What We Do
Strengthen families.
Support youth in care.
Build trust across systems.
Train the workforce.
Reduce violence in communities.
Shift loneliness to lasting connection.
Build stronger teams and organizations.
Promote youth leadership.
Honor all lived experiences.
Heal trauma.
Are made by parents, for parents.
Strengthen families. Support youth in care. Build trust across systems. Train the workforce. Reduce violence in communities. Shift loneliness to lasting connection. Build stronger teams and organizations. Promote youth leadership. Honor all lived experiences. Heal trauma. Are made by parents, for parents.
Through empowered engagement, we encourage people and teams to surface solutions from their own wisdom and experience.
This can look like convening, skill-building, or co-creating new solutions together. We work anywhere people gather, such as schools, public agencies, workplaces, community centers, and healthcare settings.
Core Offerings
Café Training
Parent Cafés · Vitality Cafés · #WoWTalk Cafés
Get certified to host Cafés - structured, peer-led conversations where people feel safe, seen, and supported.
Café hosts learn to skillfully hold space, ask better questions, and trust the wisdom already in the room. Participants leave feeling inspired and renewed.
Bring Cafés to your entire region by becoming a Certified Training Partner agency.
80–97% of participants report growth across the five Protective Factors that strengthen families.
Professional Development
BSF Institute open enrollment · Custom, contract-based team training
Deepen your practice with interactive, experiential training on topics like parent engagement, trauma and resilience, youth development, and the Protective Factors.
Join a scheduled BSF Institute training seat-by-seat, or bring us in to build something specially tailored for your team.
93% of participants learned new tools or strategies they hadn't received elsewhere.
Child Welfare Solutions
Whole-system support · Services for staff, parents, foster families, and youth
Create conditions in your agency where families and professionals see each other with understanding and respect.
Our whole-system approach increases parent engagement, builds reflective, relationship-based practice among staff, and elevates youth voice.
“These workshops have been really helpful and have assisted me through my journey towards bringing my babies back home.”
—Parent with child-welfare involvement
More ways we work with our partners:
-
Youth Advisory Board
Coordinating youth leadership in partnership with Illinois DCFS
The YAB elevates the voices of youth in foster care to influence the systems that shape their lives. Youth develop leadership skills, drive policy conversations, and lead real initiatives — including the Wellness from Root to Soul Haircare Symposium. We can help your organization build youth advisory structures that actually work.
-
Early Childhood Systems Support
Integrating family engagement and peer support into early childhood services
We bring Parent Cafés and family engagement practice into early childhood systems and primary care settings. Our work with the Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN) in Washington D.C. and the University of Michigan's Zero to Thrive program shows what's possible when Cafés are woven into a service continuum from the start.
-
Café In A Box Development
Co-create a conversation card deck built for your community
Every BSF deck is built with the people it’s meant to serve. We partner with organizations to develop custom Café In A Box decks — 30 to 65 cards — tailored to your population and goals. Work-for-hire or collaborative models available. Past partners include Zero to Thrive and ECIN.
-
Community Violence Prevention
Structured conversations that shift behavior
Violence starts with disconnection. We create spaces where youth, caregivers, and community members can reflect, speak honestly, and take accountability — without lectures or forced sharing. Our Healthy Living and Gun Safety Café programming meets communities where they are and builds from there.
Don’t see exactly what you need?
Our services can be applied in more places than you might think — including your workplace. Every team needs connection, communication, and a little vitality. Let’s talk about what we can build together.