Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Spring is in the Air & "Strategies" is Helping Us Grow!

As spring draws near and flowers begin to bloom, there is no other time more appropriate to showcase a program of Interface Children & Family Services that helps strengthens organizations so they can support families and communities; it’s called Strategies Training & Technical Assistance.  Our Strategies team fulfills Interface’s mission of strengthening children, families, and communities to be safe, healthy, & thriving.  

Strategies is a nationally recognized, statewide alliance of professional trainers, organizational development coaches and facilitators united by a set of core values and strategic approaches.  They provide training, coaching, facilitation, curriculum development, and the practical application of research and best practices to programs, organizations, and networks that strengthen families and communities across our state. 

So you ask, "How is Strategies part of Interface Children & Family Services?" 

Strategies has three California offices in Butte, Orange, and of course, our own here in Camarillo.  While working closely as a statewide team, each one of Strategies' offices is also part of a separate nonprofit agency which, amongst other family strengthening programs, features one or more family resource centers.  This ensures that the solutions Strategies offers are not just academic; we are using them every day with tangible results.  For Ventura County, Strategies is embedded in the family work of Interface Children & Family Services, featuring our Santa Paula Family Resource Center, our Oxnard Family Resource Center, and more centers that are in the works! 

How does Interface’s Strategies team strengthen families?" 
 A few examples of the broad scope of work our Strategies team engages in are:
·         Offering highly interactive Cultural Competency training for family resource center workers in the Central Valley.
·         Leading a statewide dissemination of a research-proven program that better engages fathers in the lives of children at risk.
·         Coordinating service providers across the San Francisco Bay Area to strengthen families more effectively and comprehensively.

As you can see Interface’s Strategies team has a huge impact across the state.  Back here at home, our Strategies team are inspiring Interface’s programs to be amongst the most forward thinking and most effective in California!