Tools: Sustainability

"The whole gist of RFRN is to preserve the programs so that the families will not be adversely affected by funding cuts. This way, we share the resources and the burdens."

Creating a neighborhood organization is one thing, sustaining it is another. The Rochester Family Resource Network (RFRN) created an organization to support neighborhoods taking care of themselves.

RFRN is an umbrella organization that encourages the development of family resource and support programs in the greater Rochester area. It also encourages research on family resource issues and educates policy makers and the general public about the aims and accomplishments of family resource programs. Family resource and support programs serve parents, children, and families in neighborhood settings.

Four centers participated in the network: Calvary/St. Andrew's, The Family Place, Family Resource Center on Webster Avenue, and the Southwest Resource Family Resource Program. The programs share several important characteristics including: maintaining a focus on prevention, interacting with parents as partners and facilitators rather than as "clients," building on family strengths, respecting the integrity of the family unit, responding to the neighborhood diversity, and establishing linkages with other community support systems.

RFRN is committed to providing the participating programs with stable funding from both the public and private sectors. Acknowledging that community programs increasingly compete for dwindling resources, RFRN devised a strategic plan that includes ongoing fund raising for the centers. This collaborative fund raising has enhanced the abilities of the four family resource centers to sustain relationships with their neighborhoods. The following stories show how RFRN reached out to the communities and how residents are helping to sustain it.

"Public and private funders in our community have responded positively to our collaborative efforts. We have been able to significantly increase our base of stable renewable funding which has enabled our centers to grow, offering new programs and attracting new participants."

Director