(Editor’s Note: The following article was submitted by Sherburne County.)
April is national Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Month. In Minnesota, FamilyWise Services is the lead agency for child abuse prevention and the home of Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota following its 2020 merger with Minnesota Communities Caring for Children (MCCC). FamilyWise shares resources with partners, expands access to services, and balance conditions for positive childhood experiences to enrich every community and support parents and caregivers.
Each year during April, FamilyWise recognizes its partners across the state who support child and family wellbeing with its Pinwheels for Prevention award. These partners provide services to families, create spaces to develop community connections, and raise awareness about the importance of supporting families and children.
STIR is being recognized for multiple campaigns and resources to promote healing, inspire resilience, share social connections, and celebrate the whole person through mind, body, and spirit throughout Sherburne County.
“STIR is delighted that our social media campaigns and website (www.STIRMN.org), which are designed to promote resilience in our community, are being recognized at the statewide level for helping to strengthen Sherburne County families,” said Victoria Johannes, Social Services Supervisor at Sherburne County Health and Human Services. “We hope the Pinwheels for Prevention award helps encourage community members to seek out our website and Facebook page to see more of what we are all about!”
“FamilyWise is dedicated to supporting parents and caregivers in building thriving families and creatingfertile environments for healthy childhoods through parent education, wraparound services and early childhood education,” said Ann Gaasch, FamilyWise Services Executive Director. “This collaborative work with our statewide network has always been essential to family and community health, but over past three years families have experienced new and acute stresses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainty related to school and employment schedules, and the realities of social and economic injustice. The Pinwheel for Prevention awards honor the work these organizations do for families in our communities.”
Award Winners:
• Kandiyohi-Renville ACES Coalition – for creating awareness of adverse childhood events (ACES) by distributing 15,000 House of Hope calendars through elementary and middle schools, churches, food shelves, early childhood and family education organizations, jails, public health services, restorative justice organizations.
• Olmsted County Child and Family Services with Families First of Minnesota Crisis Nursery – for working together to ensure that there are supports and services in place for children and their families, year after year.
• Junior League of Duluth – for hosting a day-long, virtual summit, Building a Community of Resilience, to shed light on the impacts and best practices for supporting people who have experienced developmental, generational, and complex trauma.
• STIR of Sherburne County – for multiple campaigns and resources to promote healing, inspire resilience, share social connections, and celebrate the whole person through mind, body, and spirit throughout Sherburne County.
• HOPE 4 Youth – for recognizing a need in their service area to support young parents who are struggling with homelessness and fighting for the chance to see their children thrive.
• American Indian Resource and Resiliency Team, University of Minnesota Extension – for creating and delivering culturally adapted holistic health education within a system of existing relationships with Tribal partners and community members to increase community capacity in addressing the opioid crisis.
• Center for Prevention, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Minnesota – for developing multi-year funding initiative for the Health POWER Project to strengthen leadership development, invest in community-led solutions, and create collaborations to support positive changes in the Center’s goal of advancing health equity in commercial tobacco control, healthy eating, and physical activity.
• Restoring Lives Community Church – for ministering to the whole person by providing transitional housing for women after completing treatment and for serving families through classes, meals and free laundry nights in Zimmerman, Minnesota.
• Department of Human Services, Children’s Mental Health & Family Services Collaboratives - for their support and technical assistance to the 90 Collaboratives across the state of Minnesota.
• Peacemaker Resources – for embodying the self-healing communities model approach, and walking the walk of expanded leadership and a community-driven decision-making, as a method of working towards more trauma-responsive individuals and systems.
• United Way of Bemidji – for coordinating and hosting the call center for the December 2021 Radiothon to End Child Abuse to allow for safe social distancing, and facilitated the Radiothon auction, all while leading other local fundraising efforts at the same time.
• Hubbard Radio – Alexandria - for promoting the issue of child abuse prevention during the Alexandria Radiothon to End Child Abuse.
• Crow Wing County Child Protection Team and Hubbard Radio – Brainerd - for taking the lead on the annual Brainerd Radiothon to End Child Abuse, partnering to make a difference for children and families in Crow Wing County, and engaging the community’s support through their dedication and creativity.
• Transforming Systems Together, Ramsey County – for taking the first step in reconciling past practices and systems that have created or caused harm to families and communities.
• Anoka County, Community Conversations – for using feedback gathered from the community as the catalyst for their Community Resilience Plan which will be eligible for funding to support initiating and implementing a project to strengthen community resilience, in efforts of creating more Self-Healing Communities throughout the State of MN.
About Child Abuse Prevention Month
The nationwide theme for 2022 is “Growing Better, Together.” Positive childhood experiences in nurturing environments provide fertile ground for physical and mental health, learning, and social skills to flourish.
About FamilyWise Services
FamilyWise has been keeping children safe and helping families lead stable, healthy, and productive lives since 1976. We educate, empower, and enrich families who are struggling with poverty, substance abuse, mental health issues, homelessness, and domestic violence. In 2020, FamilyWise merged with Minnesota Communities Caring for Children (MCCC) and became the Minnesota chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America and the National Circle of Parents.
