Dave Hafner, Josh Graves, Senator Jackie Winters and Dick Withnell met recently to discuss the Strong Families, Resilient Neighborhoods (SFRN) community mobilization movement. Eight core Fostering Hope Initiative nonprofit partners: CASA of Marion County, CCS, Community Action Agency, Family Building Blocks, Liberty House, Mano a Mano, Options Counseling and Family Services, and Salem Leadership Foundation seek to engage, educate and enlist the entire community in promoting the Strengthening Families Protective Factors.

One of the priority goals is to pass legislation to secure sustainable funding for the pilot demonstration project through a tax credit. An innovative outcomes-based payment system will be tested to ensure improved cost efficiencies and improved measurable results such as fewer children entering foster care, more children enjoying greater success in school, and more families experiencing increased health and well-being through improved access to health care and social services. 

Dr. Maureen Casey, SFRN Strategic Projects Consultant, said, “Numerous studies demonstrated that chronically adverse childhood experiences without the buffering effect of safe, stable, nurturing relationships, dramatically increase the risk of chronic health problems, failure at school, and life-long poverty. SFRN is a culturally and linguistically responsive approach to help strengthen families and build community resiliency. Using a collaborative, collective impact approach to align and leverage community resources like housing, health care, education and social service supports substantially increases opportunities for life-long wellbeing and financial self-sufficiency.”

CCS’s Fostering Hope Initiative is a collective impact “container/backbone for change” for the Strong Families, Resilient Neighborhoods pilot demonstration project.

SFRN Summary
SFRN Video