Programs and services offered by the Village for Families and Children reach into the community, working in schools and community centers helping to strengthen families and build a strong community. If you want more information about the Village’s programs, please call 860.236.4511.

School-Based Programs
The Village has a wide variety of programs based in eight Hartford public schools.

• Our 21st Century Community Learning Centers focus on engaging youth through high-quality academic support services, leadership and character development programs, and enrichment/recreational activities. Open daily after school, these Village Centers give students a safe place to do homework, learn new hobbies, and meet good friends.
• After-School Initiatives provide high-quality academic, enrichment, and recreational programming as well as food distribution. Through research-based, high-interest curricula, after school initiatives give students the academic support they need, as well as ways to develop life skills, explore new interests, and contribute to their communities.
• Finally, Village Family Resource Centers provide school-based support services for parents and children. Service options currently include parent education and support programs, adult education programs, family literacy programs and after-school and summer Positive Youth Development (PYD) programs. Resource Center staff also facilitate linkages to community services to meet basic needs, such as food, clothes and housing.  

Rambuh Family Center
The Rambuh Family Center serves parents of children aged 8 and under in the Upper Albany/Blue Hills neighborhood of Hartford through School Readiness services, family literacy programs, parenting skills and parent advocacy training, and adult education programs. Rambuh is also a Nurturing Families Network program site, which provides home visiting and parent training to new parents identified as being at risk of child abuse or neglect.

Fatherhood Initiative
The Fatherhood Initiative works with young inner-city fathers—an historically difficult-to-reach population—by providing case management services that focus on building parental skills, increasing parental involvement, improving educational and employment opportunities, and securing necessary community-based services. Young fathers are matched with male mentors who serve as guides and role models. Click here to view the program brochure.

Family Economic Security Program
The Village's Family Economic Security Program works with low-income families, many of whom have significant debt or other financial challenges, to increase their personal assets, reduce debt, and improve financial health. Program services currently include free tax preparation through a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program that emphasizes securing such benefits as the Earned Income Tax Credit, budget coaching and customized case management, Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), and financial literacy education. Specialized services for low-income seniors are also available through a funded initiative..

Truancy Court Prevention Program (TCPP)
The Truancy Court Prevention Program helps youth with truancy problems engage in school through intensive on-site case management, academic assessment and support, legal advocacy, and enrollment in after-school activities. The Village’s TCPP partners include the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC), the Center for Children’s Advocacy (CCA), the Connecticut Judicial Branch, and Hartford Public Schools. TCPP sites include Quirk Middle School and Burr School.

The following program is by referral only.

Juvenile Review Board
In collaboration with the Hartford Office for Youth Services, the Juvenile Review Board (JRB) program works to divert juvenile offenders from the formal justice system. JRBs take a restorative justice approach, which balances the needs of the offender, the victim, and the community. JRBs provide offenders who take responsiblity for their actions the opportunity to avoid Juvenile Court through a process during which they face the victim, their parent(s) or guardian, a group of volunteer community members, and law enforcement officials. JRBs focus on helping offenders to understand and acknowledge how their behavior harmed the victim and the community and to take responsibility to repair the harm, through either direct or indirect action. Additionally, JRBs provide support and assistance to help youths develop competencies that will enable them to effect necessary changes in their behavior to avoid re-offending in the future. JRBs are based in and tailored to the communities they serve. JRB is by referral of the Justice System only.