Community Café conversations spark leadership and develop the relationships necessary to strengthen families.  Parents and partners from community organizations and schools participate as equals in a series of conversations that promote reciprocity.  Participants will leave with a model of a Community Café; a knowledge base of Appreciative Inquiry, Strengthening Families Protective Factor Framework, World Café Principles of Hosting; and tools to lead a Community Café.

“The results (of implementing Community Cafés) showed that one of the most common themes found among the clusters is social connections and community… Social connections can help moderate the negative effects of economic, neighborhood, and parenting stress (Barnett, 2008; Kotchik et al., 2005; White et al., 2009).”  (Strengthening Families through Community Cafés:  An Evaluation Study, University of Florida 2011)