How do you turn 800 people into 150,000 in 7 days?

Winter 2011

As I played with my four grandchildren recently, all of whom were under the age of three, it struck me that they represent the answer to our country's fiscal crisis. Granted, they won't be a "quick fix" but they and their young peers have the potential to reduce our national deficit, increase our international competitive edge and improve the well-being of virtually all Americans!

Since two of the four can't talk and three aren't potty trained, how could I draw this conclusion? No, it wasn't due to sleep deprivation! What I know is that if we invest in our infants, toddlers and preschoolers and support their parents, we can have a stronger work force, more taxpayers, improved health, fewer prisoners and a higher quality of living for us all. The worn out adage that "our children are our future" now takes on new meaning and urgency.

Research conducted by some of our country's top economists, neuroscientists, health providers, business associations and retired military leaders all draw this same conclusion. Our public policies and private investments must respond to this evidence. It is irrefutable.

So, how do we get lawmakers and private donors to invest in programs to support families raising young children? As I said at our recent Dream Builders Luncheon, if each of our 800 guests explained this return on investment to three people, and then those people talked to another three people the next day, and so on, we would reach 150,000 people in a week. Then we would reach the tipping point when our community would embrace and invest in our youngest and most vulnerable assets. There is not a day to delay!

What do tennis & early childhood development have in common?

Fall 2011

I was fortunate to be invited to attend a symposium recently that focused on early childhood brain development and children's well-being. As you can imagine, these two are inexorably intertwined.

A leading national expert in neuroscience research, Dr. Jack Shonkoff from Harvard University, was one of the featured speakers. He explained that experiences of young children, beginning at conception, affect the architecture of the brain.

If a child grows up in a family where there is toxic stress, the child's brain development will be impacted thereby affecting the child's entire life.

Dr. Shonkoff used the game of tennis to provide an analogy for the healthy development of the brain – it relies on "serve and return" relationships. When a baby expresses a need, the child relies on an adult responding. This is how the neural circuits (visual, auditory, language and cognitive) develop through repeated use. If there is no "return" (response), then over time the circuit is "pruned" and lost. To avoid this loss, when a baby calls, someone must answer!

What we all know from our own experiences is that if we are trying to live through an extremely stressful time in our lives, then it compromises our ability to respond to the needs of others. We are just trying to survive and navigate through the overwhelming circumstances facing us. This is the reality that most parents who come to Family Building Blocks are encountering. Due to poverty, domestic violence, homelessness, mental health problems, or other issues, parents are trying to cope with survival issues which leaves them with little capacity for the "serve and return" relationship needed for their babies' healthy brain development.

Family Building Blocks works with parents to mitigate the extreme stress in their lives through home visits, parenting classes, referrals to mental health services, socialization opportunities to decrease their isolation and helping shape their children's behavior in our therapeutic classes. Almost every parent wants to be a GREAT parent and FBB is committed to helping them be just that!

Kindergarten stars, thriving families, healthy communities — These are our goals

Summer 2011

We have expanded our programs to reach more families, serving 650 high-risk children this year. While this increased capacity has stretched our financial resources, we are hopeful that support from the Salem-Keizer community will allow us to meet the growing need.

A recent cost-benefit analysis of FBB's operations concluded that for every private dollar invested, four dollars in public expenditure are saved.

Research consistently shows that helping children get off to a positive start avoids costly remediation in the future related to high school dropouts, juvenile corrections, unemployment, and poor health. What better way to get a 4:1 return on investment? What better way to help babies grow up to reach their potential? What better way to break the tragic intergenerational cycle of child abuse and neglect?

"My dream is that our community reaches the tipping point where we recognize that prioritizing young children is an essential foundation for creating a positive future. Please join us in tipping the scales – everyone will benefit!"

"Public dollars must be invested at the beginning of a child's life to prevent later tragedies"

December 2010

2010 has been an amazing year for Family Building Blocks! We have served 130 more infants, toddlers and preschoolers than in 2009 through therapeutic classrooms, home visits, drug court, Healthy Start, child development services for the school district's Teen Parent Program, Early Head Start and parenting classes. We have received help from 450 volunteers and 220 businesses. At our Dream Builders luncheon, many more people signed up as volunteers and financial contributors.

While there is much to celebrate, we are all painfully aware that there are significant challenges facing us. Many families and friends have lost jobs, resulting in a dramatic increase in the need for services. The state budget crisis is going to affect each of us – changes in education, human services and public safety are inevitable.

At the FBB luncheon, I advocated for a "revolution" to respond to these hardships, focusing on children and families. I proposed that every young child be embraced and made our first priority. We are fortunate that we live in a community where many faith-based ministries, businesses, service clubs and individuals are prioritizing young children. This number needs to grow. Some of us are motivated by the financial reality of paying now to avoid the extraordinary future costs of school dropouts, drug abuse, crime, welfare payments and poor health. Others are driven by compassion for those less fortunate than themselves.

The public sector needs to be aligned with our community commitment. This graph depicts the discrepancy between the time that a child's brain is most susceptible to influence and when public dollars are invested. As you can see, public dollars are being spent too late -- they must be invested at the beginning of a child's life to prevent later tragedies.

Please join us in the revolution today that will establish the foundation for a healthier, stronger future.

"FBB is ready. Our community is ready. And we know that our children can't wait."

September 2010

Over the past 13 years, FBB's Board and staff have made a commitment to respond to community challenges that threaten the wellbeing of families and the healthy development of infants and young children. All of our services have been focused on our mission of "keeping children safe and families together."

Relief Nursery (1997)
Serving high-risk children and families through children's therapeutic classrooms, home visits and parent education. Result: 99% of the children served last year were able to live safely with their parents, thus avoiding abuse, neglect and foster care.

Healthy Start (2000)
Serving high-risk families parenting their first babies.

Fostering Attachment Dependency Treatment Court (2006)
Reuniting parents with their young children who have been placed in foster care.

Early Head Start (2010)
Serving 60 infants and toddlers and their families.

Teen Parent Program (2010)
Providing early childhood classes for the children of students enrolled in the Salem-Keizer Teen Parent Program. (We need volunteers to assist in these children's classes, so please call if you are interested.)

Riverfront Family Fest (2010)
Sharing our early childhood expertise with the broader community.

Young Explorers Preschool (2010)
An early childhood program for children 3-5 years old.

This outline shows that the expansion of FBB programs and services has occurred at a challenging pace. Fortunately, FBB is buoyed by an enormous groundswell of community support. When you see the name of a friend, a neighbor, a business or a foundation in our newsletter, it means that they are helping keep children safe and families together. Please join us in thanking them!

“Instead of trying to beat the odds, let’s change the odds.”

March 2010

The new decade is off to an amazing start at Family Building Blocks – we anticipate serving 100 more infants and toddlers this year thanks to two new grants. With 150 children on our waiting list, half of whom are under the age of three, this expansion is an incredible blessing.

The number of people calling us for help increased by almost 60% in 2009 over the previous year, largely due to the recession. We are all painfully aware, sometimes from personal experience, that family stress skyrockets in difficult economic times. To meet the requirements of these new grants, we must raise additional matching funds and provide more volunteer services. The community’s support will be crucial as we try to serve these new babies and their families.

When I testified at a legislative committee hearing during the recent special session, many questions focused on “How do Relief Nurseries know that what they do works?” Our response is twofold.

First, a short-term outcome is that 99% of the children who received FBB’s intensive prevention services last year were able to continue living safely with their parents; that is, they avoided the trauma and expense of abuse, neglect and foster care.

Secondly, we talked about the longer term implications of giving babies a positive beginning in their lives by supporting their healthy brain development. A physician from Madras reported that professionals can now predict by the time children are in kindergarten which ones will end up in the corrections system. Sadly, this early assessment is related to compromised brain development caused by abuse and neglect when children are less than 3 years old. The impact of this trauma can last a lifetime.

A quote that helps guide my work at FBB relates to this tragic situation impacting these innocent victims: “Instead of trying to beat the odds, let’s change the odds.” That challenge is what FBB addresses every day in working with children and families. We believe that every child deserves to enter kindergarten prepared to succeed, not headed for prison -- this is our vision, this is our charge!

A great year for our families

November 2009

2009 has been a great year for children and families at Family Building Blocks!

• 98% of the children in our intensive services were able to stay safely in their families, avoiding abuse, neglect and foster care.
• 100% of the children in our classrooms are current on immunizations and have a primary care provider.
• Over 100 businesses, churches, community organizations and individuals are providing holiday gifts for 271 of our families.
• 1,200 individuals volunteered over 14,500 hours to support our work with children and families.
• Almost 2,000 donors made in-kind or cash contributions.
• 23 children were taken off our waiting list and enrolled in our Therapeutic Classrooms. Unfortunately, we still have over 150 children on our waiting list for services.

Thanks to each of you for making a difference in the lives of children and families in 2009!

An exciting summer

September 2009

What a great summer – for me personally and for Family Building Blocks! In August, I was able to spend time with my four children, two in-law children and two grandchildren. This is especially remarkable since half of these family members live in Peru and San Francisco! Having time together always reinforces my appreciation of how valuable our families are and how blessed I am!

For Family Building Blocks, it was also an exciting time:

• 24 children “graduated” from FBB ready to learn in Kindergarten and Head Start.
• These graduates opened up 24 slots for children on our waiting list to be enrolled in Therapeutic Classes – serving the 250 families on our waiting is always one of our highest priorities.
• 7 parents are moving forward in their efforts to gain the skills necessary to become self-suffcient with GED certifcates and college degrees.
• 293 of our parents and children spent an evening having fun and learning together at AC Gilbert’s Discovery Village.

• All of our families were able to stay together, avoiding the tragedy of child abuse and neglect and foster care.

At the same time,it was a challenging summer for many. We received more phone calls from families needing help than in any previous 3-month period. The excruciatingly hot days challenged families living in small apartments with little ventilation or relief from the heat. Thanks to staff, volunteers and mentors, we responded with food, clothing, fans, and increased home visits whenever possible.

We know that there will be many calls for help this fall and we will respond to the extent possible. We are grateful to all of our supporters for helping make a difference in so many lives through your time and your fnancial donations. We urge you to join us in continuing these critical efforts.

Our Amazing Donors

August 2009

In the past several weeks we have been blessed several times over by our wonderful donors. A couple of examples:

This week, Keith and Sandra Martin purchased enough food to supply a week of breakfast meals for six families. The Martins also donated children’s clothing, a stroller and a car seat. Two weeks ago the Martins donated a week of dinner meals for six families.

Another donor searched the city for three box fans during the recent heat wave to help a FBB family cool their living space. This donor also supplied the family of six children with shoes appropriately sized for each child along with two car seats for the family’s youngest children.

These are just two examples of how caring community members help leverage our resources to serve families in need.

It's the solid foundation of community support that keeps us going

Summer 2009

I spent four days last week at a family reunion in Peoria, Illinois. It was spectacular in many ways, including a day of Midwestern thunderstorms with lightning and thunder rolling through for 24 hours.

As I watched “the Millenials” (my granddaughter, great nieces and great nephews) run around, I reflected on the contrast between their lives and those of the children at Family Building Blocks. The children at our reunion have just about everything “going for them” – loving families, access to health care, educational goals, food on the table, stable housing, nurturing friends, strong support networks, self-esteem, and resiliency.

These assets are what we are working to establish for FBB children. We are working with challenged parents to break the intergenerational cycle of child abuse and neglect which most of them have experienced.

As you can imagine, in these challenging economic times we are receiving more calls for help from stuggling families than ever before. But at the same time some of our funding is shrinking, including the loss of $100,000 in federal funding.

The encouragement that keeps us going during these uncertain times is the solid foundation of private funding that we receive from the community. We are indebted to our volunteers and donors for your commitment to keeping children safe and families together. What a positive investment in our collective future!

Sue Miller, FBB Executive Director

Responding to the economic downturn: Donors are key to keeping children safe

Spring 2009

In response to the economic downturn, our Board of Directors recently adopted the following “Principles Guiding Expense Reductions for 2009:”

1. Minimize impact on services to children and families.
2. To the extent possible, avoid reductions that impact staff positions. (This goal is directly related to the first priority.)
3. Work to sustain private and public funding.
4. Create community partnerships that result in provision of services to children and families at reduced cost.
5. Evaluate ongoing operational expenses for cost saving opportunities.

There are obviously two sides to the budget equation – expense and revenue.Since 85% of our expenses are related to personnel, we cannot achieve significant savings without affecting staff so for 2008-09:

• Wages will be frozen.
• There will be no employer contribution to the retirement plan.
• There will be one furlough day each month for all full-time employees to be scheduled on a day that there are no classes for children or parents.

The other side of the equation – revenue – is, of course, a critical part of our strategy. We are advocating at the State Legislature for continued funding of Relief Nurseries, recognizing that it will undoubtedly be at a reduced level. We are waiting to hear if there will be money in the federal stimulus package that might support our child abuse prevention work.

However, we fully recognize that the pivotal factors in determining how well our children and families will weather this storm are our individual supporters. Our private donors have guided us through economic downturns in the past and we are hopeful that you will be there for us again. Every donation makes a difference.

In rereading Jim Collins’ book Good to Great while flying to Peoria to visit my mother this winter, I was struck by this admonishment:“Retain absolute faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

While we are painfully aware of the economic crisis in our country, we are resolute that when our community emerges from it, we will still be strong. We have no choice – our children are depending upon us.

The Good, the Bad & the Tragic

Winter 2008

The GOOD – Actually, it’s GREAT! Our community is fervently committed to keeping children safe and families together. Private support for Family Building Blocks’children’s therapeutic classrooms, family home visits and parent training is alive and well. Thank you!

The BAD – I represent the ten Relief Nurseries in Oregon on the Budget Work Group that advises the Oregon Commission on Children and Families. We met on November 14th to discuss future state funding for programs that support high-risk families. We were told that we should begin planning on state revenues being reduced by $11,000 for the remainder of this fiscal year (from now through June 30, 2009) and being reduced up to 20%, or $110,000, for the 2009-11 biennium.

The TRAGIC – The timing of reduced state funding is tragic because it coincides with a dramatic increase in the need for our services. We have had more families call and come to FBB needing help in the past 2 months than in the previous 6 months! In very difficult economic times, drug abuse, domestic violence and child abuse always jump dramatically. We will do our best to respond to these needs, to prevent children from falling into the raging river of neglect and abuse.

Thank you for partnering with us in this effort to prevent tragic things from happening to innocent children.

A surprise visit from on "old" friend

Fall 2008