Community

We thrive in working in partnership with systems, service providers, and parents.

At Be Strong Families, we have deep learned and lived experiences and specific expertise fostering the leadership of:

School leaders and family support professionals working to improve their partnerships with parents
Child welfare administrators and front-line staff and parents and youth with child welfare involvement in residential and foster care and alumni
Community violence prevention staff and parents in high-need, urban communities
Early childhood program staff – both center- and home-based providers – and parents, including Head Start parents – in both urban and rural settings

Café Community of Practice

A national network of Café hosts who have been trained by Be Strong Families or one of our Certified Training Partners to assist with increasing effectiveness, honing skills, maintaining best practices with fidelity to the model, sharing lessons learned, and expanding one another’s Café efforts.

Joining the Café Community of Practice includes access to our private Facebook Group—a vibrant collective of more than 2000 members from across the country trained to host Be Strong Families Cafés. This engaging group is full of resources, live technical assistance videos, theme sharing and networking. It is specifically designed to ensure Café Hosts feel supported while doing the work that nurtures the spirit of family.

National Parent Café Leadership Team

The National Parent Café Leadership Team consists of people from across the country who love Parent Cafés. They were trained by Be Strong Families or our Certified Training Partners to host Cafés. This team of dedicated, committed people serve as ambassadors for Be Strong Families. They influence our curriculum, review and co-create materials and serve as consultants for our Café teams.

Shadina Allen

Philadelphia, PA
Mindie Bentcik

Pocatello, ID
Denise Brewer

Dallas, TX
Tamara Castonguay

Lititz, PA
Stephanie Céja

San Jose, CA
Kassia Eide

Illinois
Nick Clinton-Elliott

Republic, MO
Shirley Davis

Chicago, IL
Claudia Fuentes

El Paso, Texas
Jade Glover

Indiana
Dorian Harris

North Wales, PA
Pam Herron

Chicago, IL
Dana Johnson

Philadelphia, PA
WT Johnson

Palmyra, MO
Tecoria Jones

Columbia, SC
Andree Long

El Paso, TX
Mychele Lucas

Chicago, IL
Celina Orozco

Chicago, IL
Amani Rodriguez

Hartsville, SC
Tykayla Taylor

Carpentersville, IL
Christopher Thornton

Lees Summit, MO
Melissa Toby

Philadelphia PA
Dana Vassos

Saint Charles, IL
Tynisha Wright

Washington, DC

Regional Parent Engagement Advisory Groups (RPEAs)

Be Strong Families defines an RPEA as an organization that is walking the talk of meaningful, sustainable parent and community engagement at the local level. The heart of the partnership is learning, support and collaboration to achieve common goals.

Be Strong Families currently has one RPEA through a memorandum of understanding with California-based Pasadena Altadena Coalition of Transformative Leaders (PACTL) – an innovative family support and service model built on a foundation of mutual reciprocity and meaningful, sustainable parent and community engagement. With Be Strong Families’ support, PACTL is positioned to be the go-to resource in the greater Los Angeles area for Parent Cafés. Together, Be Strong Families and PACTL are co-creating curricula to embed mutual aid in family support programs. Be Strong Families bylaws grant one voting seat on its board of directors per Regional Parent Engagement Advisory Group; currently this seat is shared by Anabel Aispuro and Barbara Baldwin.

Certified Training Agencies & Partners

Be Strong Families Certified Training Agencies & Partners are invested in the sustainability and long-term success of Parent Cafés throughout their region. Staff of these agencies and/or their partners are trained through a three-phase Training of Trainers (TOT) process to facilitate Be Strong Families Parent Café Trainings and to support programs in implementing Parent Cafés with fidelity to the Be Strong Families model. Certified Training Agencies and Partners participate and encourage all their trainees to participate in the National Parent Café Evaluation Project and the Be Strong Families Café Community of Practice Facebook Group.

Below are the Certified Training Agencies and Partners that are essential to our continued growth and connection in Parent Cafés.