News Stories

Brooklyn Center Community Schools is proud to be a full-service community school district. With the support of community partners and programming, we offer a range of services and support to address academic and nonacademic barriers to students’ education, wellness, and success. 

The Family Resource Rooms at Brooklyn Center Elementary (BCE), Brooklyn Center Middle and High School (BCS), and the Early College Academy (ECA) offer Brooklyn Center students, families and community access to information and support from various community agencies addressing the basic needs for food, clothing, energy assistance, shelter, healthcare and more. The Resource Rooms also have limited supplies of clothing, personal and household items, and food for immediate student and family access. Each room is staffed with a family liaison that helps identify needs and connect students and families with the right resources if they are unable to meet that need themselves. 

“Families come here for so many reasons,” said Stella Sola, family liaison at BCS. “You need laundry detergent? Let me get some for you. It’s hard to come to that door and say, ‘I don’t have socks.’ I will never question how you show up. Just tell me what you need and I am here to help you.” 

As a community school district, teachers look out for students and their needs as well, and have the ability to connect the student to the Family Resource Room. Stella shared that she planned to bring a student a new backpack to their classroom, but their teacher noticed the student’s jacket was ripped and informed Stella, so she brought both a backpack and a jacket. Another time, Stella provided a student with an outfit for a job interview. Students are then able to keep all clothing.

“One student arrived at the beginning of the school day wearing only one boot because she couldn’t find the other one and didn’t want to miss the bus. We do our best to address these immediate needs so that students can continue their day successfully at school,” said Mercedes Charles, family liaison at BCE. 

The rooms offer more than just physical resources, with many families calling to be connected to housing, immigration, mental health, food shelves, and other resources. The Family Resource Rooms also work closely with the Health Resource Center (HRC), which offers free and low-cost medical, dental, and mental health services to BC youth.

“If you trust us with your child, you can trust me with providing you the resources you need,” Stella said. “I will treat the information you give me very carefully, and I am bound by confidentiality. I will never give a parent a resource that I don't know.”

Families may also come to the rooms to use computers, sometimes using them to apply for government benefits or register for assistance programs. 

Each school’s liaison emphasized the importance of these rooms existing not just for students and their day-to-day needs, but for families and their bigger needs, especially immigrants and undocumented families who may be navigating living in the United States for the first time. Additionally, family members who may be struggling with mental health may call their liaison who can connect them to counseling services. 

“If your student is here, this is a family need, and the student belongs to the family. If we're going to serve the child as a whole, that includes the environment when they're not with us, so what can we do to make it the healthiest environment for them to go back to?” Stella said. “If we do not have what you are looking for, I will do my very best to help you. We can offer resources even though we may not have what you need. Reach out anyway. Reach out to us.”

• BCS:
  • Hours: 7:30 a.m.- 4 p.m.
  • Contact: Toni Edwards, tedwards@bccs286.org, 763-561-2120 
• BCE: 
  • Hours: 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
  • Contact: DeMyko Fuller, dfuller@bccs286.org, 763-561-4480
• ECA: 
  • Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
  • Contact: Yazmin Guzman Gonzalez, yguzmangonzalez@bccs286.org, 612-540-3383