Reweaving the Fabric of Society:
One Conversation at a Time
Be Strong Families is a national non-profit organization that has been preventing child abuse and neglect through community-based, peer-to-peer activities since 2012.
Strong families are the foundation of strong communities and a strong society. Our social fabric is fraying. According to a recent U.S. Surgeon General’s Report (Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, 2023), we are currently experiencing an epidemic of loneliness that not only has major physical and mental health consequences but also is weakening our ability to stand together as a country. All Be Strong Families offerings intentionally strengthen social ties between parents and children, among family members, within schools and family-serving programs, and in communities. Whether through Parent Cafés, Living the Protective Factors or other skill-building workshops, a game of Questionable, or coloring book parent–child time, join us and be part of a groundswell of positive change.
Transform the Conversation
Be Strong Families strives to have the next conversation—to go where others are not yet going, to approach pressing issues in ways that are fresh and real. We offer technical assistance and trainings to create peer-to-peer discussions that promote vitality, provide emotional healing and foster peace. These transformative conversations not only prevent violence and fight oppression, they give hope, create amazing leaders, and help overlooked communities thrive. We partner with a diverse team of community leaders, teachers, social workers, small business owners, parents, youth, thinkers, and dreamers to lead online webinars, workshops, and professional development trainings that further shared mission.
Our Mission
Be Strong Families partners to create transformative change by developing and sustaining conversations that nurture the spirit of family, promote well-being, and prevent violence.
Our Vision
Be Strong Families sees the becoming of a healthy, strong global family in which:
Everyone works together to support each other and to create a sustainable future for our children spanning multiple generations; and
Every society is composed of tight, loving, and fabulously strong families, and all children are safe, cared for, and nurtured in healthy communities.
Be Strong Families Happenings
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In a collaboration spanning the better part of three years, Be Strong Families has proudly partnered with the Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN) in Washington, D.C. as they explore the outcomes and positive impact of Parent Café participation on parents, caregivers, and their families. This groundbreaking research effort, with the support of BSF, has recently culminated in a significant milestone — the publication of a practice note titled "Professional Hats Aside: How Parent Cafés Reduce Perceived Power Differentials to Engage Caregivers in Adverse Childhood Experience Prevention Using the Protective Factors Framework" in the journal Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services.
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Be Strong Families is publishing an exciting new resource to assist parents with building Protective Factors with their children and in their families: it’s a coloring and activity book. It’s part of our Living the Protective Factors series — in it 5 children from very diverse cultural backgrounds navigate a week in their life building Protective Factors as they go. In addition to pages to color — by LA psychologist and artist Terry Marks-Tarlow the activity book contains word search, Mad Libs-type fill-in-the-blank games, matching games, maze, and other activities to introduce children to the Protective Factors. This book is also a great way for adults to build their confidence and fluency with the Protective Factors while spending quality time with their children.
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Be Strong Families staff and board came together for an in-person retreat this fall. The theme was “Be Strong Together: Celebrating our Strengths and Building Equity Leadership.” As a whole group, we watched the incredibly rich documentary Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity produced by World Trust. Cracking the Codes was developed to propel America to talk about the causes and consequences of systemic inequity.
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Since Be Strong Families (BSF) first pioneered the Parent Café approach in 2007, hundreds of programs In the US and internationally have adopted the approach, reaching thousands of parents and families through deep, personal conversations designed to facilitate transformation and healing. In 2019 we started the National Parent Café Evaluation Project to be able to share the impact of Parent Cafés. Fifty-five percent of our partners participated in the National Parent Café Project. The blog reveals key trends in data collected in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Be Strong Families Cafés
Be Strong Families is internationally known as an innovator in using structured, small group conversations called Cafés to facilitate transformation and healing within families. We started with Parent Cafés organized around the Strengthening Families™ Protective Factors. And over the last 10 years, we have added Cafés organized around domains of vitality, for the recovery community, for parents of teens, for parents of children with disabilities, for fathers, to promote social justice as well as for youth and emerging adults. This peer-to-peer learning process has families working together to grow stronger.
Cafés were developed as an in-person experience and have now been adapted, with fidelity, to be hosted online.
Café Training
A Café Training is an experiential and highly interactive training that prepares parents and providers to conduct any of our Be Strong Families Cafés.
Professional Development
Our workshops, trainings, and technical assistance go beyond traditional child- and family-service models. Curricula are always strengths-based, family-centered, and trauma-informed. We aim to strengthen both staff and parents from the inside out, and promote the parallel process essential to effective work with families. All of our workshops are offered both online or in-person. Your team can join one of our open classes or we can come to you and provide customized training to best meet your organization’s needs.
Free Webinars
Be Strong Families is offering free, online opportunities to learn and grow and share together! Since March 23, 2020, we have been offering English and Spanish webinars on topics related to Staying Strong and Positive for Ourselves and Our Children. In 2023, the new webinar series is related to Enhancing and Empowering: Conversations for Positive Change.
Join us every month for A Taste of Cafés — a preview of our signature conversation process.
Our Shop
From resources, guidebooks, and outreach tools to games and gifts, Be Strong Families’ Shop features products that support your organization to further our collective cause.
Be Strong Families Initiatives
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Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Be Strong Families is committed to living our values as a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization both with our internal policies and practices and in the work we do with others.
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Youth Leadership Development
We are committed to creating and sustaining programs that positively impact all youth and their families, especially youth that are experiencing challenges and adversity.
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LGBTQIA+
Be Strong Families is dedicated to uplifting and healing youth and families together. With the funds raised from our community, this initiative will further Be Strong Families’ allyship to the LGBTQIA+ community and more deeply root our internal and external Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) stance.
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Sustainability
Integrating Climate Change Activism and Environmental Justice into Family Support Programming.