INSPIRE YOUTH...STRENGTHEN FAMILIES...BUILD COMMUNITY
The Columbia Heights Shaw Family Support Collaborative (CH/SFSC), is an intermediary community-based membership organization dedicated to family stabilization and the promotion of safe communities where children and youth can thrive. Guided by ten years of accumulated experience in D.C. we organize and lead integrated multi-agency, multi-level strategies to address the needs of at-risk youth and their families.
Fundamentally, CHSFSC, holds that a) family de-stabilization and youth violence are preventable; b) they are not isolated phenomena; c) we must work in concert with service providers and government agencies and officials at all levels, building from the strengths of our youth, our families, and our communities; and, d) we must focus on and advocate for solutions, not dwell on analysis of the problems.
We believe, and have tested and proven, that any individual or family can thrive provided that the right conditions and resources are available to them on a consistent basis during their most critical periods. We have learned time and again from our work that families not only hold the key to their future, but that when provided the space and appropriate support, they possess the resilience and courage necessary to learn new skills and begin to turn that key; that they can learn to approach their problems building from their strengths and applying critical thinking, and to resolve the challenges they face as they structure a plan and learn to rely on the existing supports to which they have access in their communities.
In D.C., in our communities, schools, churches, and public institutions, we have the necessary wealth of experience, skills and strengths that our youth need. We must join together and weave a rainbow safety net that can consistently hold our youth and their families. All our experience at CH/SFSC --in Columbia Heights, Mt. Pleasant, Adams Morgan, and Shaw-- reaffirms that with these components in place, at their back, our youth will have the strength, vision, and resilience to begin a solid transition to independence and adulthood
Click here to learn more about this year's Annual Training Conference:
"Taking Our Work to the Next Level"
Registration will be open from May 26 to June 22, 2009.