Strengthen Families Locally

Share Community Stories. Build Community Voice. Develop Community Plans to Strengthen Families Locally.

Join parents, volunteers, community agencies, schools, tribes, and the Department of Children, Youth and Families in building stronger, healthier communities and families. Strengthen Families Locally aims to increase family resilience, and reduce rates of child maltreatment and entry into foster care in target communities.

DCYF is receiving funding from the Administration for Children, Youth and Families to work with community members in Bremerton, Port Angeles/Sequim, Spokane and Stevens County. We are partnering with community organizations, government, tribes, schools, families, and volunteers in these service areas to design community-driven solutions to prevent child abuse and strengthen community supports for families.

What successes or challenges has your family faced recently? We are prioritizing the voices of families and youth to design community-based family strengthening programs. We are collecting stories through the University of Kansas Our Tomorrows Story Project.  Families and community partners will work with DCYF to understand the stories together and use them to plan Strengthen Families Locally and DCYF prevention activities. More information about this project can be found on the flyer and you can share a story.

Share a Story Now to Strengthen Families

This project was funded by the Children's Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under grant #90CA1866. The contents of this website are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Children's Bureau.

Goals

DCYF seeks to partner with the community in service areas to:

  1. Reduce rates of child maltreatment
  2. Reduce rates of foster care entry
  3. Eliminate racial disproportionalities in maltreatment and foster care entry
  4. Increase community resilience
  5. Develop a replicable community-driven prevention model

Six Core Principles

Based on past research and best practices for community-driven approaches to child abuse prevention, DCYF is committed to the following principles in Strengthen Families Locally:

  1. Approaches will be strengths-based, culturally appropriate and inclusive
  2. Mobilization will occur at multiple levels, including state government, local government, local non-profits, schools, families, volunteers, tribes, faith communities, etc., and will occur through a variety of means
  3. We will work to develop trust and strengthen shared values
  4. Our work will strengthen community organizations
  5. Teams will develop a continuum of information, services and supports to strengthen families
  6. Communities will target interventions for families with complex and co-occurring risks

Meetings & Events

Notes and recordings from previous state-wide workshops

Spring 2023 Strengthen Families Locally Retreat: Healing Through Togetherness

Dates: March 24th, 4 PM - March 26th, 1 PM

Location: Wenatchee Conference Center and Coast Hotel

Activities: Presentations and shared learning with Strengthen Families Locally communities (Bremerton, Ferry/Stevens, Port Angeles/Sequim, and Spokane); Healing-Centered Engagement workshop; A Community Café, a Sense Making session; networking, connection, and relationship building to heal and strengthen families and communities.

Children's activities available! Children's activities include a Kid Café with opportunities for kids to think and share about health in their communities. Caregivers will be supported to accompany children and dependents.

Registration deadlines: 3/1 (early bird for hotel and children's activities reservations); 3/16 (late registrants may not have space at Coast Hotel and can be reimbursed for lodging at per diem rates)

Register here | Brief Agenda

Spokane Planning Meetings

3rd Monday of each month, 1:00-3:00 PM

Bremerton Planning Meetings

3rd Thursday of each month, 11:30-1:00 PM

Ferry/Stevens Planning Meetings 

1st Wednesday of each month, 2:00-4:00 PM

Port Angeles/Sequim Planning Meetings

4th Thursday of each month, 11:30-1:00 PM

Register for a meeting

Community Highlights

Upcoming Events

Ferry/Stevens Planning Meetings

1st Wednesday of each month, 2-4:00 p.m.

Register for a meeting

Planning Team Documents

Ferry/Stevens Strengthen Families Locally Goals

Ferry/Stevens Meeting Minutes

Contractors

Network Convener: Spokane Tribal Network

Catholic charities of Eastern Washington - Providing Baby Care 101 classes in communities across Ferry and Stevens Counties, and Diaper Banks to new parents

Northeast Tri-County Health District - Providing Positive Parenting classes to parents, and Community Resilience Initiative trauma-informed workshops to parents and providers

Community Partners

Parents and Volunteers
Better Health Together
Children’s Home Society  
Columbia School District
Community Minded Enterprises
Empire Health Foundation
Family Impact Network
Healthy Ferry County Coalition
Lake Roosevelt Community Health Centers
Mary Walker School District
Parents for Parents
Providence Healthcare
Rural Resources
Spokane Regional Health District
Spokane Tribe of Indians  
Washington State University Extension
DCYF Child Welfare Operations

Upcoming Events

Port Angeles/Sequim Planning Meetings

4th Thursday of each month, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Register for a meeting

Planning Team Documents

Port Angeles/Sequim Strengthen Families Locally Goals

Port Angeles/Sequim Meeting Minutes

Contractors

Network Convener: Washington PAVE

Olympic Peninsula YMCA - Providing Family Resource Navigation and Concrete Goods to families in Port Angeles and Sequim

Port Angeles Food Bank - Providing Family Resource Navigation and Concrete Goods to families utilizing the Food Bank

Community Partners

Parents and Volunteers
Clallam Resilience Project
Family Healing Center
First Step Family Support Center
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe
Lutheran Community Services
Mariposa House
Olympic Angels
Olympic Boys and Girls Club
Olympic Community Action
Olympic Medical Center
Planned Parenthood of Port Angeles
Port Angeles Healthy Youth Coalition
Port Angeles School District
Prevention Works!
Quileute Tribe
Sequim School District
United Way of Clallam County
Youthnet
DCYF Child Welfare Operations

Upcoming Events

Spokane Planning Meetings

3rd Monday of each month, 1-3:00 p.m.

Register for a meeting

Planning Team Documents

Spokane Meeting Minutes

Contractors

Network Convener: Health and Justice Recovery Alliance

American Indian Community Center - Providing Care Coordination to families in the Indian Child Welfare system and Family Support Funds to help families reach stability

Latinos En Spokane - Supporting the Comrades program to work more effectively with families through staff training and agency resources

Martin Luther King Jr. Center - Providing Family Resource Navigation and Family Support Funds to help families reach stability, focusing on families with children in and transitioning to elementary school

Community Partners

Parents and Volunteers
Amerigroup
Better Health Together
Carl Maxey Center
Catholic Charities of Eastern Wa.
Charlie Health
Children’s Advocacy Center
Children’s Home Society of Washington
Columbia School District #206
Communities in Schools of Spokane
Community Minded Enterprises
Eastern Washington University
East Valley Community Coalition
Empire Health Foundation
Family Impact Network
Lumen High School
Mary Walker School District #207
The Native Project
New Horizons Care Center
Parents for Parents
Providence Healthcare
Mujeres In Action (MIA)
New Horizon Care Centers – Parent-Child Assistance Program (PCAP)
Relationship Advantage
Safe Families for Children Spokane chapter
Salish School of Spokane
Shadle Prevention and Wellness Coalition
Spokane County United Way
Spokane Parent and Child Assistance Program
Spokane Public Schools
Spokane Regional Domestic Violence Coalition
Spokane Tribal Network
The Learning Project
Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery
West Spokane Wellness Partnership
YWCA Spokane
The Zone Project
DCYF Child Welfare Operations