Dear Community Partners,

The WCCP is in the process of having community resource guides printed and is now accepting reservations for a free copy or copies. If you are interested, please click here and email the number you'd like to reserve and how you intend to use them.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Stone, WCCP Director

Media Contacts:
Rick Abbruzzese
Office: 410 974-2316
Cell: 443-336-1556

Christine Hansen
Office: 410-974-2316
Cell: 443-336-5270

ANNAPOLIS, MD (November 27, 2007) - Governor Martin O'Malley announced today that Dolores Briones has been named Executive Director for the Governor's Office for Children. A former County Judge (a position that is similar to other states' county executives) from El Paso County, Texas, Briones has over thirty years of experience working on public policy issues that affect women and children.

"Dolores Briones brings a wealth of experience to the position and I am confident that the Governor's Office for Children will benefit greatly from her expertise," said Governor O'Malley. "Under her leadership, the Office for Children will continue to collaborate with our state's child-serving agencies to develop coordinated policy recommendations and support the Children's Cabinet secretaries in distributing and monitoring grants to local jurisdictions to improve the lives of Maryland's families and children."

Prior to her appointment, Briones was elected as County Judge for El Paso County in 1998 and was re-elected in 2002. She is the first county judge to be elected to a second term in El Paso County in 24 years. During her tenure, she created and implemented the "Strong Families, Strong Future" initiative, with the goal of preventing juveniles from re-entering the court system or expensive government- supported services such as out of town foster care and emergency rooms at local hospitals. Through this initiative, Briones created a Domestic Relations office to mediate disputes and investigate child support noncompliance in a timely manner, added an Earned Income Tax Credit site at the County Courthouse which helped prepare a total of 85,000 returns in 2007, and enrolled a record number of children in Texas's federal CHIP health care program.

The "Strong Families, Strong Future" program won Briones the 2003 Texas Association of Counties Best Practices Award for Superior Innovation. The program has also been nominated for national recognition.

Briones was also awarded the 2003 National League of United Latin American Citizens President's Award, the 2005 Civil Rights Award by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee, the 2002 Community Service Award by the El Paso County Black Democrats, and the Government Service Award by the McDonalds Hispanos Triunfadores.

Prior to serving as a county judge, Briones served as a fellow to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, headquartered in Baltimore, where she learned about the range of issues facing children and families nationwide, and new thinking and innovations to improve their life outcomes.

In 1993, Briones was appointed to the Texas Commission for Women by Governor Ann Richards. She is a former chair of the Texas Border Infrastructure Coalition, and was Vice-President of the Texas Conference of Urban Counties. She also served as Vice President of Texans Care for Children and was a member of the Border Colonia Advisory Board.

Briones received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Stanford University in 1974 and received her Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin in 1978.

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The Annie E. Casey Foundation published a profile this year that highlights Ms. Briones' work and advocacy of Casey's family strengthening efforts. During her tenure in El Paso County, Texas, Ms. Briones promoted the Strong Families, Strong Future Initiative-a family strengthening and preventative approach that aims to provide services to community residents before their involvement with the child welfare and criminal justice systems. To view this profile, please click here.

APPLES for Children, Inc., the child care resource center for Washington County and a member agency of the Maryland Child Care Resource Network, was awarded $250.00 for the purchase and installation of signage containing their name, logo and contact information.

The Washington County Community Action Council, Inc. was awarded $7,700.00 to create a permanent wall in the largest classroom at the Washington County Family Center (WCFC) in order to create another classroom. Recently, Washington County Public Schools provided funding for an additional part-time Science teacher at the High School Credit Program at WCFC, which has created the need for an additional classroom. In order to accommodate the space required for this classroom, these funds will be used to create a permanent wall in the largest existing classroom and two new exit doors - one for the newly created classroom and one to the adjacent classroom to meet fire code requirements.

The Washington County Family Center (WCFC) was awarded $3,310.00 to offer a fifth series of a parenting education class called the Nurturing Program. Additionally, the WCFC will offer the three part series titled Unequal Partners, which addresses the issue of older men preying upon young women. Many of the teen mothers in Washington County are involved with men who are five or more years older than they are. The Unequal Partners program is designed to make women aware of the potential risk of such relationships and to teach them assertiveness and refusal skills if they find themselves needing to end an unhealthy relationship.

The Collaborative Supervision and Focused Enforcement (CSAFE) program was awarded $12,900.00 for the purchase of twelve laptop computers and $500.00 for the purchase of educational software to be used at the four CSAFE after school program sites at Bester Elementary, Eastern Elementary, Fountaindale Elementary and Winter Street Elementary schools in Hagerstown. The addition of laptop computers with tutorial software programs will enhance the after school experience. The expectation is that the students will engage in interactive reading activities that will encourage additional reading and promote the importance of literacy. Students who do not have computers in their homes will also have the opportunity to use this technology that is vital to success in life.

Washington County Public Schools (WCPS) was awarded $70,000.00 to provide Substance Abuse Prevention Services at Antietam Academy (AA). The AA program serves youth, ages 11-18, at risk of school dropout, substance abuse, juvenile crime, and/or recidivism. Youth are referred to AA by their home school if their behavior interferes with education. Services are integrated at AA in a flexible academic setting, effective for students who are not succeeding in a classroom setting and may need intense one-on-one help. The overall goal of the program is to provide substance abuse prevention curriculum and education to reduce the number of youth who use drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes in Washington County.

For more information, please contact Linda Widmyer, Washington County Community Partnership for Children & Families Project Coordinator, at 240-313-2094.