Sneak Peek: 2023 Annual Outcomes
FamilyWise will release our 2023 Annual Report next month but, in the meantime, we wanted to share a peek of our program outcomes from last year:
Agency-wide, FamilyWise served over 3,900 participants, including 572 children, in 2023. Our scope of services encompasses both direct intervention services and prevention initiatives. Across all of our programs, FamilyWise was active in 52 counties last year.
Our direct services programs, which include our Supervised Parenting, High-Fidelity Wraparound, Adult Parent Education, Bright Beginnings, Circle of Parents, and First Step Childcare programs, served 1,192 families. While our direct services take place primarily in the Twin Cities Metro, our 55 active Circle of Parents groups expand across the state, making our direct services programs active in 39 counties.
“FamilyWise helped me cope with my interpersonal stress and anxiety while also building my confidence to becoming a better mom.” – Adult Parent Education Participant
Our prevention initiatives, which include NEAR Communities and Tribal NEAR Communities, reached 1,273 individuals across 32 counties and 3 tribal communities in 2023. Our trainers offered 40 NEAR Science presentations that raise awareness of NEAR science research (Neurobiology, Epigenetics, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Resilience) and how it can be applied in communities. Our Tribal NEAR program released Season 3 of the Remembering Resilience podcast, which centers on the experiences of Tribal communities in Minnesota, including culturally specific healing and resilience practices.
“Understanding the role of epigenetics for all peoples was really eye-opening. I have never learned this in all my college years… It gives me more of a why people are preprogrammed to react in different ways to the same situation. It gives me more info to process others’ actions outside my own experiences.” –Remembering Resilience Podcast Listener
A shift in 2023 for FamilyWise was a focus on training programs as a statewide leader in High-Fidelity Wraparound, Parent Leadership, and NEAR Science education. This year, FamilyWise trained 70 ACE Interface Presenters, 28 Circle of Parents Group Facilitators, 11 Wraparound facilitators, and 21 Parent Leaders. We are excited to continue to grow our training programs and support more organizations and communities in their efforts to create stronger families and healthier communities.
Reflecting on our 2023 outcomes, we noted that while we served fewer families, we saw a 20% increase in face-to-face services. This means that we worked more intensively with families to help them meet their goals. This aligns with the experiences of our staff, who have shared that families we partner with are facing deeper needs and often waitlists for critical support services.
In 2023 we introduced a new universal participant experience survey to inform continual program improvement for our direct service programs. The results were very positive: 95% of participants reported feeling respected by FamilyWise staff, 89% reported feeling like they could choose the direction of their services, and 84% said they would recommend FamilyWise programs to those in their networks.
“Staff does a great job of explaining what to expect. The space feels warm and friendly. Staff clearly care about their roles and mission.” – Supervised Parenting Participant
We also asked participants about their policy priorities to inform our advocacy efforts. Among the highest policy priorities identified were affordable housing, equity in the child protection system, legal support for those navigating child protection systems, and affordable childcare. If you’re interested in being an advocate for families, check out our 2024 Family Wellbeing Index, a report that explores opportunities for supporting the wellbeing of Minnesota families through individual and collective actions.
You can find out more about our annual outcomes by reading the 2023 Annual Report, which will be released later this summer. Stay tuned!
You can find a full list of our previous annual reports here.