Primary Prevention Through Family Connection

Announcement of Mini Grants for Parent Education in Franklin County and the North Quabbin

"Primary Prevention through Family Connection"

The Communities That Care Coalition is pleased to announce the availability of mini-grants to support and expand strategies that help to meet the goals of the Communities That Care Parent Education Workgroup in our community.

Funding is made possible by a grant from Baystate Franklin Medical Center and is available through Clinical and Support Options as the host of the Parent Education Workgroup of the Communities That Care Coalition to support the strategies of the Parent Education Workgroup, including:

(1)to provide evidence-based parent education to parents and caregivers of children age 9 through 18 years.

(2)to strengthen family connection as a protective factor for youth, including through activities that promote positive, regular, and routine family time, as well as promoting family meals which provide warmth and connection as well as structure and consistency.

This funding may be used for new or existing projects, as a primary source of funding or to supplement existing funds. Examples of programs the Parent Education Workgroup will consider funding include:

staffing and program costs for a positive, evidence-based parenting program (such as Guiding Good Choices, Strengthening Families, the Nurturing Program, etc. For a list of evidence-based strategies, please refer to the National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices, though if a program is not on this list you may provide the research to make a case that it is evidence-based.)
a school or SADD group providing incentives for parents to use Start the TalkTM or the Marijuana Talk Kit.
a community meal in a neighborhood, school or church that is focused on educating, encouraging and empowering families to regularly have positive and interactive family dinners;
events promoting the importance of positive and interactive family dinners organized by youth groups or key clubs for families in their districts;
family cooking class focused on preparing healthy affordable meals together;
a family games night or other event focused on modeling and encouraging positive family bonding.

All work and events should take place in Franklin County or the North Quabbin between 7/1/2017 and 6/30/2018 - though exceptions will be considered for programs that are "shovel-ready" and wish to begin earlier. Grants will generally range from $50 to $500 for activities and from $500 to $1500 for evidence-based parent education (and evidence-based parent education will generally be given higher priority). Please bear in mind that the Workgroup has a total of $5000 to distribute, and wishes to fund a wide variety of effective programs in the community.

Funding decisions will be made by the members of the Parent Education Workgroup (members with conflicts of interest will recuse themselves) who will consider (a) the project's potential to have an impact in line with our goals for the young people and families served, (b) the number of youth and families served, and (c) the cost-effectiveness of the impact. In addition, if the applicant is a previous mini-grant recipient the Workgroup will consider past performance with mini-grant requirements.

If funded, grantees will be asked to submit receipts for reimbursement for expenses, a brief final report, and several photos from their project. In addition family dinner/family connection grants will be asked to attend a “grantees meeting” to share information about best practices and additional resources. Evidence-Based Parent Education grants will be asked to hold one brief “site visit” and to submit the results of any evaluations (pre-post-tests, participant satisfaction questionnaires) used in the program.

For more information about family dinners visit or .

For the National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices please visit:

To apply, please fill out the form at:.

Please contact Co-Chairs Marie Bartlett (774-1000x2017) orStacey Langknecht(413-367-9418)with questions.