Our Mission
South Central Human Resource Agency’s mission is to provide low income individuals and communities access to educational, economic, nutritional, and social services that promote and encourage self-reliance through our partnerships with local, state and federal resources. Visit our website for further information on services we provide and how to volunteer in your community.
Neighborhood Service Center
Perry County Neighborhood Service Center
100 Poplar Street
Linden, TN 37096
(931) 589-2130
Mon-Fri 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
What to Bring
For most financial assistance, you will need to bring proof of household income including any additional sources such as SSI and spouse income, as well as the date of birth and Social Security Cards for all household members. For heating or cooling assistance, you will need to bring the latest copy of your electric bill. For commodities distribution, you or your designated representative will need to bring the commodities card issued by this office.
Program Information and Eligibility Requirements
Head Start / Early Head Start
Head Start / Early Head Start is a child development program that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to children and their families. We have qualified teachers that work together with families to ensure children are getting ready for school. Our facilities are all safe and licensed and we serve nutritious meals to our children. We also provide services to children with special needs. Family engagement is very important to our program and our goal is to actively involve our families in all components of our program.
Head Start serves children 3 to 5 years old. Children must be 3 or 4 before August 15.
To apply you will need:
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- Child’s proof of birth (Birth certificate, insurance card, etc)
- Proof of Income (W2, 1040 tax form, last 3 check stubs)
- Medical Insurance cards (optional)
Perry County Head Start
2469 Squirrel Hollow Road
Linden, TN 37096
/ 931.589.6368
Monday - Friday 8:00 am to 2:30 pm
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American Jobs Center
The American Job Centers here at SCHRA are designed to provide a full range of assistance to job seekers under one roof. Assistance includes access to employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the job market.
Job seekers who take advantage of these services receive a similar experience to what you’d find with a recruitment agency, résumé writer or career coach, but without the cost. Centers focus on placing individuals in quality jobs paying a living wage.
We offer workshops on countless topics from “Using the Internet to Find Work” to “In-demand Jobs” to “Creating your personal brand” and more. Other services include mock interviews, job leads, subsidized training program placement and more. Computers with internet access are also available free of charge for training and job search needs.
If you are interested in building skills or being trained for a new job, the SCHRA American Job Center can connect you with training programs in nearly every field. Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to get some or all of the costs of training covered by funding from the Department of Labor. As with job seekers, employer services are offered at no cost. Employers can utilize the centers for recruitment, candidate screening and more.
SCHRA also coordinates with the Tennessee Reconnect Program. Tennessee Reconnect is an initiative to help more adults return to higher education to gain new skills, advance in the workplace, and fulfill lifelong dreams of completing a degree or credential.
Senior Nutrition changes with COVID-19
Senior Nutrition changes with COVID-19
The South Central Human Resource Agency Senior Nutrition program is a huge daily undertaking during normal times. We have 20 sites across the 13 county region that serve or deliver a hot meal five days a week; typically feeding on average 6100 meals a month through the congregant program and 9000 meals delivered each month. In addition to the amazing kitchen staffs in both Fayetteville and Hohenwald who prepare the food we also have great site managers that take that food and get it ready for the seniors that come and eat at the site as well as the meals that are to be delivered. Finally, we have our dedicated, irreplaceable volunteers, many who are seniors themselves, who give their time to deliver those meals to our home bound clients. Now, add COVID-19 and our world, as well as our clients has been turned upside down. Specifically for our volunteers, the new socialization rules were going to have the possibility of being an issue during this time. We have a number who are considered at risk themselves and their health and keeping them safe was a top concern. The importance of this program cannot be understated. There have been many studies done showing the importance of regular human contact and connections, as well as having access to at least one nutritional meal a day. Each of our 20 sites normally offers both of these 5 days a week. For those that come to the congregant sites, being able to see friends daily is an important part of staying healthy. For our home bounds clients, sometimes our meal delivery is the only contact they have with someone else daily.
Needless to say, when the state went into shutdown mode, making sure that our senior clients continued to get their meals was at the top of our priority list. We have a number of our home bound clients who are reliant on the SCHRA food program for their daily meals so not continuing was not going to be an option. Number two on the priority list was the safety of our staff and volunteers in continuing to fulfill this important job. Our last site shut its doors on March 20th for congregant meals. Those who had previously been coming to the sites to eat were given the option of being added to the delivery list or coming to the sites to pick up their meals each day. While it was not our first choice, in order to keep everyone safe, we began delivering frozen meals to those who normally received hot meals that were to be reheated at home; with the plan to figure out how to resume safe delivery of a hot meal as quickly as possible. During the month of April we tried to deliver hot meals but did not always have the volunteers available to get those meals where they needed to be in a timely manner and had to return to the frozen meals. With the help of our staff as well as site managers and the numerous volunteers who stepped in from the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability (TCAD), on May 4th we were able to return to the normal hot meals for our clients. This would not have been possible without the cooperation from TCAD and we are incredibly grateful for their help.
In the month of March, we served and delivered approximately 16,000 meals. In April we delivered 11,052 meals and in May we delivered 14,477 meals. Right now we do not have a date for being able to resume congregant meals on site however any senior that would qualify to have a meal at a site can sign up to have a meal delivered or come to the site to pick up a meal each day. We have a drive through congregant program active at each site.
We are still looking for additional volunteers to deliver meals so if you or anyone you know might be interested in helping out the seniors in their community, please contact Sara Brown at 931-433-7182, ext. 1150.
