Thriving Families, Safer Children: Youth, Family, and Community Partnership Grants

Our Sister Our Brother is located in Arizona. Here is what they will be supporting with their funding:

In the child protection field, staff defense attorneys and judges often blur the lines of safety planning and case planning. Safety planning is the process identify the safety threat, when that threat is present and creating a plan so that the children are protected from the potential threat. Case planning outlines the services and or supports that could potentially help parents or caregivers build the skills necessary to reduce the risks and concerns in the home.

By utilizing existing policy and procedure to create safety plans to manage the identified danger threat to each child, safe environments can be created in order for families to remain together. Utilizing forensic social workers with specialized knowledge, skill and ability to apply the safety framework (SAFEAZ model) they could together with the family create a plan to ensure the children would be safe at all times. There are also existing bodies that are considered safe spaces for children including schools, daycare, extracurricular and after school programs. These places and activities would provide the majority of supervision for children in the event parents truly exhibit behaviors that create a safety threat to the children.

We anticipate there will be cases where there are a number of risks or concerns, however, the identified safety threat or threats may not truly meet the safety threshold criteria for present or impending danger. In these cases the social worker’s forensic evaluation of the family’s functioning could be used as supporting documentation to illustrate the need for specific services and support. These assessments by a forensic social worker could even highlight that removal from the home was preventable and illustrate that there is no current impending danger threat. This information could be utilized by the legal defense team to present as the assigned attorney deemed appropriate. We would also include a African American cultural community resource component to connect to faith and community based organizations who could assist with concrete needs, skill building and expanding important personal support networks of families. More importantly we to implement joint response to child welfare reports for African American families in order to help build trust and understanding between the Department of Child Safety and the community to reduce disproportionality. We will also include the voices of African American community members with lived experience to help guide increased collaboration on other initiatives.

SouthWest Organizing Project is located in New Mexico. Here is what they will be supporting with their funding:

We will be hiring at least 20 young people this summer to continue our Youth Justice Summer internship.

This internship will focus on leadership development, building skills with our interns so they could begin to help lead our campaigns, and leading them through workshops that helped educate them about the justice system and community power building. A lot of this work also centered on healing and working through the traumas these young people have endured from being involved in the justice system. These interns will hopefully move into working with our other youth throughout the year to continue to help us create strategies and solutions for our campaign.

Nambe Pueblo Healthy Family Services is located in New Mexico. Here is what they will be supporting with their funding:

In months 1-6, we will co-design truth-telling circles (TTCs) that are healing, restorative and action-oriented. That includes: conducting community visioning sessions focused on equity and wellbeing; collaborating with our Wellness Center to convene, dialogue and plan truth and reconciliation efforts; convening in our traditional ways through music, art and play to engage youth and families in TTC planning; and engaging and supporting the emerging cohorts of youth, parent, family, and community leaders with lived experiences.

In months 7-9, we envision working with the CTPHI co-founders to develop a training curriculum on guiding TTCs that infuses our indigenous values, principles, ways of relating and trauma wisdom language and that builds on the lessons of months 1-6. TTC guides will be cultivated from our co-design activities and may include those from Nambe Pueblo and from NM’s Thriving Families. In months 10-12, we will launch TTCs in Nambe Pueblo, participate in the TTC learning community and use tribal evaluation strategies to understand the impacts of TTCs.

Kentucky Youth Advocates is located in Kentucky. Here is what they will be supporting with their funding:

Co-designing the Truth Telling Circle (TTC), months 1-6: holding bi-weekly meetings between the KYA team, including foster care alumni, and the Counsel for Truth: Public Health Initiative (CTPHI) founders; actively preparing foster care alumni to lead activities; coordinating 4 meetings with broader community stakeholders; meeting with leaders of Louisville’s Beloved Community to learn from and support one another; designing the TTC core elements; and co-designing an evaluation process.

Co-designing and participating in the TTC Facilitator training, months 7-9: co-creating a training curriculum based on core elements, principles and values of truth-telling and reconciliation with the CTPHI founders; recruiting and training TTC facilitators; and revising the curriculum for future use. CTPHI founders will leverage other funds for a website and collateral materials to support these efforts. Launching Louisville’s TTC, months 10-12: recruiting the TTC participants; holding TTCs; developing a TTC facilitator learning community; establishing a support community for TTC participants; and using data to inform TTC improvements.

Collaborative Solutions for Communities is located in Washington D.C Here is what they will be supporting with their funding:

In months 1-6, in partnership with the Counsel for Truth: A Public Health Initiative (CTPHI) co-founders, we will co-design truth-telling circles (TTCs). To do this, we will: invite our staff who lead and the community/children/families who experience CSC’s restorative practices to 3 community meetings; invite those with lived experience, community collaborative stakeholders, and CFSA representatives to bi-weekly co-design meetings; and collaborate with the evaluation team. Our focus will be on developing a TTC model that focuses on healing, reconciliation and using post-traumatic wisdom.

In months 7-9, we will: leverage our Training Institute team to co-create the training curricula; identify TTC facilitators; co-deliver the facilitator training; and recruit a range of stakeholders to launch the TTCs. In months 10-12, we will host TTCs in the DC community, participate in the TTC learning community, and engage in understanding the impacts of our initial TTC implementation efforts.

Family Enhancement Center is located in Minnesota. Here is what they will be supporting with their funding:

Activity 1. FEC will engage 36 racially diverse persons who have been involved with child protection in Cook to Connect led by racially diverse staff. • Anticipate barriers to attendance and determine methods for transportation • Implement cooking activities for 4 weeks

Activity 2. Participants will increase their social connections and community resources while cooking together • FEC staff will present communication skills information • Staff will offer opportunities for women to share challenges and group support of resources, information and emotional support

Activity 3. Participants in Cook to Connect will have increased skills in self-advocacy and leadership through participation in the Cook to Connect class • Staff will present a curriculum that focuses on self-advocacy and leadership development • Participants will increase confidence and leadership through sharing a recipe with the group • Group and 1 to 1 sessions will explore participants journey into the child protection system, their beliefs about what was helpful and not, and factors that made their family vulnerable to child protection involvement • Group and 1 to 1 sessions will explore ways participants can continue to positively impact their communities in a leadership role

Kansas Children’s Service League is located in Kansas. Here is what they will be supporting with their funding:

KCSL will host 40 Community Cafes across the state, reaching 250 individuals with lived experience including Black, Latino, and Indigenous youth and families. The Community Café is based on the World Café model which brings participants together around a common subject to explore questions and seek answers. The community café questions would reflect the University of Kansas community conversation questions. KCSL parent engagement coordinators would partner with parent leaders to reach out across the state in-person, virtually or hybrid. KCSL has many programs and partners that can be engaged to help recruit participants: Family First, early learning & home visitation programs, CBCAP, Kansas Serves Native American Families initiative, consumer groups representing the Department for Children and Families and the Department of Health and Environment as well as corrections, parole and probation populations in Sedgwick and Shawnee counties. The Kansas Youth Advisory Council, juvenile detention populations, KCSL Oasis, Truancy and CRE programs will reach a cross section of youth as well as TRiO programs, high schools and the Kansas Equality Coalition.

Sasha Bruce Youthwork is located in Washington D.C. Here is what they will be supporting with their funding:

A critical component of Sasha Bruce’s work is the role participants play in shaping our programs. When a survey indicated that youth wanted even more involvement, we decided to start a Youth Advisory Board (YAB). The YAB will comprise ten young people ages 16-24 who have experience with our programs and are committed to strengthening them through feedback and recommendations. Members will engage in leadership development through training and advocacy, meet regularly with SBY staff and board members to discuss ongoing projects, provide feedback, and expand personal and professional networks through public speaking and networking opportunities. Grant funds would support the YAB’s pilot year. Our Career and College Readiness Director will dedicate 25% of their time as staff advisor and YAB liaison. We will hire as a Special Advisor Natalie White, a Social Work student at the University of the District of Columbia and a member of the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness’s YAB.

Center for Family Life in Sunset Park is located in New York City. Here is what they will be supporting with their funding:

We will conduct 3, 4-month long Community Study Circles with diverse groups of residents led by a trained facilitator with shared life experiences to participants. Using a popular education methodology groups engage an exploration of participants’ settlement experiences in their neighborhoods, contextualized in historical data on settlement in the community. Groups review publicly available child welfare data (ex: SCR calls, investigations, indications of CAN, removals, reunifications, terminations of parental rights and adoptions) that are understood by participants, their family members and neighbors as lived experiences and part of neighborhood life. Groups review data on the socioeconomic status of their neighborhood including numbers living in poverty, receiving Medicaid and public assistance, levels of educational attainment, etc., conditions that are directly experienced by participants, and comparative data demonstrating experiences of adjacent communities. Groups conclude with dissemination of learnings and recommendations to community members, to elected officials and officials in the child welfare administration.

Evolution Foundation/The Oklahoma Family Network is located in Oklahoma. Here is what they will be supporting with their funding:

1). Create a parent advisory council for the Office of Juvenile Affairs, canted toward minority family members, recruited from the seven OJA state districts. Parents would be trained virtually with a curriculum developed by Evolution Foundation, OJA & OFN; and paid for their training time.

2). Hold a one-day virtual Child Welfare Summit for Minority Families, recruited from five DHS regions. Focus would be on special needs of Black, Hispanic & Native American families. $100 gift card to each attendee who completed session. Goal is 50 family members.

3). Conduct a one-day virtual Child Welfare Advocacy training for families who attended 1). & 2). above, focusing on navigational skills for the child protection system, legislative advocacy, social/educational issues advocacy, etc. $100 gift cards to each attendee who completes training. Goal is 50 family members.

4). Develop a Minority Family Peer-to-Peer virtual network consisting of families sourced in activities listed above. Chair and C0-Chair would be funded through the grant and picked up as Evolution Foundation family consultants after the grant ends.