From Parent Council to Nonprofit: How Kane County Parents Kept Their Parent Cafés
At the end of every Parent Café, participants offer one closing word to describe what the experience meant to them. Kane County parents use words like “heard,” “excited,” “hopeful, and “relieved.”
And when there’s a place in your life where you consistently feel listened to and excited about your future, you hang onto it for dear life. It makes sense, then, that when Kane County announced funding would end in December 2025, parents couldn’t just let Parent Cafés disappear. The parents said things like, “This is like my therapy. Don’t take away my therapy!”
Just west of Chicago, Kane County, Illinois, is home to more than half a million people, one-third of whom are Spanish speakers. It’s here that La Voz de Esperanza (The Voice of Hope, in Spanish), the 20-member Kane County Department of Health Parent Council, has been creating spaces worth fighting for since 2021.
They host twice-a-month Parent Cafés in Spanish in each of their largest cities – Aurora and Elgin - including one online. They offer childcare, snacks, and pay the 13 trained, contracted peer leaders who host the Cafés. Their online Café draws parents from Chicago and even into neighboring states.
Liliana Olayo wishes she had Parent Cafés in her early days of parenting. Today, she's a grandmother of three. But as a young parent, she was overwhelmed.
"I didn't speak the language or have family or have support. I was just lost," she says. "With my oldest son, I made a lot of mistakes. I wish I had support like this."
Sometimes parents feel like they’re failing, but the Parent Café community is a space where parents connect with other parents without giving advice, only sharing stories. "When you feel supported, not judged, not rejected, you trust others," Liliana says.
There are often long waitlists for traditional therapy, and the Parent Café community is a safe — even therapeutic — space for parents to learn together. Being with other parents with the same struggles as you have, you feel like you're not alone. When Liliana later learned the language of the Strengthening Families Protective Factors, she realized how resilient she actually was. “You are already doing it, but you didn't know it has a name."
Losing Parent Cafés and peer support for the Spanish-speaking community in Kane County was simply not an option; Liliana and other parents made sure of it. So with the Health Department as fiscal sponsor, La Voz de Esperanza applied for a planning grant from the County to cover the administrative support needed to become a Family-Run Organization, or FRO. Liliana Olayo became interim CEO of their new nonprofit.
Only one of seven in the state of Illinois, the FRO designation is for organizations led by parents or family members with lived experience, not clinicians. FROs are grounded in mental health, provide peer-to-peer support, and provide focused referrals for families.
This was the perfect fit for La Voz de Esperanza because, as Liliana puts it, “We don’t live in the community, we are the community.” They have always relied on and emphasized their work as certified peer support through the Be Strong Families Cafés model. “Be Strong Families is already recognized and well-known. We are not just improvising,” she says. “We’re certified.”
La Voz de Esperanza is also certified to host International Restorative Practices healing circles and has 8 parents certified through NAMI to host peer mental health groups. To offer the best referrals to families, they are also members of the All our Kids Early Childhood Network and of IRIS (Integrated Referral and Intake System) in Illinois.
Now, as an independent organization as of July 2026, La Voz de Esperanza can set their own direction, isn’t reliant on others for funding, and can work statewide. They want to be in public libraries, churches, and health offices throughout Illinois.
Other counties want to know their secret: “How do you get parents involved?” Liliana always tells them it’s because they are parents. They don’t tell people what they need; they share our own experiences. They check in on people who haven’t been there in a while and give awards to those who bring friends along, because they are truly superstars. Her best advice is that “Even if you are a professional, you have to take off your professional hat and be a parent.”
Cafés almost ended in December 2025. Instead, thanks to a group of parents who stepped up, they haven’t skipped a beat. Current funding runs only through November, but they’ve submitted two grants (so far), are building a website with a new logo, and are creating a library of family stories to support their fundraising efforts.
Liliana’s main message is this: “You are not alone.” La Voz de Esperanza — the Voice of Hope — plans to make sure of it.
If you live in Kane County and want to join or support La Voz de Esperanza, reach out to Liliana at lavozillinois@gmail.com.
Article by: Katie Miller
