Family Futures is thrilled to be a partner in The Grand Rapids Southeast Promise Neighborhood Project (GRSEPN)! As a collaboration between schools and the community, GRSEPN’s main goal is to help children and their families from cradle to career.
By working hand-in-hand with partner groups already established in the community, we collectively help families and their children with everything they need, starting in infancy, through their formative years in education, and all the way until they are adults ready for jobs. In finding the good things and strengths that are already in the community, we are able to use them to build meaningful programs.
Family Futures’ work in early childhood development goes hand in hand with many of GRSEPN’s Promise Initiatives. This helps us give families tools and ideas that work to help their children succeed early on in life.
GRSEPN supports Family Futures in its initiatives, including Early Childhood Development, Family & Community Engagement/Support, and Learning Readiness.
Parent Cafés
Parent Cafés are physically and emotionally safe spaces where people talk and listen to each other on topics that matter to them, including raising a family, navigating inequality, enhancing well-being, and more. Through individual self-reflection and peer-to-peer learning, participants explore their strengths, learn about the Protective Factors, and create strategies from their own wisdom and experiences to strengthen their lives.
In our community, this model has expanded into a Parent Cafe Coalition of over 25 community organizations, increasing access to these vital educational opportunities and strengthening family support systems.
Trauma & Resilience Training
Research shows that early childhood trauma can permanently alter a child’s developing brain, leading to significant social, emotional, and cognitive impairments—often called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). These ACEs can result in poor school performance and future health issues.
At Family Futures, we work to bring the community together by offering trauma and resilience training. Using engaging and insightful events that combine biology and evidence-based practice, we help the southeast Grand Rapids area gain a deeper understanding of trauma and resilience, both in their child’s lives as well as their own.
For a list of community trainings and resources, click here.
Connections
Family Futures’ Connections program empowers caregivers by reducing stress and boosting confidence through personalized support from Family Support Navigators. They offer guidance on early childhood development, interpret Ages & Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) results for children from birth to age 6, and connect families to vital resources like early intervention. Connections also partners with schools and childcare centers to broaden its reach.
The program utilizes the Thrive by Five Plan to provide caregivers with tailored, age-appropriate information, and the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Needs Assessment to identify and address factors impacting family well-being, ensuring comprehensive support and referrals to essential services.
Community Engagement
Community engagement activities are a critical component of Family Future’s outreach strategies. An active presence is essential to building awareness of our programs and gaining a deeper understanding of the needs of the people we serve. In 2024, Family Futures expanded to participation in 75 events including Festival of the Arts, GR PrideFest, and numerous neighborhood-affiliated events in southeast Grand Rapids.
Beyond this, Family Futures is also an active presence in many community workgroups, including KConnect, the Health Equity Council for Kent County, the Great Start Collaborative, and the Latino Community Coalition, among others.
