National Family
Support Network
Forum
Each May, the National Family Support Network holds the National Forum, an interactive virtual event designed for stakeholders working at the systems and policy levels. The event, previously named the National Briefing, focuses attention on the value of Family Resource Centers and Family Resource Center Networks, explores how and why FRCs continue to be scaled across the country, and highlights progress towards and opportunities for implementing the NFSN's policy priorities document, Supporting & Strengthening Our Nation’s Families: A Blueprint for the Development of Strong Networks of Family Resource Centers.
Please save the date for the 2024 National Forum. This interactive and free virtual event, designed for stakeholders working at the national, state, and local systems and policy levels, will provide the annual progress report on the Blueprint for the Development of Strong Networks of Family Resource Centers and illustrate how participants can support its successful implementation. More than 600 people registered for last year’s event, and 100% of participants rated it as helpful in informing their work.
Schedule
1:15-2:30pm ET - Family Resource Center Virtual Tours
2:45-5:00pm ET – Main Program & Opportunity to Connect with State FRC Networks
Past Events
More than 600 people from 48 states, and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland and Taiwan registered to participate in the 2023 National Briefing on May 31. Participant evaluations indicated that 98% rated the event as good to excellent and 100% found it helpful in informing their work.
The Briefing featured:
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Community-Based FRC Virtual Visit with Children's Board of Hillsborough County's Plant City Family Resource Center in Florida
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School-Based FRC Virtual Visit with Tucson Unified School District's Catalina Family Resource Center in Arizona.
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How Utah's Family Support Centers raised awareness of the value of their workforce - and successfully advocated for their increased compensation
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A public-private funder to funder dialogue about the value of investing in FRCs with Janie Cole, Commissioner of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources' Bureau for Family Assistance - who nearly doubled the number of FRCs in her state, and Emma Mogendorff, Program Officer at the Sauer Family Foundation, which seeded the development of a new Network of FRCs in Minnesota in partnership with the Association of Minnesota Counties
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New Hampshire's example of effectively leveraging its Network of FRCs to support kinship families, and Cheryl Lissak sharing her experience for what a difference it has made for her family.
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The opportunity to virtually visit and connect with NFSN Member Networks across the nation.
More than 300 people from 42 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia participated in the 2022 National Briefing on May 11. The NFSN released the new Network Snapshots profiling the work of
NFSN Member Networks as well as Supporting & Strengthening Our Nation’s Families: A Blueprint for
the Development of Strong Networks of Family Resource Centers. Participant evaluations indicated that
98% of them found the National Briefing helpful in informing their work.
The Briefing featured:
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Mari Villaluna sharing their experience as a Native American, Two-Spirit, queer parent participating in Our Family Coalition in San Francisco, CA.
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Kentucky State Representative Jason Petrie (R) talking about why he led the recent successful effort to secure $9.4M in state general funds for the Commonwealth's 874 school-based Family Resource and Youth Service Centers.
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Connecticut Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye speaking about how and why her office recently began partnering with the 57 school-based FRCs in her state.
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A public-private funder to funder dialogue about the value of investing in FRCs with Sasha Rasco, Chief Prevention and Community Well Being Officer, Prevention and Early Intervention Division, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and Blia Moua, Program Officer at the S.H. Cowell Foundation.
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Two Family Resource Centers Tours: a Community-Based FRC Virtual Visit with Ser Familia’s Centro de Asistencia Familiar y Emocional/ Center of Emotional and Family Assistance (C.A.F.É.) in Georgia and a School-Based FRC Virtual Visit with Enfield Family Resource Centers in Connecticut.
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The opportunity to virtually visit and connect with up to three NFSN Member Networks across the nation.
The 2021 Briefing celebrated the 10th anniversary of the National Family Support Network. The Briefing featured Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman speaking about why the Commonwealth has allocated $1.1M in state general funds for 24 new school-based FRCs to add to their existing 856 FRCs and designated $15M in federal Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER II) to fund FRCs to address early childhood and mental health issues. Washington State Representative Carolyn Eslick (R) explained why she has championed FRCs recently being added to state statute. Denver Indian FRC Tara McLain Manthey talked about the experience of FRCs working with families through the pandemic and the value of being part of a state Network of FRCs. Paul Cheung shared his experience as a Chinese immigrant father participating in the Joy Lok Family Resource Center in San Francisco, California.
The 2020 Briefing featured parent Sheila Harewood sharing her experience with an upstate New York Family Resource Center, remarks from U.S. Children's Bureau Associate Commissioner Jerry Milner, and an announcement from Alabama Department of Human Resource Commissioner Nancy Buckner about adding FRCs as a line item in the state budget for the first time and securing additional funding for them. More than 400 stakeholders from 48 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and Canada participated.
In-Person National Forums
Prior to the pandemic, the National Family Support Network conducted an in-person National Forum each May in Washington, DC.
Past In-Person Forums
”Wonderful. This was well worth our travel. I was so impressed.“ – Forum participant
2019 National Forum in Washington, DC.
Panel Speakers on the Value of Investing in Family Support and Strengthening Networks- Christine Calpin (Casey Family Programs), Niurca Louis (NJ Assistant Commissioner of Family and Community Partnerships), and Dr Jerry Milner (Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau) at the 2019 National Forum in Washington, DC.
Maryland Family Network shares its work at 2015 Forum
2019 National Forum in Washington, DC.