Minnesota Community & Family Resource Centers

This page has information regarding an emerging network of Community & Family Resource Centers in Minnesota and about the Sauer Family Foundation’s support for this work.

Background:

Scott County leadership created a strategic plan that included ending the need for Child Protective Services.  This sent them on a community listening journey that helped them create a nongovernmental response for their families to help end child abuse and neglect.

In 2021, the Sauer Family Foundation and Casey Family Programs began funding Scott County to help them create four Family Resource Centers (FRCs) that are community-based and supported with parent/community leadership.  

The voice of parents with lived experience through Parent Advisory Councils assure each FRC meets the unique needs of its community.  FRCs are developed to meet the local needs of families using standards of quality, and the five protective factors for strong families. 

This model is supported nationally through the National Family Support Network (NFSN) and the 40 other states using the same evidence-based model.  As of July 2024, over 25 counties in Minnesota are evaluating the needs of families in their communities and developing Family Resource Centers that are welcoming families and providing assistance or warm hand-offs to the services they need. In these counties, there is no wrong door when you need help.

Family Resource Center Information:

This link will take you to a catalog of information about NFSN’s Family Resource Centers across the country and more information about this model.  Brenda Mahoney coordinates support and technical assistance to a growing Minnesota network of Family Resource Centers through a grant from Sauer Family Foundation to the Association of Minnesota Counties.  She connects people to training and gives technical assistance through her connection to NFSN and the statewide community of practice.

Members of the MN community of practice, click here for related documents (request password access from Brenda).

• Brenda Mahoney
• Project Coordinator
• Association of Minnesota Counties
• Cell Phone:  320.248.8578
• bmahoney@macssa.org

Grants from the Sauer Family Foundation:

Minnesota communities have a variety of assets that already exist to support the well-being of children and families.  The Sauer Family Foundation invites grant applications from Counties, Tribes or their nominated agencies looking to build on these strengths, raise up parent voice, and offer single intake resource connections for parents in community that are aligned with the framework of the National Family Support Network (NFSN).

The Sauer Family Foundation aligns FRC Funding with the following program elements and outcomes:

•  
  • Community voice is used to identify needs
  • Parent Advisory Board oversees the operations of the Family Resource Center
  • Lead staff person is from the community
  • Commitment to NFSN Quality Standards
  • Promotes the 5 Protective Factors that strengthen families
  • Programs affirm and strengthen families’ cultural, racial, and linguistic identities and enhance their ability to function in a multicultural society
  • Outcomes are tied to keeping families out of deep-end government services, when possible, as well as other outcome measurements

Although the Sauer Family Foundation has been funding counties to do an assessment of their current family resources and develop in the gaps, we hold strongly to the belief that Federal, State and County governments have a role in supporting these efforts because they are programmatically and fiscally effective.

Family Resource Centers are friendly, community-based organizations that are backed by government agencies.  They ensure that culturally relevant staff and interventions are embedded in the FRCs.  This is the vision for the Sauer Family Foundation’s work helping to develop FRCs in Minnesota. The evidence for this model is in the National Family Support Network which supports more than 3,000 Family Resource Centers across 41 states. 

The map below shows MN counties that are in various stages of creating Family Resource Centers in their communities from March 2021-June 2024 through support from the Sauer Family Foundation and Casey Family Programs.