Building Community Well-Being
Mission: To utilize the voices of those with lived experience and community partners to empower families, eliminate harmful biases, and provide concrete supports to ensure family success.
Building Community Well-Being is an innovative approach to community well-being. Utilizing a two-track approach, we aim to mitigate families' engagement with the child welfare system due to racial inequity and poverty concerns conflated with neglect. This change can transform the child welfare system into a family well-being system that focuses on primary prevention. The first track is a family/customer-facing tack that journeys with families as they navigate various resource and service systems and barriers they may face through that process. The second track is a systems-facing track that examines the obstacles with community partners, the Department of Community-Based Services, and others to determine if they even need to be present in the families' lives. This track is meant to utilize the strengths of the families and communities to find opportunities for support for all community members.
Vision: Create a well-rounded child and family well-being system that removes the negative judgment of seeking support and eliminates barriers to family success.
Building Community Well-Being Strategies
Click each strategy for a brief description:
The Parent Advisory Board is a group of parents who have experience with the child welfare system or who have been at risk of involvement and who want to improve the system to help families in the community. The board meets monthly to discuss ideas and co-design strategies for implementation with partitioners and organizations within the human services fields. Participants receive a stipend.
The Community Well-Being Alliance is a group of community members who are invested in the well-being of children and families. The group meets throughout the year to discuss protective factors and how to reduce child, family, and community risk factors.
Parent Cafés are peer groups for caregivers. It is an opportunity for parents to set aside time to relax and recharge with other parents and caregivers interested in building meaningful relationships, managing stressors, connecting to community support, developing a deep knowledge of child development, and having a safe, open environment to share personal experiences
Family Coaches support families in reaching their individual goals and navigating the resources available to achieve self-sufficiency. They connect and provide families with resources, services, and support that prevent issues or family stressors before they start. These can include emergency resources, financial wellness, job readiness, housing stabilization, child care, and more.
The Well-Being Supporter Credential is open to all community members and is free. It will offer participants a unique opportunity to enhance their skills and knowledge in areas crucial to fostering healthier communities. Delivered through a hybrid learning model, this comprehensive, free program is designed for anyone seeking to support our community and improve well-being. The course aims to provide practical tools and strategies for engaging with diverse populations and addressing the challenges faced by community members. Learn More
Why We Do It
In the Northern Bluegrass Region of Child Protective Services in 2020, 644 families had report findings that they were in need of services and did not meet the criteria for neglect or maltreatment, which is nearly 1 in 4 for the entire state (24% of 2,637). Prevention services could help these families rather than taxing an already over-burdened child welfare system.