To help bring quality education to military families and professionals who support them, The Barry Robinson Center (BRC) recently donated $10,000 to the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC).

“We have worked with MCEC for about eight years, including participating in their annual National Training Seminar every summer,” said BRC’s CEO Rob McCartney. “ We made this donation to support the ongoing and critical work that MCEC is doing with our military children and their families.”

BRC’s donation will be used in part to support a new initiative that brings more training to parents and professionals at private schools. Typically, private schools do not have military school liaisons often found in public schools with large military-connected enrollment. The initiative will include Catholic schools in southeastern Virginia where BRC is located. 

MCEC’s mission is to ensure inclusive, quality educational opportunities for all military-connected children affected by mobility, transition, deployments and family separation.

As part of this mission, MCEC provides a wide range of in-person and virtual training for parents, guardians and professionals who work with military children and families. 

BRC’s decision to support MCEC’s parent education stems from the center’s experience providing residential behavioral and mental health treatment to children and teens from military-connected families. Working with military families gives BRC staff insights into parents’ unique needs for support. 

Also, BRC has long-standing connections with the Catholic community in southeastern Virginia where many military families enroll children. 

“We’re excited about working with MCEC to facilitate this much-needed training in our Catholic schools for parents and faculty,” McCartney said. “We hope this is the first of many trainings MCEC can offer to our Catholic schools as they work with our military families.”