Programs & Services

Parents of Young Children

Family Focus offers services that help parents with children ages 0-5 enhance their ability to provide and advocate for their families.  Education and support services to parents during the early years significantly contribute to positive, healthy, child-rearing practices, prevention of abuse and neglect, and success in school. Programs offered strengthen parental knowledge and skills, reduce social isolation, and enhance employment opportunities.

Services include:

  • home visits
  • mentoring
  • developmental screening
  • prenatal and parenting support
  • child development education
  • General Education Degree (GED) courses
  • adult literacy classes
  • English as a Second Language (ESL) courses
  • citizenship classes and support
  • financial literacy training
  • leadership training
  • family field trips
  • health fairs
  • fitness & nutrition education
  • family planning education
  • crisis intervention
  • referrals to health care providers
  • referrals to community services, collaborating agencies
  • advocacy
  • evidence-based curriculum, including: Parents as Teachers, BabyTALK, Healthy Families Illinois

 

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Pregnant Teens and Teen Parents

Family Focus's teen parent programs offer comprehensive medical, educational, and support services that help teens both prepare for the demands of parenthood and nurture their own development by finishing high school.

  Services included:

  • home visits
  • group meetings
  • parent education workshops
  • high school classes on-site
  • violence prevention programs
  • mental health screenings
  • career and academic planning
  • family recreational activities
  • fathers' support group
  • evidence-based curriculum, including:
    Parents Too Soon, Healthy Families Illinois
     
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Children and Teens in School

Providing Youth with Positive Alternatives

Family Focus's prevention efforts extend to supporting children and youth ages 6-14. During the critical hours of 3 p.m. - 6 p.m., the programs provide positive alternatives to premature sexual activity, early parenthood, school dropout, and gang involvement by educating youth about their personal responsibilities and boundaries.

Activities include:

  • tutoring and homework help
  • science club
  • leadership training
  • health and nutrition education
  • interactive workshops
  • support groups
  • career and education planning
  • music, theatre & arts programming
  • field trips
  • recreational activities
  • volunteer opportunities

Supporting Academic Achievement

Additionally, Family Focus operates Community Schools and 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) in 24 schools in Chicago and surrounding communities. The 21st CCLCs feature standards-based curricula designed to ensure academic progress. The communities and schools selected for 21st CCLC sites are in areas that are marked by their high poverty rates, community violence, lack of community-based resources, high immigrant populations, and low-performing schools.

 

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Adult Services

Immigrant Family Services

Family Focus provides immigrant families
with bilingual services including:

  • outreach and interpretation services
  • ESL and GED classes
  • citizenship classes
  • assistance with citizenship applications
  • legal support
  • civic engagement classes
  • referral to health care providers
  • advocacy with community agencies
  • voter registration assistance

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

For grandparents faced with the challenge of raising grandchildren while dealing with their own health and economic concerns, this program serves as a welcoming support system and a place to talk and form friendships with others in similar circumstances while learning about:

  • child development
  • meal preparation
  • supporting academic achievement
  • accessing available services for the children
  • accessible available services for seniors
  • depression
  • health care issues

The program also strengthens family and community bonds through:

  • field trips
  • recreational activities
  • all-center family cook-outs

Fathers Support Group

Open to new fathers, teen fathers, uncles, grandfathers, and fathers trying to reconnect with their families, this group helps fathers learn positive parenting skills and build relationships with their children in a safe, welcoming setting. This group provides comprehensive family support, including family night cook-outs and family field trips.

Topics presented include:

  • parenting skills
  • father's rights
  • ex-offender rights
  • job referrals
  • child support informations
  • male-female relationships
  • grandfathering
  • parental self-esteem
  • domestic violence
  • child development
  • evidence-based curriculum:
    24/7 Dad, Born to Learn - Young Dads, Siempre Papa
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Other Family Support Programming

Keeping Families Healthy Inside & Out

Family Focus promotes healthy families by:

  • educating parents about healthy behaviors for themselves and their children
  • building collaborations with health care institutions and other community organizations
  • addressing barriers participants face through preventive health education
  • providing bilingual staff members who can translate
  • connecting families to health care providers
  • providing follow-up home visiting programs
     

Hug-A-Book

An early literacy initiative of Family Focus, Hug-A-Book supports teachers, parents, and other adults as they instill a love of books and reading in young children of diverse backgrounds. Hug-a-Book promotes literacy and a love of books and reading by providing workshops and consulting services for teachers and other early childhood professionals, parent workshops, and a selection of multicultural hard-cover children's books.

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