Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year. Homer's Family and Community Liaisons are excited to be back in school and are ready to work with your family. We had a productive summer including attending the New York State Community Schools Caucus in Syracuse, learning from school staff doing similar work from across NYS.

The liaisons are here to provide support and assistance to students, parents/guardians and whole families in the district. This newsletter is one way we communicate to try to connect families and staff with community resources and information you may find helpful. For more details on who we are and how we can support your family, please visit the district website at www.homercentral.org/community

Have a great year!

While back to school can be a fun time filled with anticipation and reconnecting with friends, for many students, it can be a difficult time. NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) "created The Three C’s to help you and your child connect around mental health and wellness, know the key “concrete” supports for family well-being, and encourage your child to share with you about the joys and challenges they are experiencing at this time." This is a great resource you can refer back to at the start of every school year. We hope you find it helpful for your family. To read more on the Three C's click HERE!

CAPCO's Family Essentials program provides clothing, shoes, toiletries, and some household items FREE and can help take the edge off hard times. They are a great location to shop for free items for your household. Clean, gently used items also accepted for donations. For more information, call CAPC) at 607-753-6781. Hours of operation are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays 9am-2pm at their 32 North Main St., Cortland.

All of September, find some chalk & a sidewalk and make a little art - the goal is to spread messages of hope throughout the community. Let us continue to make Cortland County beautiful and inspirational, together! Make your art, snap a photo & post on social media at #SPEAKUPCortland to share your art and maybe you will be a lucky winner of a BRU 64 Gift Card!

Click the image to the left to enlarge for more details.

Join the Homer Blue Pride's 5K team to benefit the Cortland Child Advocacy Center (CAC). You can walk, roll, run, whatever works for you!

The CAC provides free, compassionate care to children in crisis; ensures justice is pursued with sensitivity; offers therapy and support to help children and families move forward; and expands access so no child is turned away, because every child deserves to be safe, heard, and healed.

They do so much to support our students and community. If you would like to support them, register by clicking below.

Youth Mental Health First Aid teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among children and adolescents ages 12-18.

Tuesday, 9/23/2025

8:30am - 4:30pm

Cortlandville Fire Station

Training is FREE!

Register at http://tinyurl.com/mh-cortland

For more information click HERE!

Thank you to everyone who attended the Homer Central High School Open House the first week of school. We have three more Open Houses Coming Soon! Be sure to stop by the Family and Community Liaison Community Resource Fairs happening at all of the open houses again this year. This is a great way to meet the liaison team and find out first hand all about the wonderful resources available in our community.

Ending the Silence is a FREE, evidence-based, presentation for adults, especially those with middle or high school aged youth in their lives, presented by NAMI Fingerlakes. You will learn to recognize the warning signs of mental health conditions and what steps to take if a youth in your life begins showing symptoms.

This workshop is appropriate for parents, teachers, and other supportive adults. Junior High and HIgh School students will also participate in an Ending the Silence assembly in October, so come find out what your kids heard and how to talk with them about it. However, this evening workshop is NOT limited to Homer School District and will be open to the community. More details coming soon! Watch the Family and Community Liaison page on the Homer Central School District website and the district's Facebook page for time, date and location.

Since 1987, Library Card Sign-up Month has been held each September to mark the beginning of the school year. During September, the American Library Association and libraries unite in a national effort to ensure every child signs-up for their own library card. Throughout the school year, public librarians and library staff will assist parents and caregivers with saving hundreds of dollars on educational resources and services for students. Homer is so fortunate to have the Phillips Free Library as an amazing resource in our community!

CNY SNAP is looking for the cutest cats and kittens of Central New York, to be featured in a 12-month 2026 calendar supporting CNY SNAP.

Entries and voting will occur by donations, to support CNY SNAP's mission of providing affordable spay/neuter services for our community, caring for surrendered and stray cats, and placing these cats into loving furever homes.

The contest will close at 7:00 PM (Eastern Time) on Saturday, October 4, 2025. For more information or to enter click HERE.

Thank you to Junior High School Counselor, Stacy Bell's cats for their excellent photogenic demonstration!