Modesto parenting center helps families build stronger futures through education and literacy

Success in the classroom starts at home. That's the mission behind the Parent Resource Center in Modesto.

For more than 30 years, it's been building strong families through literacy programs and parenting classes. CBS News Sacramento met with one father who got the help he needed.

At just 19 years old, Damien Glasper became a father.

"It was such a new experience having a first child," Glasper said.

He and his wife now have two little ones, and it's because of them that they enrolled in parenting classes at the Parent Resource Center.

"It was something that we both decided to do together so that we can learn to become better as parents and adults," Glasper said.

Susan Mendieta-Beasley is the center's executive director.

"Being a parent is the hardest job that there is," she said. "There's no instruction book."

For more than 30 years, the center has served families with a variety of services, including parenting courses and free child care, while mom and dad are in class.

"We are here to help you build on the skills and the knowledge that you have in a very calm, professional, compassionate manner," Mendieta-Beasley said.

Glasper said the classes revealed a hard truth about being a parent to small kids.

"Sometimes when they see us as the authoritarian, it can be sometimes scary," he said. "So I have to be more patient with myself."

He now knows how to balance discipline with firmness and kindness and says it's all thanks to the Parent Resource Center.

"Because taking a parenting course doesn't mean you're a bad parent," Glasper said. "It doesn't mean that you're any worse than any other. There's always something to learn."

As a family resource center, Mendieta-Beasley said that child literacy is an important part of what they offer.

"So, we also give away books. We do a lot of reading, encourage reading in the home so that way kids get an early start. They're happy, eager learners," she said.

Glasper said that he and his family plan to attend the 8th annual Kids Connect event at Modesto Junior College on Aug. 1 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

It's part of our Backpack Giveback summer campaign, promising to deliver thousands of backpacks and school supplies to families across Stanislaus County.