Family Resource Centers- Resources

• Program Implementation Continuum for Family Resource Centers
  • The Program Implementation Continuum illustrates how a Program works with the Standards over time in an ongoing multistep process.  Family Strengthening and Support Programs can use the Standards as a blueprint for implementing best practices, whether they are setting up a new Program or strengthening an existing one. Programs can use the Standards for self-assessment and to demonstrate the quality of their work with families. 
• Standards of Quality – register to download
  1. The nationally-adopted Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support are designed to be used by all stakeholders – public departments, foundations, networks, community based organizations, and families – as a tool for planning, providing, and assessing quality practice.  The Standards have created a common language across different kinds of Family Strengthening and Family Support programs such as Family Resource Centers, home visiting programs, and child development programs. 

The Standards uniquely integrate and operationalize the Principles of Family Support Practice and the Strengthening Families Framework and Approach with its research-based evidence-informed 5 Protective Factors.  The vision is that their implementation will help ensure that families are supported and strengthened through quality practice.

• Federal funding for Community School Resource Centers
  1. Community schools are designed to be responsive to the needs of their local communities, including the array of services and supports provided. While no two community schools are identical, they share several common practices. These include empowering student and family engagement; collaborative leadership and shared power; expanded, enriched learning opportunities; rigorous, community-connected classroom instruction; a culture of belonging, safety, and care; and integrated systems of support.

Community schools are a core component of an equity strategy. The community schools theory of action is grounded in research and deep field experience showing that children—regardless of their race, ethnicity, zip code, or circumstance—thrive in “whole child” environments in which their physical, cognitive, academic, and social and emotional development needs are met.

• State funding for Community School Resource Centers
  1. The community schools strategy transforms a school into a place where educators, local community members, families, and students work together to strengthen conditions for student learning and healthy development. As partners, they organize in- and out-of-school resources, supports, and opportunities so that young people thrive. A growing number of states are investing in community schools as a strategy to address long-standing social inequities that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Community Schools Costing Tool
  1. The Community Schools Costing Tool and accompanying User Guide are resources designed to provide a means of estimating the cost of transforming a traditional school into a community school. These costs are varied and may require changing practices and culture, hiring new staff members, purchasing and leveraging new resources, repurposing existing resources, and other actions. The tool is designed to help users think about these resources within the context of a comprehensive community schools framework and assist with planning.