2009 Family Strengthening Award Winner

Luther Burbank Family Resource Center
Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, San Jose, CA

Self-sufficiency is the cornerstone of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County’s mission, and no where is this more evident than at the agency’s Luther Burbank Family Resource Center (LBFRC), located in a high-poverty, under-served community in west San Jose.

Funded by First 5, a California organization that fosters the healthy development of children prenatal to age 5, and supported by community partners, LBFRC provides a wide range of family strengthening services to more than 750 young families annually.

Catholic Charities developed the center to meet the requests of parents to have a center where families with young children could go to enjoy enrichment activities together, attend classes and skill training sessions, network with their neighbors, learn more about local resources, and obtain individualized family support services.

Now two years old, the LBFRC is housed in its own fully-equipped portable classroom on the campus of Luther Burbank School, right in the heart of the community and within walking distance of major affordable housing units.

In addition to educational programs for children, the center offers a menu of services in one convenient location, which allows families to self-select the programs that best suit their family needs, such as employment training and job development, IDAs and money management, tax assistance, parenting development, and literacy.

Families can opt to have a Family Partner, a bilingual, bicultural case manager trained in an assets-based approach that encourages them to make a Family Development Plan, with goals focused on the healthy development of their children and on meaningful family self-sufficiency. Family Partners also provide links to community resources and services.

“The Luther Burbank Family Resource Center is a great collaborative project between Catholic Charities, the school district, and First 5, and it’s an honor to be recognized by Catholic Charities USA and the Casey Foundation,” said Greg Kepferle, executive director of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County.

“But this honor really goes to the parents. They are just amazing. It is really a tribute to them and an acknowledgement of what they are doing with their kids.”

Visit Web site: Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County