Warren County’s Child and Parent Center is 40 years old this year.

The Child and Parent Center was created by the Exchange Club of Vicksburg, a civic organization, to help disadvantaged children and their families.

Avis Phillips is the executive director of the center. She has been with the organization for five years.

“I have a passion for the children of Warren County that need extra love. So it’s just a passion to do the work that we do, and it is for all of our employees,” she said. “We all have that same passion and drive to help the less-fortunate children in our area.”

The Child and Parent Center operates five major programs for families.

The first is the CASA program, in which the center provides advocacy for children in youth court.

“We’re the voice of the children in the court system. You know, the mom has a lawyer, dad has a lawyer, (and) we’re the children’s voice in the court proceedings, and the judge relies highly on what the CASA says is best for the child,” Phillips said.

The second program is Parent Aid.

“We work with families for a year to help them so that they don’t lose their children to the court system,” Phillips said. “These are families that are on the verge, and so we work with them to prevent them from having to go to court.”

The center also operates court-ordered anger management classes taught by the Rev. Troy Truly.

Truly also works in the fourth program teaching parenting classes.

“We have a waiting list for our parenting classes. It’s very popular, and unfortunately needed.”

The fifth program provides mentorship in schools.

The Child and Parent Center is a small operation, run by three full-time employees and two part-time employees. Funding comes from multiple sources.

“We have a state grant from… the legislature. We also have donations that we rely heavily on. And then we have fundraisers,” Phillips said. “And then, of course, the Exchange Club of Vicksburg helps sponsor us too, and the United Way sponsors some of our programs.”

The center also relies heavily on a Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant, a federal grant that funds about one-third of its operations. Phillips said she is concerned they will lose this funding due to recent sweeping budget cuts made at the federal level.

“With everything going on, it’s a scary time because… we just found out that our national CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) just got their funding cut from the Department of Justice, and that’s who funds our VOCA grant. And so we’re concerned that we might lose our VOCA grant,” Phillips said.

Phillips said the center is always looking for more volunteers and donations. Anyone who would like to help can call their office at 601-634-0557.