A new Riverland Parent Center opened for business today in partnership with the Austin-based Parenting Resource Center to provide  support services to college-age pregnant and parent students. The center is located in Austin West, room A239, and will be staffed by trained Parent Educators from the Parenting Resource Center and Riverland mentors Bruce Heiny, Juan Perales, and Andy Swank.  Until the end of the semester, the center will be open on the following schedule:

• Monday – Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Tuesday and Wednesday, 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

In October 2011, Riverland Community College was one of only ten colleges in Minnesota to receive a Young Student-Parent Support Initiative grant.  The purpose of the grant is to help state, private, and tribal institutions of higher education start new student-parent help centers.  These centers, designed to address the needs of college-age pregnant and parent students, align well with MnSCU’s Strategic Framework goal to increase access to and success in postsecondary education.

Specifically, the goals of Minnesota's initiative are that pregnant and parenting teens and young women and men will accomplish their higher education/postsecondary education goals and that pregnant and parenting young students will maintain positive health and well-being for themselves and their children. These goals will be achieved by initiating or expanding current services to young pregnant and parenting students on campus. Student-parent help centers may provide referrals to needed health and social services, parenting education, and outreach to pregnant or parenting high school students.

The Parent Educators and Riverland Mentors can be reached by phone at 507-396-0436 or by email at Parent.Center@riverland.edu.

For more information about the Young Student-Parent Support Initiative,  click here.