Uncovering America's Best Kept Secret: Family Resource Centers and Family Support and Strengthening Networks

National Family Support Network

This webinar, organized by the National Family Support Network, seeks to answer the following questions:

  • What is both the history and current landscape of the Family Support and Strengthening Field in the United States?

  • What is a Family Resource Center and how are they networked across the country?

  • What is the connection of Family Resource Centers to evidence-based practice and what positive outcomes have they achieved for children and families?

Context:

The history of the Family Support and Strengthening field in the United States goes back more than 100 years, and yet has been largely under the radar.

Descibed as "America’s best kept secret," more than 3,000 Family Support and Strengthening organizations, such as Family Resource Centers, work with families across the country in a strengths-based, multigenerational, family-centered approach to enhance parenting skills, foster the healthy development and well-being of children, youth, and families, prevent child abuse, increase school readiness, connect families to resources, develop parent and community leadership, engage males and fathers, support healthy marital and couples relationships, and promote family economic success.

Family Support and Strengthening Networks consist of two or more Family Resource Centers or Family Strengthening organizations working together to ensure coordinated quality support for families. These Networks serve as the backbone entity to leverage and coordinate the collective impact of their members. They create opportunities for service providers to meet formally and informally, exchange information, make connections, develop relationships, build capacity, and address challenges that no one organization could on its own.

 

Who Should Participate:

National, state, and local policymakers, public departments, Children's Trust Fund staff, private funders, Family Support and Strengthening stakeholders

 

Presenter:

  • Andrew Russo, Co-Founder & Director, National Family Support Network

 

Webinars Wednesdays

This webinar is part of the National Family Support Network Webinar Wednesday series. For information about our other webinars, please click here.