Tuscaloosa City Schools has opened a new community resource center – the first of its kind in the state to connect students and families to local nonprofits and wrap-around services.

The center, called New Heights, has partnered with 10 local organizations that focus on education, homelessness and homelessness prevention, youth services, mental health and healthcare. Administrators call the new center a “one-stop support for children and their families” who can now access the nonprofit services after school and on weekends.

School officials said they hope the new center will be “an accelerator for change” in their community.

“We recognize that in order to meet the needs of students academically, we know we have to meet all of their needs and support the whole child. We’re limited in some of the supports we can provide, but that changes today,” said Tuscaloosa City Schools Superintendent Mike Daria.

“Imagine a place where struggling students can receive mental health services and drug and alcohol prevention support. A place where students can come after school for enrichment programs and mentoring. Imagine a place where families can have access to housing assistance, disability supports, job coaching, English translation services, and even childcare. Imagine a place that has a store where our students and their families can come and shop for clothes, school supplies and food. Folks, this is New Heights.”

Nonprofit organizations who have partnered with the city school system say they hope the center will make them more accessible to students who may not have previously known where to go for assistance.

“This partnership will benefit students because we will be able to work much more closely with the city schools and with other partners to serve the city school students. You know, there may have been situations where we could have helped city schools students but we weren’t aware of the needs. And so I think that just that much closer partnership will help us to be aware of the needs and to be able to meet those needs where we can,” said Ellen Potts, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Tuscaloosa, one of the partner organizations.

Other nonprofits on-site include Habitat for Humanity of West Alabama, the Literacy Council of West Alabama, Disability Rights and Resources, Five Horizons Health, PRIDE of Tuscaloosa, the Kristen Amerson Youth Foundation, Boys and Girls Clubs of West Alabama, Parents as Teachers, Tuscaloosa Reads and La Fuerza Multicultural.

The center also houses “The Lift,” a store where students can pick up free clothes, food, shoes and hygiene products to take home, if a need is identified by their school’s social worker.

New Heights is the first community resource center of its kind to be built by a school district. State Superintendent Eric Mackey said at the opening ceremony Wednesday that he hopes it will act as a model for other schools.

“I’m gonna continue to watch this and see what in Tuscaloosa we can replicate across the state because we really need this in each and every school and in each and every community,” said Mackey.

The resource center is located in the old Stillman Heights Elementary building at 3834 21st St in Tuscaloosa, and shares a space with the STARS Academy, TCS’s alternative program.