Award Winner Expands Role and Sees Results

National Family Week honors Family & Children’s Service of Minneapolis

Alliance Magazine News Service 12/04/07

Staff of Family & Children’s Service: (left to right) Laurie Lindblad, director of Family & School Success; Mesha Davis, VP of development; Jennifer Blevins, director of community and system change; Molly Greenman, president and CEO; Peter Goldberg, president and CEO, Alliance for Children and Families; John Everett Till, VP of family and community programs.

Displaying superiority in exemplifying the National Family Week premise that children live better lives when their families are strong, and families are strong when they live in communities that connect them to economic opportunities, social networks, and services, Family & Children’s Service of Minneapolis is the winner of the National Family Week Connections Count Award.

Also recognized for their year-round efforts in leadership and civic engagement training, mission-based advocacy, and collaboration with public officials, Family & Children’s Service has linked these year-round efforts to their National Family Week celebration, solidifying the agency’s role as a catalyst for positive social change.

For its National Family Week observance, Family & Children’s Service held its third annual National Family Week Community Leadership Celebration, which was attended by more than 350 people.

The event included a forum where public officials and families discussed issues and potential solutions for strengthening families; a resource fair including informational booths on civic engagement opportunities and resources for families; recognition of grassroots community leaders for their contributions in supporting strong families and communities; and a multicultural dinner and dance performance.

	Molly Greenman, president and CEO at Family & Children's Service.

As a lead-in to National Family Week, Family & Children’s Service hosted a day-long conference offering 14 workshops to promote civic and policy engagement of grassroots leaders. More than 200 individuals attended this event and voted on the top public concerns they wanted to address in partnership with Family & Children’s Service. Identified priorities included affordable housing, tenant rights, immigrant rights, public school change, and welfare reform.

“We are honored to have been selected for the National Family Week Connections Count Award,” said Molly Greenman, president and CEO at Family & Children’s Service. “This award reflects our strong commitment to building and growing our event each year, while maintaining the highest-level of quality and impact in our efforts.”

Results of their efforts include Minnesota Senator Linda Higgins agreeing to author legislation to support families by increasing the grant amount for TANF recipients and by increasing state funding for English Language Learning. Senator Higgins will also continue to champion Dream Act Legislation in order to make it possible for undocumented immigrant children who have attended Minnesota public schools for five years to pay in-state tuition rates for college.
 

The National Family Week Connections Count was initially launched in 1998. Previous recipients of the NFW Connections Count Award include: Family Service Agency, Phoenix; Family Counseling Services, Jacksonville, Fla.; Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial, Younkers, N.Y.; Children’s Village, Inc., Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, Family Service Association of Greater Fall River, Fall River, Mass.; Center for Family Services, Camden, N.J.; Children’s Village, Bridgeport, Conn.; Family Service of El Paso, El Paso, Texas; and The Family Conservancy, Kansas City, Kan.

 

Family & Children's Service works to help people solve problems, such as family violence, school failure, and mental health concerns; prevent problems by teaching skills in parenting, anger management, and conflict resolution; and change community conditions by bringing families together in distressed neighborhoods, and by advocating for children and families throughout Minnesota.