As an education funder, we often get questions about why we provide grants to support whole families or how this aligns to our strategy. While our primary focus has long been around supporting quality public education, we know that sometimes challenges facing a student at home can show up in their performance at school, making it difficult to learn and engage. For that reason, we have loosely adopted the Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s 2-Gen framework, which builds family well-being through intentional and simultaneous investments in early childhood and K-12 education, post-secondary and employment pathways, social capital, health and mental health, and economic assets, recognizing that children are part of a family ecosystem and the whole system must have its needs met in order for children to thrive.
With that premise in mind, we’ve supported organizations such as Mel Trotter Ministries, to expand its Diversion Specialists to support families in imminent risk of being homeless in the 49507 and 49503 zip codes in their efforts to maintain, retain, or acquire stable housing. For families currently experiencing homelessness, we’ve supported Family Promise’s emergency shelter programs, which keep families together and provides basic needs and case management to move families into safe housing as quickly as possible. In Athens, we’ve supported Habitat for Humanity of River Valley as it expands into Limestone County to build homes for low-incomes families in need.
We’ve also supported Legal Services Alabama’s John Lewis Fellowship in Athens to assist families in North Alabama in litigating civil legal issues, especially those around education and family law that might lead to family homelessness or other disruptions. In Grand Rapids, supported similar efforts through Cherry Health and Legal Aid of Western Michigan’s Medical Legal Partnership. Legal Services are offered onsite at Cherry Health’s Heart of the City Health Center to families in its Maternal Infant Health program who might need help with issues like housing, income security, domestic abuse, and healthcare. This ensure legal assistance is available during a time of great transition when parents are welcoming a newborn. To better support fathers, Dr. Craig Garfield of The Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and the Michigan PRAMS team have led efforts to create the Kent County Fatherhood Survey, which gathers comprehensive data on men’s health and their experiences during the transition to fatherhood, making the case that fathers should be added to the national PRAMS survey focused on mothers.
Other supports centering parents include Our Hope, which provides residential addiction treatment to mothers and allows them to bring their infant children to maintain family unity while they receive needed support. Puertas Abiertas provides Latinx mothers who have experienced domestic abuse with culturally relevant mental health supports for them and children to end cycles of abuse and empower them to change their futures. We’ve supported Realism is Loyalty’s Each One Teach One intensive mentoring program, which supports youth engaged in the juvenile justice system through family and individual mentoring and therapy to heal generational trauma and provide needed supports to get youth back on track.
The Literacy Center of West Michigan’s Family Literacy Program supports literacy development of English Language learner parents to help them learn English and acquire literacy skills, so they are more able to support their children academically. Treetops Collective provides new American women and teens with cohort-based support which provides tactical education to help them settle into their new community with resource navigation and relationship building. Streams similarly provides supports for parents and children through programming focused on education, parenting, food, and health.
To support Black youth placed in white foster homes locally, we’ve supported Osofomaame’s Caring for Children of Color program, which provides culturally relevant education, tools and resources to help foster parents learn how to best care for their children and ensure their new home is welcoming and affirming.
To support the wellbeing and recreational needs of families, we’ve supported FitKids360, a seven-week healthy lifestyle class for children and their parents that treats pediatric obesity through a family approach, noting that obesity is often a microcosm of other factors impacting a family. To encourage families’ lifelong love for reading, we’ve supported Storytime GR, a weekly summer literacy program which provides families with free books and ice cream cones in locations across the city. ICCF Community Homes provides recreation and engagement for its residents, both parents and children, to ensure that families have the resources they need and fun and engaging opportunities to connect with others in their housing communities.
We’re excited to continue to explore the ways we can support the needs of whole families through targeted investments in our community. To learn more about our current partnerships, read the connecting stories below.
