Welcome to the July issue of the Family First in New York State newsletter! In this issue, we announce the second part of our budgeting workshop and share recent Family First news and racial equity resources.
Upcoming Virtual Workshop:
Protecting Your Child Welfare Budget During Covid-19 Reductions, Part Two
While Part One focused on defending your budget against cuts, Part Two will help participants limit the negative impacts of any budget cuts they are required to make in the midst of the COVID pandemic.
How can an agency meet fiscal demands while minimizing the negative impact to children and families and the staff who serve them? Join this workshop to delve further into the options and tradeoffs associated with various budget cuts! The workshop is being held at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 23rd.
You can register for the workshop on Eventbrite at this link:
If you missed Part One and still want to join, you can find a recording of the first session, as well as materials and guidance, here:
Upcoming Virtual Learning Session on Kinship and Foster Family Peer Support
The first in a three-part series on kinship and foster parent supports is scheduled for 2 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 28th. Beyond the Picnic: Peer Supports for Foster Parents is designed to explore the benefits of peer support for foster families and the agency and to identify the core components that make peer support successful. Parts Two and Three will be announced soon.
Register to attend here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-the-picnic-peer-supports-for-foster-parents-tickets-113353280714?aff=affiliate1.
Other Valuable Resources
Conducting a Fiscal Analysis to Implement Family First Prevention Services Act
On Wednesday, July 22 at 2:00 p.m. ET, the Annie E. Casey Foundation is hosting a webinar to debut a Foundation tool and guide for child welfare leaders to plan their fiscal approaches to implementing the Family First Prevention Services Act. The webinar, Family First Prevention Services: Conducting a Fiscal Analysis, will provide a tool — along with steps for using it — to understand the fiscal effects of the Family First Prevention Services Act. Register for the webinar here.
Equity Conversation Guides for Young Leaders and Partners
The Annie E. Casey Foundation created this set of four guides that feature meeting materials for leaders to hold facilitated conversations about dismantling racism within systems that affect young people. The Equity Conversation Guides for Young Leaders and Partners provides step-by-step instructions for facilitators to lead groups of young people in understanding the history of structural racism and how it operates today. You can access the conversation guides here.
Racial Equity Discussion Guide
This discussion guide from the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute provides key messages, reflection questions, and resources for engaging partners in courageous conversations and planning to challenge the institutional and structural racism that results in worse outcomes for families and children of color or tribally affiliated children. You can access the discussion guide here.
Thank you for reading! If you have any suggestions for how to make this newsletter more responsive to your needs, please email me, Jessie Rothkuo, directly at jrothkuo@rhfdn.org. And please visit www.FamilyFirstNY.org to learn more about our ongoing support of Family First implementation statewide, which includes our Tools & Resources page.