Otter Tail County expands family resource centers with Mahube-Otwa contract

Otter Tail County has moved its family resource center plan from paper to operations, approving a contract with Mahube-Otwa Community Action Partnership to lead the work in New York Mills and Pelican Rapids.

The centers are designed as community- or school-based hubs where families can find support, services and opportunities in one place. County materials say the programs will be available to all, a detail that signals the sites are meant to function as open access points rather than narrow referral offices.

Mahube-Otwa’s role is expected to be practical and day-to-day. The organization already operates an Otter Tail County office at 128 W. Cavour Ave. in Fergus Falls and has a long-running local services footprint, including help with child care assistance, family development, family homeless prevention and assistance, and a father’s resource program that serves Otter Tail and several neighboring counties. That background makes the nonprofit a fit for staffing, coordination and outreach as the county expands the model.

The county has already put money behind the buildout. Otter Tail County authorized acceptance of $882,860 in Multi-Purpose Community Facility Projects Grant funding from the Minnesota Department of Education to renovate spaces for the family resource centers, and commissioners previously approved a $225,000 renovation bid for the New York Mills site. Mahube-Otwa’s New York Mills page says the center is coming soon, and a later newsletter said the New York Mills Family Resource Center was expected to open in the fall.

For residents, the change should show up in practical ways. Instead of making separate stops for child care questions, parenting support, school readiness help or crisis referrals, families may be able to find more of that help through one local point of contact. That matters in a county where communities are spread out and access often depends on whether services are placed near where people live.

The county has been building toward this structure for some time. New York Mills has had a county office since 1994, which gives the city an established foothold for expanded family services. A 2023 community needs assessment and a request for qualifications for a community assessment facilitator show the county had already been studying the model before the board contract. County community development work has also included a $1.4 million Ottertail child care project expected to add 35 to 40 child care slots, part of a broader push to strengthen family-support infrastructure across Otter Tail County.