An individual has been recently hired for a new position in Greene County.

Greene County Development Corporation and the Greene County School District have teamed up and hired former Storm Lake resident Sara Huddleston to be the director of the Multicultural Family Resource Center. Greene County School District Superintendent Brett Abbotts says the district will hold Huddleston’s contract and pay up to $15,000 toward her salary and $2,000 to assist in finding medical insurance, as she will not receive insurance coverage through the school district. 

Abbotts adds that Huddleston will have an office space at the high school and will work with the district one per week and assist existing staff with interpreting and be a liaison for new families to help with school registration and finding other resources. He points out it’s great timing to have someone like Huddleston coming on to help transition new students into the district.

“We’ve had a steady increase in the number of families that are arriving into Jefferson and the need is raising for interpretation, communication, that liaison work between school and community. We’ve seen that continue to escalate over the last six to eight months and even prior to that. We know that we now need to support additional students who may have some additional needs. Sara will be a fantastic extension for us.”

GCDC Executive Director Ken Paxton says Huddleston has an office space at Jefferson City Hall the other days she is not working with the school district. He notes the funding for the rest of Huddleston’s salary, as well as other items associated with the Multicultural Family Resource Center will be paid with a US Department of Agriculture Rural Business Development Grant of just over $95,000 for the first year. GCDC was able to secure funding for years two through four of the initiative. 

Paxton tells Raccoon Valley Radio applications were received for the job and interviews were held until the final decision was made to bring on Huddleston.

“She’s got really, for this particular function significant experience. She did something very similar to that up in Storm Lake. as they diversified and as they brought in new people, as their community went through a growth area. She was extremely helpful in helping acclimate and get new people into the community. So that’s a function that she’s already familiar with and should be a wonderful fit here.” 

Paxton adds Huddleston officially begins in her new capacity on June 1st.