Executive Summary

Families Forward Learning Center serves economically-disadvantaged children ages 0-5 along with their parents. Most identify as Latino and many are immigrants. Our program wraps children and families in a comprehensive system of support via three components: Early Childhood Education (ECE); Two-Generation Learning (parent education); and Family Mental Health & Wellbeing (peer support, case management, mental healthcare).

We nurture strong relationships, self-confidence and sense of agency among our families, encouraging them to share their perspectives and feedback. We also prioritize the recruitment of staff and board members that live locally and share similar life experiences to those of our children and families. Currently, nine of our staff are current or former clients and we are part of an initiative to develop a pipeline to train parents for careers in early childhood education.

Our Two-Generation approach is rooted in three core beliefs: children’s rapid socioemotional development from 0-5 forms the foundation for lifelong health and learning; that parents are children’s first and most influential teachers; and that a healthy family promotes the wellbeing of all of its members. We educate and empower children and parents simultaneously, combining high quality early childhood education with a comprehensive framework of support services including case management and mental healthcare.

As a result of our program, parents are better able to support their children’s socioemotional development and education, and children enter kindergarten with the skills they need to succeed.

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