2008 Annual Report - Families First Parenting Programs

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1988 Families First begins offering workshops at the Boston Children’s Museum. 1988 - 1991 Families First continues to revise our workshop model, develops new parenting education curricula, hires additional Parenting Educators, and develops outreach strategies for serving parents in other neighborhoods throughout Greater Boston. In 1988 a group of parenting educators from Wheelock College came to us at the Boston Children’s Museum and said… “Here is what we know: good parenting is anything but child’s play... parents need help.” We agreed and were delighted to get the conversation going, right from the start! Jeri robinson, Boston Children’s museum 1991 Workshops in transitional housing settings begin. 1992 Families First outgrows the Boston Children’s Museum and relocates to Central Square, Cambridge, MA. 1993 Writes and submits first grant proposal. 1994 Offers 16 workshops in Spanish; holds first fundraising event, Comedy Night; creates a formal Advisory Board. Our unique approach 1996 Families First collaborates with Chinatown Coalition to provide parenting workshops in Chinese. Kids don’t come with instruction manuals. unfortunately, in today’s world, we rarely get the information, skills, or networks of support needed to provide the healthiest, most nurturing environments for our children. Instead, parents often feel like they are “going it alone.” Without easy access to extended family or other resources that used to exist in communities, parents can feel isolated, frustrated, and confused about the best things to do or say to help their children. add the common challenges of working multiple jobs, divorce, single parenting, or even poverty, homelessness, and teen parenting, and you have a sure recipe for family tension. Clearly, parents need more help than ever. Whether or not they get this help can mean the difference between a healthy family and a family in crisis. Families First recognizes that there is no one right way to parent and that not all techniques work for all parents. there are, however, more effective ways to parent, and our goal is to provide parents with a range of tools and strategies that they can have at their disposal.
1998 Families First becomes independent of Wheelock College and gains 501(c)(3) status. 1998 - 2001 Families First builds strong Board of Directors and Management; conducts a Multicultural Training project and offers programs in multiple languages; carries out a Major Gift/Capital Campaign that raises $1.5 million for our endowment and the Fund for Growth. 2002 Families First begins offering training for professionals. 2003 Families First transitions organizational leadership from our Founding Director to our current President and CEO, Crista Martinez Padua. 2008 Accomplishments 2005 Families First translates our core curricula into Spanish to ensure cultural competency and develops a “parenting kit” for program participants in transitional housing settings. 2006 Hosts our first “Family Album Gala” fundraiser. 2007 Families First organizes a Parenting Education Summit with Wheelock College. Adopts a new logo and colors to reflect our growth over the past two decades. Served nearly 4,500 parents and professionals who work with families throughout Massachusetts. offered more than 600 workshops – 70% more workshops than we offered only one year prior. Broadened the scope of our programs by working at new sites in communities such as new Bedford, Fall river, Fitchburg, and Marblehead. 2008 Families First celebrates our 20th Anniversary! Became a partner organization of Boston Mayor thomas Menino’s initiative, Countdown to Kindergarten. Served 300 parents through foster care parent and incarcerated parent workshops at Dare Family Services, Children’s Services of roxbury, Boston’s Hope: Home for little Wanderers, and Girl Scouts Beyond Bars at MCI-Framingham. our executive Director, Crista Martinez padua, was appointed by Governor Deval patrick and Mayor thomas Menino to several city and state task forces devoted to school readiness. produced a White paper entitled “envisioning, energizing, and empowering relationships – Findings from the parenting education Summit” to share the recommendations produced at the 2007 parenting education Summit organized by Families First. 3
Page 1 and 2: families first annual update 2008 a
Page 3: Dear Friends of Families First, Hap
Page 7 and 8: Children’s Services of Roxbury Fo
Page 9 and 10: Norwood Community Partnerships for
Page 11 and 12: A. Neil Pappalardo Chairman & CEO M
Page 13 and 14: Families First 2008 Family of Suppo
Page 15 and 16: Alan and Pat Kessler Kip Kimble Kur
Page 17 and 18: Susan and Daniel Rothenberg Lawrenc
Page 19 and 20: 7th annual Fathers’ Breakfast our

2008 Annual Report - Families First Parenting Programs

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