Inspired by Bernice Weissbourd’s founding vision, we build on every family’s inherent strengths and values to support them in achieving their goals. Our mission is to promote the well-being of children from birth by supporting and strengthening their families in and with their communities. We’re in eight communities through the Chicagoland area and reach over 20,000 people every year with parent support, early childhood, youth development, after-school, and family advocacy programs. We serve an additional 17,000 people through referral and crisis intervention. For 35 years, Family Focus has led the Family Support Movement, first in innovation, and now in excellence in practice. Everything we do-every program, every service, every interaction with a parent or child- is grounded in the following 8 principles, which promote respect for individuals families and cultures and a commitment to working with- not for- families to achieve their goals.
1. We partner with families through relationships based on equality and respect.
2. We enhance each family's capacity to support the growth and development of all their family members.
3. We believe that families are resources for their own members, for other families, for programs and for communities.
4. We affirm and strengthen each family's cultural, racial and linguistic identities and enhance each family's ability to function in a multicultural society.
5. We are embedded in communities and contribute to the community-building process.
6. We advocate with families for services and systems that are fair, responsive and accountable to the families we serve.
7. We work with families to mobilize formal and informal resources to support family development.
8. We are flexible and continually responsive to emerging family and community issues.
