Implementing Family-Centered Coaching requires deep knowledge in a range of subject areas. Many organizations will need to partner with other community-based organization to fully meet the needs of families. This tool helps organizations assess current partnerships and identify services areas where new partnerships would be beneficial for families. 

When coaching happens across organizations, it can be easy to slip back into an individual focus on the parent, caregiver, or child. Successful partnerships are very intentional as they build processes that center the whole family. 

Two excellent examples of family-centered partnerships: 

• Atlanta’s Center for Working Families (TWCFI) and the local Educare site, Sheltering Arms, partnered together to work with the whole family. TWCFI provided workforce development and financial coaching, while Sheltering Arms focused on the children’s needs. Staff meet regularly to discuss the whole family and how best to support them.
• In St. Louis, the Family and Workforce Centers of America (FWCA) has workforce staff that work regularly with an adjacent child care center, the Early Explorers Child Development Academy, to coordinate services and work with the family. Part of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s STEPS initiative, FWCA has developed this strong partnership to better support single mothers seeking higher wage employment.