Family Services Collaborative of St. Louis County

06/05/2026

Stronger Together 🤝

Yesterday, partners from across sectors came together in Duluth for our quarterly Stronger Together networking meeting. These gatherings continue to create space for connection, shared learning, and collaboration across the systems that support children, youth, and families in St. Louis County.

Grateful for the time, ideas, and partnership each person brings to this work. When we come together, we strengthen our collective ability to support our communities.

📸 Thank you to everyone who joined the conversation and contributed to the work.

06/05/2026

06/01/2026

🌟 Community Resource Spotlight: Beacon Clubhouse 🌟

Looking for connection, purpose, and support on your mental health journey?

Beacon Clubhouse is a community for adults living with mental health challenges, offering opportunities to build relationships, develop skills, and participate in meaningful activities alongside peers and staff in a welcoming environment.

💙 Because recovery happens in community.

Learn more:
https://bettertogetherbhn.net/beacon-clubhouse

Follow Beacon Clubhouse on Facebook for updates and information about membership opportunities:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574327348543

05/28/2026

We are excited to visit Cherry School for the first time!
June 2nd 2-4pm
Stop by to connect with the Mobile Family Resource Center
Free items (hygiene products, household supplies, diapers, and food perishable items) + support & resources for families.

05/22/2026

This week, the Family Services Collaborative of St. Louis County was represented at the Minnesota Young American Leaders Program through the University of Minnesota’s Center for Integrative Leadership, in partnership with Harvard Business School.

The program brings together leaders from across Minnesota and across sectors to strengthen collaboration, leadership, and community problem-solving around complex challenges facing our state and regions.

The experience strongly reflected the very foundation of the Collaborative’s work. Improving outcomes for children, youth, and families across St. Louis County requires strong partnerships between schools, county systems, healthcare, nonprofits, community organizations, businesses, and local leaders who are willing to work together across traditional boundaries.

The Collaborative is fortunate to be guided by dedicated board members, partners, and organizations throughout the region who bring their expertise, leadership, and commitment to this work every day. The relationships and collaborative efforts built across sectors are what make meaningful systems change possible, and this experience reinforced the importance of continuing to strengthen those connections.

One of the most inspiring aspects of the program was the humility and authenticity demonstrated by the faculty, facilitators, and participating leaders. The week created space for honest conversations, relationship-building, and learning across perspectives and sectors, while reminding all of us that the strongest leadership is grounded in humanity and collaboration.

We are grateful for the opportunity to bring these lessons, relationships, and renewed energy back to northern Minnesota as we continue working together to break down silos and build stronger supports for children, youth, and families across our communities.

05/10/2026

On Mother’s Day, we’re sharing a powerful “It Stops With Us” story about what it means to be raised by someone who chose to break the cycle.

Today’s Duluth News Tribune Local View is written by Delilah Kindstrand Green of Hibbing, the daughter of Kristy Gregory, who shared her own story of survival and healing earlier this week.

Delilah’s column is a heartfelt tribute to the woman she calls “Mama,” who showed her what steady, unconditional love looks like through presence, consistency, and action over time.

She writes about a lifetime of showing up, for milestones, everyday moments, and especially in the most vulnerable seasons of life. One of the most powerful moments she shares is the night she went into labor during a storm, and her Mama showed up without hesitation, staying by her side and holding her through the experience.

After the baby was born, that same steady presence continued. In the quiet, exhausting days of new motherhood, she kept showing up, helping care for the baby, bringing family together, and offering something so simple and so powerful- reassurance. Telling Delilah she was doing a good job when she most needed to hear it.

Delilah reflects on how that kind of consistent love changes you. It builds safety. It builds confidence. It builds a foundation that shapes how she now moves through motherhood and life.

Her story is a reminder that breaking cycles is not only about survival, it is about what gets passed forward through love that stays, supports, and believes in you.

This is what it looks like when someone’s healing becomes a gift to the next generation.

Thank you, Delilah, for sharing this beautiful tribute and for being part of the “It Stops With Us” series. ❤️

Read the full column here:

From the column: "It was the middle of the worst storm, the kind that keeps most people home. Without hesitation and without question, she ... held me as I brought my daughter into this world."

05/07/2026

Some stories change the way we see people around us. This newest piece in the “It Stops With Us” series is one of those stories.

In this deeply personal commentary, Kristy Gregory shares what it was like to grow up surrounded by addiction, instability, abuse, and fear, and the survival skills she developed as a child just to make it through. She writes about learning “how to disappear” to stay safe, surviving domestic violence as an adult, and ultimately making the intentional choice to break those cycles for her own children and the many children she welcomed into her home as a foster parent.

One of the most powerful reminders in her story is this: trauma does not always look the way people expect it to. Sometimes it looks like anger, silence, withdrawal, hyper independence, or a child labeled “difficult.” Sometimes survival means becoming invisible.

But this story is also about healing. About choosing love without fear. About creating homes, relationships, and communities where children feel safe, seen, and valued.

We are incredibly grateful to Kristy for sharing her truth so openly and courageously as part of the “It Stops With Us” series. Her voice is helping create deeper understanding around trauma, resilience, and the importance of compassion in our communities.

Read the full story here: https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/columns/local-view-i-survived-because-i-learned-how-to-disappear

From the column: "I knew I wanted to be the person I once needed. So, I was a foster mom for 11 amazing years. In opening my home, I opened my heart."