A mission to aid schools in connecting student needs with community resources is coming to Beaufort County. The program will be implemented in Beaufort County through the framework of a nonprofit organization — Bright Futures USA — and partnership with Beaufort County Schools, local businesses and faith-based organizations.

Thursday, members of the nonprofit presented the program to community leaders at the Beaufort County Schools boardroom over breakfast. PotashCorp-Aurora and Beaufort County Schools brought the organization in to get feedback from community leaders, in hopes of implementing the program in Beaufort County.

The nonprofit, which started in Missouri, was formed to bring together businesses, human service agencies, faith-based organizations and parent groups and partner them with schools to meet student needs, said Dr. CJ Huff, superintendent of Joplin Schools. This, ultimately, allows students and teachers to focus on achieving success because teachers will spend less time addressing the needs of students and more time on classroom instruction, he said.

Huff said the framework helps schools and communities bring about cultural change through student success, fostering a community where education is valued and responsibility for student success is shared. It operates with the belief that when communities give their time and resources in their schools, students are more likely to stay in school through graduation, giving them a higher degree of self-worth and confidence and encouraging them to set and reach goals in the future. This facilitates students growing up to be better citizens, quality employees and influential leaders in the their communities, he said.

The goal of the program is to meet any child’s basic need within 24 hours of identifying the need, Huff said. The school system will act as a liaison between students and those who are willing to donate resources. The students’ needs are identified by teachers, counselors and school personnel, Huff said. The program has a three-tiered approach to utilizing the resources, which includes existing resources, resources acquired through social media and an Angel fund. The fund is set up to channel money donated by those in the community so it is ready when a student has a need, Huff said.

“Helping make those connections is what it’s all about,” Huff said. “Once those connections are made, the community can work together to utilize resources and meet the needs of students in the schools of the community. This is done through a rapid-response system using existing community resources and social media. It brings resources to the table we didn’t have before.”

Ray McKeithan, manager of Public and Governmental Affairs at PotashCorp-Aurora said Potash is eager to implement the project, but the schools will be heading up the project.

“We would like to strike pretty quickly,” McKeithan said. “Ultimately, the schools will be the organizing agent from this point forward. We (PotashCorp-Aurora) are just the liaison. We kind of got this started, but the schools will take ownership from this point forward, as well as community volunteers.”

McKeithan said there are plans to hold a community breakfast and press conference in which members of the community will be invited to learn about the campaign. Then an advisory board will be set up to steer the project. Further meetings will be held to discuss further details of how to implement Bright Futures into the community, McKeithan said.