Free Hernando Helps Fair Opens at 11 This Morning in Brooksville With Job, Housing and Credit Help

Hernando County's Housing and Supportive Services Department opens its free Hernando Helps Family Development Fair at 11 a.m. today at the Jerome Brown Community Center, 99 Jerome Brown Pl. in Brooksville, and runs it until 2 p.m. Three hours, one room, and staff from the colleges, the workforce board and local service agencies sitting at tables ready to answer questions about work, school, credit and health.

Nothing costs anything. No registration is listed. Walk in.

The homeownership workshops are the part worth planning around. They run three times: 11:15 a.m., noon and 12:45 p.m. If buying a house in Hernando County is anywhere on your list this year, that is the reason to show up at a specific hour rather than drifting in at 1:30.

What's on the floor

The county describes the fair as a way to connect residents with resources for employment, education, health and life skills. In practice that means tables and sessions covering:

• Financial literacy and credit counseling
• Job training and educational programs
• Employment resources and hiring information
• Mental and physical health treatment and prevention services
• Homeownership guidance, at the three scheduled workshop times

Participating organizations include Pasco-Hernando State College, Wilton Simpson Technical College, CareerSource Pasco-Hernando and HOPE Services, along with other community partners. That lineup matters for anyone weighing a career change: PHSC and Wilton Simpson Technical College handle the degree and certificate side, CareerSource handles job placement and training dollars. Having both in the same room means you can ask the training question and the paycheck question back to back.

Getting there

The Jerome Brown Community Center sits just off the center of Brooksville. It is the county's regular venue for community programming, which is why the department keeps landing events there. Bring identification and, if you plan to talk credit or homeownership specifics, whatever income paperwork you already have on hand. Counselors can give general guidance without it, but the conversation gets more useful with numbers.

This is the second Hernando Helps fair the department has staged this year. The first was held May 30 at Hammock Ridge Apartments on Omaha Circle in Spring Hill, a morning event with the same mix of credit counseling, job training and homeownership guidance. Moving the format from a Spring Hill apartment community to a Brooksville community center puts it in front of a different set of households.

The county has not announced a third date. For questions about the Hernando Helps program, Housing and Supportive Services lists Community Development Specialist Haydee C. Padin Alvarez at (352) 540-4338, ext. 14008. More on the department's programs is posted at hernandocounty.us.

Keep up with local happenings at the Hernando County Community Website, follow us on Facebook, and if you stop by the fair today, tell us what you found by joining the conversation in our Community Forum. You can also read more community stories and browse upcoming local events.