As the creators of the Parent Cafés, Be Strong Families is excited to announce that the California Department of Education recently added “expanding parental knowledge of child development through Parent Cafés” as one of the top strategies under their nearly $11 million federal Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B—5), previously announced on January 16, 2019. This announcement follows the inauguration of Dr. Nadine Burke Harris as California’s first Surgeon General. We are longtime admirers of Dr. Burke Harris’s work, including her 2015 TED Talk, “How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime.”

Two hours into a Parent Café on trusting relationships, two participants remarked it was the first time in weeks they had truly felt heard. A facilitator from The Matthews House in Colorado reflects on what safety and belonging make possible when parents are finally given space to tell their stories.

Three years of hosting Parent Cafés inside a county jail, and what happens when you treat people like people instead of prisoners.

Regional Parent Engagement Advisory Groups (RPEAs) are made up of parents who are ready to be the architects of change in the lives of children and families who have been trained in Parent Cafés and are committed to building Protective Factors. Meet the parents behind three RPEA Groups in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Chicago, sharing their Protective Factor stories, their goals, and what drives them to keep showing up for their communities.

On August 15, 2018, the Philadelphia Department of Human Services held their fourth annual Strengthening Families Summit, which debuted this video introducing Parent Cafés from the perspective of parent leaders.

"You are only as sick as your secrets." BSF's Kathryn Leigh Goetz explores what it means to truly listen to yourself and why Cafés create the conditions for the kind of honesty that leads to real change.

¡Es maravilloso y muy significativo para mí el tener la oportunidad de promover los Factores de Protección e impactar la vida de otras personas a través de entrenamientos, Cafés para Padres, conferencias, talleres, etc. El ser una persona inclusiva y el poder asistir a otros grupos con diferentes lenguajes, y culturas en el mundo es también parte de mi sueño!

It is wonderful, and very significant for me, to have the opportunity to promote the Protective Factors and to touch other people’s lives through trainings, Parent Cafés, conferences, workshops, etc. Being inclusive and assisting other language groups, cultures in the world is also part of my personal dream.

Maryville Academy has launched Parent Cafés in Chicago's Austin neighborhood, offering families dinner, childcare, and a safe space for peer-to-peer connection. Here's how the Augustus Tolton Peace Center is becoming a hub for family strengthening.

What happens when Parent Cafés take root in Kibera, Nairobi, with no outside funding and a community determined to grow? BSF CEO visited the Soweto Forum Parent Café teams in 2018 and found the Protective Factors alive, well, and expanding into micro-enterprise.