What Happens When a Community Makes the Parent Café Model Its Own?
Parent Cafés in El Paso didn't grow simply because one organization began hosting more of them. They grew because more people in the community learned how to host them.
El Paso Center for Children began offering Parent Cafés in 2019 through a community-strengthening research project. The organization later made a deeper investment in the model by becoming a Be Strong Families Certified Training Partner (CTP). That means El Paso Center for Children can not only provide Parent Cafés, but train people within its own community to host them.
That Training of Trainers approach has helped Parent Cafés spread across El Paso. Cafés now reach families through schools, community organizations, and programs serving families with young children, fathers, military-connected families, adoptive and kinship families, and older youth.
But building that community of partners took time.
When El Paso Center for Children first began introducing Parent Cafés to other organizations, staff found it difficult to explain the experience to people who had never participated in one. So they began inviting providers to experience the approach themselves through “provider Cafés.”
That changed the conversation.
“Once the partners understood what a Parent Café was all about, they started referring,” Kathie Valencia Chief Programs Officer at El Paso Center for Children said. “They started wanting to have Parent Cafés within their organization for their clients.”
Relationships with parent liaisons helped bring Cafés into three of El Paso's four major school districts. El Paso Center for Children has also trained additional organizations and hosts, creating more opportunities for families to experience Parent Cafés without relying on one organization to provide every Café.
As the network has grown, the team has also learned what it takes to make the model work for its community. Cafés are offered in English and Spanish, held in places families already trust, and often include meals for parents coming from work. When childcare isn't available, the team finds ways to welcome families with their children.
“We meet our families where they're at,” Kathie said.
The approach has even reached groups staff weren't initially sure would respond. When Cafés were introduced to teenagers at a local school, staff wondered whether students would open up or return. By the end of the school year, the teens were asking whether the Café sessions could continue.
Today, demand for Parent Cafés in El Paso exceeds what El Paso Center for Children can provide on its own, even after training other organizations and hosts.
That growth illustrates the larger purpose of the Certified Training Partner model. Training one organization can lead to many more people being prepared to host Cafés, creating more opportunities for families to participate and helping the Protective Factors become a shared language across a community.
If your organization is thinking about how to expand Parent Cafés beyond what one team can deliver, becoming a Certified Training Partner may be one way to build that capacity within your own community.