Family Center Inc. (d.b.a. Parenting Journey)

Parenting Journey's long-term goal is to become a national leader in the design and delivery of innovative parent development programs. At Parenting Journey, we believe that a person's attunement and adjustment to the world begin to develop in infancy, based on the environment in which the child is raised. Parenting Journey programs are predicated on a theory of change that posits that improved parental capabilities lead to improved parenting, which results in improved child outcomes. Parenting Journey's theory of change is based on a well-defined and detailed logic model that supports our belief that improved parental capabilities result in long-term improvements to one's parenting attunement and, as a result, an environment where children have an increased opportunity to thrive. Otherwise stated, incremental improvements add up and produce significantly better lives. Our success in New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and Washington D.C. has proven that the program positively impacts a diverse, multi-cultural population, and demand for the Parenting Journey program and facilitator training opportunities is such that replication efforts are increasing each year. Parenting Journey's intended impact for the current fiscal year, all of which directly support our long-term goal, are:In Fiscal Year 2017, Parenting Journey will offer 23 groups utilizing the evidence-informed Parenting Journey curricula. A minimum of 306 parents will be impacted by these programs, resulting in measurable improvements in parent/child relationships and a stronger family foundation on which to build.In FY2017, Parenting Journey will offer 29 Facilitator Trainings in NY, MA, FL, and Washington, D.C., with 342 individuals receiving facilitator certification. Graduates of Facilitator Training will return to their agencies to implement the Parenting Journey program within their own community.Utilizing the Parenting Journey Scale—which examines seven domains which have been shown to contribute to positive parenting practices—achieve statistically significant improvements in those who have completed Parenting Journey programs.

Programs for Parents: Parenting Journey programs, offered in Haitian Creole, Spanish, Portuguese and English, provide opportunities for mothers, fathers, and caregivers to develop themselves as nurtured and nurturing people, laying the groundwork for a strong family foundation on which to build. Parenting Journey provides direct services to over 650 individuals each year. National expansion of the program at partner agency sites supports the growth and development of the thousands of parents, children, and families in geographic locations that the Parenting Journey cannot reach directly. Facilitator Training: In the coming year, Parenting Journey will train 148 professionals through its Facilitator Training program. While many participants represent growth of current agency partnerships, many will come from organizations Parenting Journey has not before collaborated with, allowing Parenting Journey to reach and positively impact new audiences. Upon completion of the Facilitator Training, graduates will return to their organizations and begin conducting the program with the parents they support, thereby helping low-income, at-risk parents become more hopeful and optimistic about their future, more understanding about what it means to be a good parent, and more confident in their parenting styles by building on their strengths, all as part of building stronger, healthier families. These 148 graduates represent an opportunity to impact 2,960 at-risk parents and their 7,400 vulnerable children across New York's five boroughs.

Parenting Journey has thirty three years of experience in executing transformative parenting interventions with at-risk, low-income and/or immigrant parents from Greater Boston. These interventions have had a long lasting impact on over 131,000 children to date. Agency Leadership: Parenting Journey is led by Executive Director, Maury Peterson, MSW. brings more than 20 years of nonprofit, foundation, and corporate experience to overseeing Parenting Journey. In this role, she oversees the $2 million organization and drives its programmatic and research strategy as well as spearheads its local, state and national replication initiatives. Board of Directors: Parenting Journey has a highly engaged 11-member board that governs Parenting Journey's finances, engage in fundraising activities, and determines the organization's vision and overall direction. Board members are leaders in their respective fields which include the following: medicine, corporate philanthropy, higher education, and marketing and business development. Strong Partnerships: Parenting Journey believes in a collaborative approach and relies on a vast network of community partner organizations. They refer at-risk parents to Parenting Journey, expanding its reach. Community partners include Head Start, LIFT, and Cambridge Health Alliance. The longest standing partnership is with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF), which Parenting Journey has worked with the since 1986. The organization works with DCF mandated families to foster resilience by focusing on identifying parents' strengths that can help them problem-solve, set goals, and more confidently raise their children in a healthy, positive environment.

Since 1982, Parenting Journey's powerful programs have helped parents build safer, stronger families. To date thousands of parents have participated in the Parenting Journey program—more than 52,000 since 2007. Nearly 1,900 professionals have graduated from the Facilitator Training program, and Parenting Journey programs have been replicated in nearly 500 locations across the U.S. and can be found in communities across MA, NY, DC, FL…and more! However, despite our successes thus far, there is still much more that Parenting Journey can accomplish in our effort to build stronger, more resilient families. There is a significant opportunity to leverage our local success into many new markets, helping many more parents. With an eye on replication in targeted markets, Parenting Journey will assist an additional 60,000 parents by the end of the five-year replication period in 2020.