STATEWIDE PARENT ADVOCACY NETWORK INCORPORATED

SPAN is committed to strengthening the voice and impact of families and family-led organizations to improve services to and outcomes for infants, toddlers, children, youth and young adults and their families, especially those who face the greatest challenges and disparities across systems (early childhood, education, health and mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice, etc.) We also work to improve the capacity of professionals to partner with and support diverse families in these systems. Our goal is to empower families and inform and involve professionals and others interested in the healthy development and education of children so that all children will become fully participating and contributing members of our communities and society. Our strategic vision is that SPAN will have the resources – professionally, organizationally and financially – to be recognized as a leading voice and resource for the growing parent advocacy movement.

SPAN's activities toward achieving our goal include providing information, training, technical assistance, parent-to-parent/family-to-family support, leadership development, and advocacy to families of children birth to 26 with and without special needs, and to women of childbearing age to promote positive health, improve birth outcomes, and prevent birth defects and developmental disabilities. Parent leadership development is an essential component of all SPAN projects. All families may access information and support through telephone/email assistance, parent-to-parent support, in-person or archived web-based workshops, and our website. Families with more intensive needs receive support from our Family Resource Specialists. In addition, through our national and regional projects, SPAN enhances the capacity of family organizations including Parent Centers and Family to Family Health Information Centers to positively impact children, youth and families at the individual, program, and systems level.

SPAN has a staff of 65 trained parents of children with and without special needs that represents New Jersey’s diversity: our staff is over 60% of color and speaks 8 languages. Our Board is a majority parents and represents experts in the field of health, education and adult education, advocacy, and the business community. Our Executive Directors has decades of experience in non-profit management and advocacy across systems. Our project directors and line staff have expertise in early childhood, education, transition to adult life, health, mental health, school health, child welfare, military family support, juvenile justice, human services, disability rights and services, family leadership development, family and professional development, individual assistance, and family organization capacity-building. We have strong and longstanding partnerships with government agencies and other organizations at the national, state, and local level. We are mission and values-driven.

SPAN has staff in every county in New Jersey, and is recognized nationally for our expertise in education, health and mental health, cultural competence, and parent engagement and leadership. Our trainings and individual assistance are rated as high quality, relevant and useful by over 95% of participants. SPAN participates on a myriad of national, state and local task forces. We have made a real difference in policy around issues such as state special education regulations, Family Leave Insurance, paid sick leave, our statewide children's system of care, and family support. Our impact has been recognized by awards from the NJ Department of Health for Reducing Health Disparities and Leadership in Maternal and Child Health, the Genetic Alliance with their Art of Novel Partnership Award, and multiple awards for SPAN staff and Resource Parent volunteers including most recently the 2022 Keys to Access Award from CADRE, the national technical assistance center for dispute resolution in early intervention and special education, and the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Advocacy Award from the NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities, for our Executive Director. Our national and regional support to family organizations is also highly rated by those organizations as well as our funders.