Fact Sheet: Family PLUS Strategy

Goal: To enable Clubs to better form collaborations with families/caregivers as partners in the development of children.

Why: Families are the first source of information and often determine how children experience life.

Who: Parents/caregivers of youth participating in Boys & Girls Clubs.

What: Funded by the Kimberly Clark Corporation, the new Family PLUS (Parents Leading Uniting Serving) strategy is being built on the decade-long experience of BGCA and Clubs working in this area. The strategy is designed to help Clubs build the capacity to form lasting collaborations with community agencies and other entities to strengthen the family unit. When this is accomplished, Clubs can ensure that families in need have the opportunities, networks and assistance to realize their children’s aspirations. Activities in Family PLUS include life skills training, enhancement of personal development skills, parent information classes and referral services, and crisis intervention/family counseling.

There are five components of the Family Support strategy:

• Social Networks and Family Cohesion – Social networks help families connect with formal and informal resources that provide support and information to prevent community isolation.
• Kinship Care – Kinship care includes providing knowledge and resources to extended family members (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) who have taken on the primary caregiver role.
• Father Involvement – Clubs provide support and promotion through programs, activities, training, and services to help increase the positive involvement of fathers in the lives of their children.
• Economic Opportunity – This component focuses on empowering families to build their employability skills for finding and keeping jobs with increased earnings.
• Outreach/Recruitment/Retention – This component will build the capacity of Clubs to effectively recruit and retain the involvement of a diverse group of parents and caregivers as partners in the development of their children.

Family Support National Advisory Committee