NATCHEZ &8212; Families First Resource Center officials wait anxiously every year for word of funding.

This year, they got their money but lost some of the center&8217;s educational programs.

The center, which falls under the Adams County Youth Court umbrella, works with parents and students through a series of behavior and parenting classes.

The Department of Human Services will continue to fund the program, but the funding for the after-school tutoring and the GED class is gone.

&8220;They are changing what they want us to do with the money,&8221; Director Mary Kay Doherty said.

Instead of focusing on education, Families First will spend more time teaching about healthy marriage and abstinence, she said.

The teens who have been coming to tutoring have to be referred elsewhere.

&8220;There&8217;s not much in town,&8221; Doherty said. &8220;They&8217;ll have to go through the schools or find individual tutors.&8221;

Copiah-Lincoln Community College has picked up the sponsorship of the GED program though, and the same teacher is teaching the classes.

Project Homestead, a program started in 2004 with grant dollars, also was not funded this year. It was a coalition of child service personnel in neighboring counties that worked to improve existing programs for children. The project was based in Adams County and served a 14-county district.

Over the years Families First has come close to losing all of its funding several times. Because the DHS money is not guaranteed, directors and Youth Court Judge John Hudson continually look for grants to keep programs afloat. If a grant expires, the money is gone.

In April 2004, the program was told there would be no more money. All events were canceled and employees laid off, but at the last minute the state funding came through.