Southern Humboldt Family Resource Center wins 2026 Children First Award

Southern Humboldt families who need diapers, emergency food, a counseling referral or help getting to school are often sent to one place: the Southern Humboldt Family Resource Center in Redway. That everyday safety net is now being held up countywide, after the center won the 2026 Children First Award from the Child Abuse Prevention Coordinating Council of Humboldt County.

The award was presented April 24 at the Children’s Memorial Day Ceremony at the Eureka Boys & Girls Club. In the ceremony photo caption, SoHum Health identified center staff members as Amy Terrones, Michelle Pogue, Piper Keener, Caity Parson, Brandy Bremer, Raven Majors and Michelle Kaufmann, along with CAPCC Chair Jan Bramlett. The honor matters because it recognizes more than a plaque on a wall. It marks the center as part of the county’s child-abuse-prevention infrastructure, the kind of institution that tries to lower family stress before neglect or abuse escalates.

CAPCC says its mission is to strengthen community connections that promote safe, healthy and resilient children and families in Humboldt County, and its membership is open to anyone interested in prevention, intervention and treatment. The Southern Humboldt center is listed by CAPCC as a Family First Community Pathway Site, and Amy Terrones serves on the leadership team of the Humboldt Network of Family Resource Centers as the Southern Humboldt representative.

The work being recognized is practical and immediate. SoHum Health says the center offers food, clothing, diapers, playgroups, parent education and support groups, family enrichment programs, and drug and alcohol prevention programs for youth and teens. It also helps with emergency food, hygiene supplies, school supplies, housing, childcare, transportation, CalFresh and CalWORKs assistance, counseling referrals, weekly emergency food bags and a Youth Diversion Program at South Fork High School and Miranda Junior High School.

Terrones has said the center has a strong reputation as a place where Southern Humboldt children and families can get information and help. In a region shaped by low income, geographic isolation and limited access to resources, that reputation carries real weight. Humboldt County’s 2023-2026 Comprehensive Prevention Plan cites a 2019 study showing that 389 verified child victims in 2018 carried a cumulative county cost of $89.5 million. That figure underscores why local prevention agencies treat family support as public infrastructure, not an optional extra. In Southern Humboldt, the award points to a simple reality: when this center is strong, more families have somewhere to turn before a crisis becomes a case.