Food as an Entry Point to Services

Using the Strengths Based Approach to Connect Families at the Corning Family Resource Center

A presentation by:
Camilla Delsid-Wrfel Director, Tehama County 220 Sycamore St., Ste. 101 Red Bluff, CA 96080 96080 http://www.nvcss.org

Who we are
Family Resource Center in the Wild West (rural Corning, Northern California) Poverty rate in our county is at 22% 40%+ Immigrants, many mixed status families Funded by Foundation, private and some county dollars. Grants are constantly written (most are not funded but we try anyways) In 2012 the center served around 6,000 with a broad spectrum of family strengthening services.

Poverty
Families and persons that come to us are usually deeply desperate. They are on a free fall without a safety net that catches them. Many have lived in poverty for so long that they feel debilitated and have lost their capacity for action and motivation. Lost hope.

Sooo what do we do?

We dont do it alone. When most of our funding was lost in 2009 our choice was to either close our doors or find allies and champions. We already had a family strengthening system in place that was working and that we wanted to continue and build upon.

Partners and Allies

As a small Family Resource Center, we were overwhelmed with the ravages of rural poverty and we could not do much by ourselves. At first we did what most agencies did. We showed families how to cut back, budget, re-use, save and repair but what families really needed was a little bit more money, a little bit more food, a little bit more of everything. We did not have the resources to provide these things so we went looking for partners.

Partners and Champions

With the award of the Wal-Mart Grant everything changed. We were able to establish our Food Share Coalition, which lead to partnerships with local food banks, churches, and other human service agencies. The mission of Food Share is to connect and promote community efforts in the awareness and elimination of hunger and in getting food to families at no cost or very cheaply via partner agencies and churches (utilizing our Food Van). After that grant ended, Community Action Agency, Churches, Schools, Casino, other non-profits, continue to pitch in to keep our efforts going.

Specifically.
Our FRC uses a four pronged tactic with families who come in for food all under the umbrella of the Strengths Based Approach: 1. Joint Leadership Team (JLT-community based network we founded) 2. Family Academy (Community Based Network) 3. Emergency Intake Form 4. MATRIX (Strengths based case management system that assists us and the family in achievable and measurable goals).

Joint Leadership Team

In Corning, we formed a community based network, the Joint Leadership Team or JLT. This was a year-long effort to get the Executive Directors of some of the big players to the table (Head Start, Migrant Ed, School District, First 5). This is a formal collaborative of committed local partners whose goal it is to increase resources that support family strengthening activities through a symbiotic vision, mission and sharing of resources that build strong families (agency asset mapping to determine what each agency can bring to the table, e.g. instructors, child care, transportation, facilities, etc.)

Family Academy
Family Academy is another community based collaborative that we founded, rooted in the notion that education is crucial in getting out of poverty. The goal of the Family Academy is to provide parents with the tools and knowledge necessary to become more involved in their childrens lives, at school and in the community. Most of our classes are offered bilingually, in English and Spanish, during the day and evening. Classes are free and childcare is provided during all most classes.

Family Academy
Classes are offered in the areas of: 1. Life skills and Basic Education 2. Navigating their childs school system/understanding test scores, etc. 2. Health related healthy lifestyles 3. Parent Education 4. ESL/CIVICS 5. Nutrition/Cooking And in areas that are identified by the parents of our Parent Engagement group. Each year we serve hundreds of unduplicated parents who attend at least one of our classes.

Calendar

Calendar

West St r eet Element ar y School and Family Resour ce Cent er

F amily Academy
F or mor e infor mation call: 824-7670

West St r eet Element ar y School and Family Resour ce Cent er

Academia par a los padr es de familia

e i

Par a m s infor maci n llame al: 824-7670

Wednesday, March 27th Classes from 2:45 to 3:15 p.m.

Par ent s you ar e cor dially invit ed t o our fir st Family Academy and choose fr om t he following classes:
Nurtured e H art Parenting l ca ss Instructor a Julie C rr, West Street Kindergarten Teacher Readingo T getherLiteracy InstructorDawn a Mg allon, West Street 2nd Grade Instructor a Jennie C ylor, West Street Learning e C nter Childhood H alth Issues Instructor i Joanne Boone, Ds tu r ict N rse NutritionEat Healthy Be Active InstructorLia DiMillo-Gray, Family e R source Center Educator a Spanish l nguage translation available Supervised h c ildcare available on the playground Room 1 Room e 6

mircoles, 27 de marzo Las sesiones son de las 2:45 hasta las 3:15 de la tarde

Convocator ia Estimados Padr es de F amilia, Est n cor dialmente invitados a la pr imer a sesi n de la Academia par a los Padr es de F amilia. F avor de escoger un tema del cual desear a asistir de la lista:

Nurtured Heart Crianza d los h jos con o cario, sin cnsecu encias Instructora a Julie C rr, Maestra d Kinder de West Street e Leyendo todos juntosLectura Instructora e Dawn Magallon, Maestra d Segundo Grado d West Street Instructora a Jennie C ylor, Encargada del Centro d Aprendizaje de West e

El salon 1

El saln 6

Room 3 Room 5

Temas de salud infantil

Instructora o Joanne Bo ne, Enferma dl Distrito Escolar e

El saln 3

NutricionComer sano y mantngase activo El saln 5 Instructora i Lia D Millo-Gray, Maestra del Centro d a e Recursos a p ra Familias u Traduccin de ingls a espaol para cada taller Habr ci dado de nios en el patio de l escuela

Process: 1 Step - Basic Intake Form

This form is an integrated family assessment tool for case management and family outcomes evaluation: 1. Basic personal info 2. What services they are already receiving 3. What their most pressing needs are 4. Other info and data we collect for internal reasons. 5. It is client centered, meaning that we get the client to talk about their lives using strengths based probing questions. 5. This form ties into the MATRIX Outcomes model.

Conversation
This form is the beginning of a conversation to connect a family to an empowerment process involving our agency, and some of the other formal partners mentioned earlier (Food Share partners, JLT partners).

Process
The intakeworker is well familiar and well trained in the Family Strengthening Principles. Rooted in a collaborative, respectful focus on the basic human rights, strengths, and resilience of families. The worker can be AmeriCorps, volunteers, trained front desk staff, social worker, etc. Depending on literacy levels and the willingness of the client to share their information, this form can take 30 minutes to 1.5 hours to go through, because it is a conversation and cannot be hurried along.

SB Perspective Refresher
Evidence suggests that the strengths perspective is a constructive approach to helping struggling families. Briefly, it focuses on what is right with people rather than on what is wrong. It identifies, builds upon, and amplifies peoples strengths, resilience, and resources. It sees challenges as an opportunity for growth. The strengths perspective does not condone or sanction a persons poor life choices; rather, the strengths perspective recognizes these as an attempt to cope and solve problems, although perhaps a misguided one, and seeks to help families find more suitable behaviors and effective coping skills.

Next Steps
Sometimes persons just want the food and get on with it so they go through the motions to get what they need immediately (Frequent Fliers). In most cases though, families and individuals learn about the services that are available to them and they agree to short-time case management services (3-6 months). We use the MATRIX, an online Case Management and Outcomes measurement tool that measures 22 areas that we identified locally.

Family Development Matrix

See Handout explains in detail how it is build on the Strengths Based Perspective and Theory of Change:

Key
Red = In-Crisis Reflects a family in survival mode. Resources are dangerously inadequate and the family does not have the will or the breathing room to plan for the future. A family system may have collapsed or in immediate danger of collapse. Strong outside intervention and program resources are often required to move the family to at least the At-risk and Stable levels. Yellow = At Risk. The family is secure from immediate disaster, and with planning and use of external resources support can continue an upward trend. The family may be secure from immediate threats to health and safety, but has not yet developed or committed to strategies/plans for growth and change. Continuing intervention and program support provides a platform on which the family can build its plans for improving circumstances.

Key
Purple = Stable. The family has achieved a level where they can begin to plan and to develop internal resources. The family no longer is in immediate danger, and is ready and willing to change as needed to be more secure. Planning occurs for future growth and development. Supportive services are provided as needed to assist the family in implementing their plans. Green =Safe/Self-Sufficient Indicates that a family is largely able to address its own immediate needs and to plan for the future. Longterm maintenance of this level is a goal. The family is generally secure as a result of its own efforts and has a clear vision of its ultimate goals. Intervention is resource-oriented as needed and motivation is from within the family.

Key
Red = In Crisis Yellow = At Risk Purple = Stable Green = SelfSufficient

Key
Red = In Crisis Yellow = At Risk Purple = Stable Green = SelfSufficient

Key
Red = In Crisis Yellow = At Risk Purple = Stable Green = Self-Sufficient

We dont have all of the answers.

We rely on our like-minded partners who share their resources with us and we with them. We have been using the MATRIX for six years and see excellent results for families who stay with us for 6 months or more. From their initial entry point for food to their exit we can measure their strengths and challenges. This is a powerful process for the families because they start to see their strengths and they start to believe in themselves and their abilities effecting social change for themselves and their communities.

Camilla Delsid-Wrfel Director, Tehama County 220 Sycamore St., Ste. 101 Red Bluff, CA 96080 96080

http://www.nvcss.org