National Partners
National Partners
CSSP has several national partners that have implemented deep, broad-based Strengthening Families approcahes in multiple systems. Staff members from these organizations and agencies meet quarterly to exchange information and offer coordination and support for Strengthening Families. They are:
BUILD: Strong Foundations for Children
BUILD has taking the steps to introduce the family strengthening model to BUILD states, better understand the current climate around these issues and develop a plan for helping states move forward in integrating family strengthening and child abuse and neglect prevention into the early learning system building work. In four BUILD states, an assessment is underway to better understand the progress, best practices and challenges states are facing in integrating family strengthening and child abuse and neglect prevention into their system building agendas.
FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention
FRIENDS is a national partner of the Strengthening Families Initiative. A number of CBCAP State Lead Agencies have implemented Strengthening Families based programs. To support their activities, FRIENDS has been working closely with CSSP and partner, the National Association of Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds, to support CBCAP organizations as they implement this initiative. This involvement has included providing training and technical assistance to CBCAP State Lead Agencies on this topic.
National Association for the Education of Young Children
NAEYC’s new Accreditation Standards and Criteria for early childhood education programs include Strengthening Families.
National Alliance of Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds
The Alliance’s Early Childhood Initiative strives to increase implementation of effective child abuse prevention/family strengthening strategies by deeply embedding the Strengthening Families Protective Factors framework throughout all systems that touch the lives of young children and their families. The Alliance and CTFs have taken leadership roles in partnership with state and national early childhood leaders, child welfare agencies, policymakers, parent leaders and other funders to implement the Early Childhood Initiative, and therefore the Strengthening Families framework, through:
- Building strong state coalitions
- Identifying and funding exemplary learning centers
- Promoting partnerships with parents in all aspects of planning, implementation and evaluation
- Developing curricula and tools
- Implementing innovative models of systems collaboration
- Collecting and analyzing data to track systemic changes
- Convening national conversations to reframe child abuse prevention
National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center
NCCIC, through direct TA work in states and territories, promotes the creation and implementation of financing, governance and professional development systems in support of quality care and education for children. This includes facilitating work groups, assisting with strategic planning, product development and goal setting. In these venues, the Strengthening Families model can and is integrated into the work of State/Territory CCDF administrators; state-wide advisory/policy/planning groups, and other key partners. Specifically, early learning guidelines, comprehensive service strategies, quality rating systems, and cross-sector professional development systems can all be inclusive of Strengthening Families approaches and goals.
United Way Worldwide
United Way Worldwide is now able to extend the work of the national Strengthening Families initiative through Strengthening Families United (SFU). Using a competitive grant process, UWW will provide local United Ways (and/or state associations with grants to thoroughly integrate the protective factors and family strengthening principles into all aspects of their work internally, as well as in the community. UWW will convene and support grantees as a learning community and provide and/or broker technical and peer assistance as needed through meetings, conference calls, and site visits. SFU will also work with a national evaluator to document and synthesize the work being done across the country in order to capture lessons learned and to assist in the creation of materials for other United Ways to use in their states and communities.
ZERO TO THREE has been pleased to exchange support, information and resources with the Strengthening Families and with participating states. The PCAN training curriculum allows trainers to bring to child care providers the knowledge and skills to help them adopt the protective factors and implement the seven program strategies disseminated through the Strengthening Families self-assessment.
National Affiliates
Strengthening Families also has several national affiliates, organizations that are strongly committed to Strengthening Families and are carrying out strategies that could lead to becoming a partner. These organizations are:
Midwest Learning Center
The Midwest Learning Center has developed additional trainings that have been rolled out through Strengthening Families’ Learning Network programs (approximately 60 early childhood programs). In addition, a jointly developed curriculum on “Trauma and Children’s Exposure to Violence” was completed and launched for training.
In addition to the instructional design and facilitation of the trainings, the center has played a role in increasing trainer capacity around the state on the Protective Factors curriculum, helping ensure its availability through all of the Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies and Child Care Licensing Supervisors in Illinois and the six SFI learning networks, as well as the All Our Kids Networks across the state. Additionally, Training of Trainers has been conducted with the Mental Health Consultants, the University of Illinois Extension Office Family Life Educators and learning network trainers. Midwest Learning Center staff have played a role in the Strengthening Families’ developed Parent Café’s, serving as facilitators and hosting cafes within family focus centers.
Since 1969, Parents Anonymous® Inc. has been providing training, technical assistance, support and publications worldwide to promote, implement and evaluate its strength-based Parents Anonymous® Programs, including Parents Anonymous® weekly support groups for parents, children and youth, the National Parent Helpline® and Shared Leadership® in Action using the Strengthening Families approach. Parents Anonymous® Inc. Programs have demonstrated that shared leadership® ensures the achievement of the five protective factors. Parents Anonymous® Inc. is a major leader in promoting and implementing innovative shared leadership® strategies with parents, staff and policymakers to create systems reform, responsive social policies and effective community-based strategies to prevent child abuse and neglect. Parents Anonymous® has also produced a paper to demonstrate how the research on the effectiveness of the Parents Anonymous® Program to prevent child abuse and neglect provides valuable evidence for the Strengthening Families approach.
Parents as Teachers
Parents as Teachers is committed to building strong families by embedding Strengthening Families Protective Factors throughout its work. Within the Parents as Teachers approach is a focus and emphasis on parent/family well-being; on strengths, capabilities and skills; and on building protective factors within the family. Strengthening Families protective factors are also interwoven within Parents as Teachers Knowledge Studio training and curricula, thereby having an even broader impact on children and families.
Parent Services Project
Parent Services Project (PSP) is a national affiliate of Strengthening Families and has provided training of trainers, technical assistance and resource support using its Stronger Together curriculum for state initiatives (Alaska, Georgia, Illinois). PSP’s Parent Leadership Institute has also been offered in Georgia with some Strengthening Families partner programs participating.
