As president of the Greater Cranston Chamber of Commerce, Stephen C. Boyle is always stressing how important the issue of health care is for small businesses.

Last Friday morning, the Chamber gave three-dozen members an opportunity to learn first-hand about one of the state’s most valuable health-related resources.

The Chamber held its monthly Coffee Connection at Rhode Island Parent Information Network (RIPIN), whose headquarters are located at 1210 Pontiac Ave. in Cranston.

“RIPIN is an extremely important resource in a number of areas,” Boyle said prior to introducing Stephen Brunero, the agency’s new executive director. “The parent training and information center, for example, helps thousands of Rhode Islanders while also improving life outcomes for children and youth with disabilities from their birth to adulthood.”

Brunero, a one-time standout athlete who only moved into the RIPIN executive director’s chair less than a year ago, offered: “Basically, we are a non-profit organization that helps thousands of families and individuals each year. We have more than 20 statewide programs and services to assist all Rhode Islanders in becoming better advocates for themselves and their children in school, in health care and in their communities.”

He also explained that the RIPIN Parent Training and Information Center (PTIC) is part of a national network of parent centers, and that RIPIN has been the federally designated facility in Rhode Island since 1991.

“We pride ourselves in training, information and technical assistance to families of children and youth with disabilities and to professionals who work with them,” Brunero said. “For example, we help families better understand their children’s educational needs and collaborate and partner with professionals.”

One of RIPIN’s most important areas deals with helping people understand their rights and responsibilities and identify appropriate services for their children, as well as to navigate and connect to community resources.

As a further example of just how important RIPIN is, the agency offers families information, technical assistance and support by phone or in person, parent mentoring to provide problem solving strategies with empower families in advocating for their children and valuable networking opportunities for parents.

Brunero further explained that RIPIN offers workshops for parents at its main office on a variety of topics.

The scheduled 90-minute Coffee Connection, which lasted well over two hours because of people’s interest, included a host of networking between RIPIN on-scene staffers and Chamber members and a heart-warming story about RIPIN employee Tammy Russo, who went from being a parent with a child who has disabilities to a valuable early childhood coordinator at the Cranston-based agency.

RIPIN has a number of information conferences and informational meetings coming up, beginning with the Nov. 14 fifth annual RIPIN Transition 101 Conference for Parents to be held at the Radisson Providence Airport Hotel in Warwick from 8 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. For information or registration, please call Diana Kriner at 401-270-0101, ext. 129.

Brunero also announced RIPIN’s 11th annual College Planning Forum is set for March 2015 at Providence College’s Moore Hall. For more information please call Kriner at the number listed above or email kriner@ripin.org.