We are in the process of developing a new strategic plan for the Strengthening Families initiative. (Read more about the history of the Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework and its implementation around the country in a blog post from January, or check out all the materials in the Strengthening Families section of our website.)
This strategic plan is envisioned to capture many ways that CSSP and national, state, and local partners will work in the next 5 years toward the shared goal of ensuring that more families have opportunities to build their protective factors. We hope that all partners will see a role for themselves in implementing one or more of the actions included in the plan, and that by co-creating and sharing the plan broadly, we will find opportunities for partnership and collaboration to advance common goals.
In February, a group of about 25 “Strengthening Families Champions” met in Washington, DC, to generate ideas for the future of Strengthening Families. And just last week, over 100 people participated in a webinar to review and give feedback on the strategic plan as it is beginning to take shape. (View a recording of the webinar if you missed it.) The feedback on the webinar was very positive, both for the general idea of co-creating a new strategic plan and for the content in the draft so far. As always, it is so heartening to see and hear the enthusiasm for Strengthening Families implementation across the country!
Over the next month, we will be gathering feedback via an online survey where you can indicate which of the proposed action areas should be prioritized, which ones inspire you to get involved, and which ones should be revised in some way—as well as suggesting additional action areas. If you are using the protective factors framework in your work and have ideas about new audiences we should reach, new supports we should provide for folks implementing it, or anything else—this is your chance to tell us about it and to get involved in making that vision a reality. Please complete the survey and share it with others who are invested in Strengthening Families. And, stay tuned for further opportunities to discuss and weigh in on the strategic plan, and then to start implementing it, by subscribing to the Strengthening Families eUpdate newsletter.
Cailin O’Connor is a Senior Associate at CSSP.