone
(334) 712-1542
Locations
301 West Lafayette Street, Dothan, AL 36301
545 West Main Street, Dothan, AL 36301
E-Mail:
General Information: intake@familyservicesofdothan.com
Webmaster:
mcronin@ASFSC.net