Social change is possible one conversation at a time
Community Cafés are a series of conversations that are planned and led by family members who learn the Community Café approach, can relate to the participants and build on the assets of their neighborhood.
Family members host Cafés with the intent of mentoring others who become hosts themselves to form more Café groups. Family members planning Cafés think about the customs, art, foods, music and other culturally relevant ideas to create a welcoming, safe space.
Meaningful relationships develop as parents and community partners participate as equals in dialogues that value reciprocity and honors everyone’s contributions.
Our Beliefs
All children have an inalienable right to the five protective factors needed for optimal child development.
Our Values
Courage, Community, Health, Freedom, Compassion
Our Knowledge Base
The Community Café approach incorporates hosting principles, Appreciative Inquiry and the protective and promotive factors needed to strengthen families and for youth to thrive.
OUR MISSION
Strengthening families and communities by sparking the leadership and relationships needed to create more inclusive and equitable systems.
OUR VISION
We envision a beloved community where all children thrive in safe, stable and loving families, and where individuals commit to inclusion, respect and compassion pursuing policies and systems rooted in equity and justice for all.
We work to accomplish this by inviting new relationships and leaders into meaningful conversations focused on strengthening families and communities and valuing collective wisdom. By promoting dialog across systems, we are committed to advancing the protectives factors that are a birth right of every child.
Meaningful Community Café Conversations
Spark Leadership
Rather than trying to fix what is broken, the Community Café approach uses Appreciative Inquiry to build on the strengths of participants and the community to spark hope. This is a key strategy and a respectful approach to communities and groups that have historically been marginalized. The approach assumes all participants are leaders and valuable members of the community.
Build Relationships
We are grateful to the World Café organization (www.theworldcafe.org) for sharing their “Principles for Hosting.” Community Café hosts use these principles as a basis to create their own culturally relevant hosting techniques so people with diverse perspectives can participate equitably. Relationships are built in a safe, respectful space. These relationships build the social capital needed for community transformation.
Strengthen Families
All Community Cafés conversations can be related to the Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework and/or the Youth Thrive Framework, (www.cssp.org). This helps to ensure that conversations are meaningful to participants and accountable to positive changes that make a difference for families.
Are you looking for ways to authentically partner with communities? Contact our team to find out more.