2000 - 2001 GRANT RECIPIENTS

Ballard Family Center—Seattle, WA $10,000
Grant from Children's Trust, the Ballard Family Center will expand its family support programs to include a support group for grandparents raising their grandchildren, a Parenting Circle for parents of all ages, and a Spanish language parenting class.

Centralia Family Support Center—Centralia, WA $13,776
Grant for the one-year-old Centralia Family Support Center to launch its new Family to Family project, including five components: Strengthening Families Program for parents and youth (including youth 10-14 years of age); a program designed to help parents raise readers; a series of three parent-child activity workshops; a series of workshops on communication between parents and children; and a program that helps families document and share their family histories, including what has given them strength, how they found support, and what the community can do to support families.

Parents Place—Longview, WA $6,000
Parents Place, a family support center in Longview, is working to protect children from the effects of high divorce rates and the challenges of single parenting. With this grant from CTF, Parents Place will offer the Cooperative Parenting Program, which provides concurrent groups for parents and children to deal with the aftermath of divorce and the challenges of parents living in separate households. Parents will learn communication and conflict-resolution skills, fostering sensitivity to the child's needs. The children's program provides a safe forum for children to discuss and accept their feelings, a safe place to play, and teaches children problem-solving and communication skills.

Nooksack Valley Family Center for Children
and Families—Nooksack Valley, WA $10,000
In 1999, CTF helped fund a successful literacy program in the Nooksack Valley, benefiting more than 300 families. This year, with a $10,000 grant from CTF, the Center will expand the Raising a Reader approach into the English as a Second Language (ESL) parent class, integrating bilingual parent-child literacy activities. The CTF Endowment grant will fund a bilingual early childhood specialist, reaching a minimum of 75 ESL families, while giving away over 1,000 books in English and Spanish for home libraries. Vicki Hubner, the Center’s Director said of the grant: "Children's Trust Foundation is helping us to continue developing programs that not only strengthen the options for parents in our center … but also strengthen the relationships children and parents have at home! This award adds a family literacy component to our center ESL class, increasing the confidence of parents sharing books with their children in English as well as in their own language!"

Federal Way Family Centers—King County, WA $11,512
South King County youth and families will have more access to support through this grant from CTF. Federal Way’s four Family Centers will offer four new programs designed to reduce the impacts of cultural isolation. Programs to be expanded and enhanced include: a parent-to-parent support group; a parent-child cooking and crafts program; and a teen/parent challenge program.

FamilyWorks—Seattle, WA $8,450
FamilyWorks, in Seattle’s Wallingford area, will receive a grant of $8,450 to fund four six-week parenting classes and drop-in playtimes, as well as 50 weeks of parent-child playgroups. This project builds the Center's capacity to strengthen family bonds and communication. FamilyWork's ongoing parenting programs help parents gain parenting skills, understand the developmental needs of their children, guide their children in making healthy choices and communicate effectively with their children. Jake Weber, FamilyWorks Director said, “We appreciate Children’s Trust Foundation, and their dedicated funding of family support. Several years ago they helped FamilyWorks get started through a seed grant, and this year will fund our parenting classes and drop-in groups as we’ve grown to be an important resource for families in our community. Thank you, CTF!”

First Step Family Support Center—Port Angeles, WA $5,000
In 1999, the First Step Family Support Center served over 900 families in Clallam County through a variety of programs to reduce child abuse and neglect. This year, a $5,000 CTF grant will enable the center to continue its popular “Family Night Out” program. At monthly Family Night Out events, families build a sense of community and competence while sharing a nutritious dinner. Fun, collaborative activities engage parents and children together, and parenting tips that match the activities are woven throughout. Nita Quan, First Step Executive Director, spoke of the importance of events like this to “engage the whole family together. Most of our families are very low income”, she added. “This will make it possible at least once a month for families to have fun together.” Quan pointed out that funding for programs like these is hard to come by. Many funders are willing to support “treatment” approaches to “make families get well.” Far fewer are willing to fund activities that are simply “supportive to families.”

McKinley Family Support Center—Tacoma, WA $10,975
The McKinley Family Support Center, located in Tacoma’s East Side, is focusing on improving parent-child relationships and strengthening community support systems for parents. A grant of $10,975 will fund a four-phase program entitled Strengthening Neighborhood Involved Parents. The 22-week program will be offered in English and Spanish, reaching approximately 50 parents and 80 children. Parents will share a communal dinner served by community leaders and elected officials, their children will simultaneously attend a supervised activity, focusing on teamwork and trust building.

Olympia Family Support Center—Olympia, WA $6,000
The Family Support Center of Olympia has a twelve-year history of providing family support services to the communities of the South Puget Sound area. The Parents Helping Parents program was created to help families work through problems before they reach crisis proportions. A grant from CTF will fund children's activity supplies, marketing, and children's staff for this program. The program decreases family isolation, while increasing protective factors such as family management skills. While the parents are meeting, their children are engaged in specialized programs to promote their healthy growth and development.

Southwest Family Center—Seattle, WA $13,036
The Southwest Family Center has received requests for support from two particular groups in need: single parents and grandparents and other kin raising the children of their children or other relatives. A grant of $13,036 will enable the center to offer a single parent support group and a grandparents and kin raising kids group. The goal of each group will be to improve parent-child or guardian-child relationships by increasing family social support, increasing access to parenting and child development information, and increasing parental confidence.

White River Family Center—Buckley, WA $5,189
The White River Family Center programs are designed to decrease family isolation and increase parenting skills, in the effort to reduce child abuse and neglect in the Buckley community. With a grant of $5,189 from Children’s Trust, the Center will offer The Nurturing Program, which strengthens families by focusing on positive behavior management techniques, stress and anger management, the power of praise, positive communication and child development. The program offers a parallel curriculum for children ages 4-7 years and 8-12 years, to help families integrate new skills at home.