National Support
The national Thriving Families, Safer Children partnership provides several types of support to the TFSC sites.
Learning Sessions
Monthly expert-led webinars covering topics such as race equity strategy, effective communications, engaging young people, Family Resource Centers, and more.
Action Network
Facilitated cohort for site teams committed to ongoing learning and action with a particular focus.
Lived Experience Roundtables
Forum for networking and skill-building among lived experience leaders from all sites.
Network Building
Opportunities for knowledge sharing and creating communities of practice among local grantees and site teams.
Technical Assistance
Targeted support provided by national partner organizations upon request from a site team.
In-Person Working Session
For the first time in its three-year history, Thriving Families, Safer Children convened an in-person working session in Tempe, AZ on October 25-26, 2023. The 1.5 day event was designed to foster connections between site teams through learning exchange, problem solving, and challenging conversations; increase clarity around TFSC guiding principles and strategies; and galvanize next steps to advance the work.
The nearly 200 attendees included diverse teams from 17 of the 22 TFSC sites, as well as national representatives from the Lived Experience Workgroup, Operations Committee, and Executive Team. With financial support from the TFSC national partner organizations, we were able to fully fund the event and provide an honorarium for 60 lived expert attendees (including 15 young leaders). Additional support for LEx included prep calls to prepare for the event and a designated LEx lounge space on site.
65 attendees completed a follow up survey about the event, in which 100% said they would recommend this kind of convening for TFSC teams in the future.
Highlights of the working session agenda:
- Each site team and the national partners prepared a poster that formed the backdrop for a Gallery Walk, in which participants learned about work underway in other TFSC sites and began to make connections for ongoing collaboration.
- Select participants helped to facilitate interactive workshop sessions on topics including Family Resource Centers, engaging young people, teaming with lived experts, using data effectively, policy and legislation, centering the work in community, and more.
- The entire second day was structured as an “unconference” in which participants were invited to propose and host conversations on topics of their choice. Participants were quick to step up and the hours flew by with nearly 30 conversations held.
National Governance
The Thriving Families, Safer Children national partnership is governed by an Operations Committee and Executive Team, with support from workgroups including Design, Lived Experience, Data/Research/Evaluation, and others as needed. These groups are composed of national lived expert leaders and representatives from the national partner organizations, as well as relevant subject matter experts.
