Roots of Resilience Parenting Education Program

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Executive Summary

Roots of Resilience Parenting Education Program is a nonprofit that offers free parenting classes to parents and caregivers of children from birth to age 18, in English and Spanish. Parent educators teach positive discipline, communication and stress management, children are cared for during class and families share a meal. Parents also join support circles and can meet with a family advocate who connects them to other help.

Parenting is one of the hardest jobs there is, and many parents do it with little support, little sleep and little money. Support can make the difference between a stressful home and a calm one.

With this grant we will serve about 120 families in Year 1 at 3 sites. We are not a counseling, treatment or child welfare agency, and we do not promise that any family will have no struggles. We promise respectful classes, safe child care and honest information.

Our Year 1 budget is about $174,500, growing to about $226,500 by Year 5 as we add sites, coaches and participants. Each year's budget is planned to balance, with a small surplus each year. We have 4 staff in Year 1 (an Executive Director, a Program Coordinator and two part-time parent educators) and 7 by Year 5.

We are asking the Strong Families Foundation for $50,000 for the Program Coordinator and class materials. Our other income and startup support cover the rest. These numbers are estimates based on the assumptions listed at the end of this proposal, and we do not promise any result beyond what we describe.

Company Description

Roots of Resilience Parenting Education Program is a nonprofit organization in Illinois. We are a registered charity with a volunteer board of directors, a written conflict-of-interest policy and a yearly budget the board reviews.

Our mission. Every parent deserves support, and every child deserves a home where they feel safe and heard.

What we do.
- Offer free parenting classes for parents of children from birth to age 18, in English and Spanish.
- Teach positive discipline, communication, stress management and child development.
- Provide child care and a meal at every class so parents can attend.
- Run parent support circles where parents share and learn from each other.
- Connect families with counseling, health care and other community resources.
- Train and pay parent educators, including parents who have completed the program.

Our values. Respect for every participant, honesty with families and partners, safety first and a place for everyone who wants to belong.

What we do not do. We are not a counseling, treatment or child welfare agency. Our staff are mandated reporters and follow the law if a child may be in danger, and we explain this to every parent. We do not give legal or medical advice. We do not promise that any family will have no struggles. We follow the rules of our partner sites and our insurer.

How we got here. A group of social workers, teachers and parents began offering a weekly parenting class at a church. Parents asked for more sessions and said it was the first time they felt less alone. We kept simple records of who came and what they said. This proposal asks for support to move from a weekly class at a church to a steady program with paid, trained staff and the materials to match.

Problem & Opportunity

Parenting is one of the hardest jobs there is, and many parents do it with little support, little sleep and little money.

Cost. Private parenting classes and counseling cost money, and many parents cannot afford them or the child care to attend.

Access. Few programs offer evening classes, child care and materials in Spanish, and parents may be afraid of being judged.

Safety and trust. Parents want a place that is respectful and free of judgment, and funders want a program that is well run and supervised.

Missed benefits. Parents who do not get support may feel overwhelmed, and children may experience harsher discipline and more stress.

What we hear.
- A mother says she wishes someone had told her what to expect.
- A father says he did not want to raise his voice but did not know what else to do.
- A teacher says she can see which children come from calm homes.
- A grandmother says she is raising her grandchildren with no manual.

We do not claim that a program can solve every challenge. We believe that skills, support from other parents and a place without judgment can help a family feel stronger.

Products & Services

Roots of Resilience Parenting Education Program gives parents and caregivers a safe, welcoming place to build skills and confidence as parents.

How the program works.
1. Sites. We partner with three schools, libraries and community centers that provide rooms.
2. Classes. Eight-week classes meet weekly for two hours in the evening, in English and Spanish.
3. Child care and meals. Children are cared for by screened staff and families share a meal.
4. Skills. Parents learn positive discipline, communication, routines and ways to manage stress.
5. Support circles. Parents meet in small groups to share what is working and what is hard.
6. Resources. A family advocate connects parents with counseling, health care and other help.
7. Parent leaders. Graduates may train as parent educators and lead classes.

What a typical session looks like. Participants arrive and check in with a staff member, settle in together, work on the day's activity in small groups and finish with a short talk about what went well. Staff praise effort, correct mistakes kindly and make sure no one is left out.

Staff. Our parent educators are trained in the curriculum, pass a background check, complete our training and are paid for their time. Many are parents who completed the program.

Access and fairness. Programs are free. Classes are free. We welcome every parent and caregiver, including grandparents and foster parents, and offer materials in English and Spanish.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Parents and caregivers of children from birth to age 18 who live near our partner sites. Eligibility is open to any parent or caregiver, with priority for families with low incomes and those referred by schools and agencies.

How we estimate need. We cannot count every young person who could benefit, so we plan from what we can see. In our weekly class we served a full room and kept a waiting list. Schools and pediatric clinics told us that many more parents want support than we can serve. For Year 1 we plan to serve about 120 participants at 3 sites. By Year 5, with more staff and sites, we plan to serve about 320.

Where participants come from.
- Schools and pediatric clinics.
- Libraries and community centers.
- Churches and family resource centers.
- Parents who tell a friend.

Who else benefits. Children gain calmer, more responsive parents. Schools gain families who are more involved. Communities gain stronger families.

What the numbers mean. Every number here is a parent who walked out of class feeling less alone. We keep our early counts modest and honest so we can do the work well.

Competitive Landscape

What young people can find today, and how we are different.

1. Private counseling. Effective and costly. We offer a free, skills-based alternative.

2. School parent nights. Informational and short. We offer a full course.

3. Child welfare parenting classes. Often required and sometimes stigmatizing. We are voluntary and welcoming.

4. Online parenting advice. Plentiful and impersonal.

5. Faith groups. Caring and not always trained in child development. We offer a trained partner.

What makes us different.
- Free with child care and a meal.
- English and Spanish classes.
- Parent educators who are parents themselves.
- Support circles and a family advocate.
- A path to becoming a parent leader.

Why this gap matters. Existing programs do good work, and most serve people who can already pay or who live close to them. The people we serve are the ones left over: they live in the wrong neighborhood, have the wrong schedule or have no one to ask. We are built to reach them.

We have spoken with schools, pediatric clinics and other family support programs to make sure we are filling a gap and not duplicating services. Their letters of support are in the attachments.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How young people and partners will find us.

Reaching young people.
- Schools and clinics. We will share flyers and a named contact.
- Libraries and centers. We will post information and hold open sessions.
- Faith and community groups. We will talk with leaders who know families.
- Parents. Graduates will bring a friend to the next class.
- Word of mouth. Parents tell friends.
- A simple website and a phone line with a text option.

Reaching staff and sponsors.
- Recruit parent educators through schools, clinics, family resource centers and past participants.
- Offer an orientation, a background check and training in safety, privacy and respectful practice.
- Give partners a short report each quarter with counts of participants and what they said.

How we decide who joins. We use a simple sign-up form and enroll participants in the order received, with priority for those with the greatest need and for people new to the program. We keep a waiting list when the program is full.

What we watch. Sign-ups, attendance, parents attending, skills practiced and how many participants return for a second season.

Operations Plan

How the program will be carried out.

Timeline for Year 1:
- Months 1 and 2 (July and August): Hire the staff, buy equipment and materials, finalize the waiver, consent form and privacy policy with our attorney and sign site agreements.
- Month 3 (September): Open registration and begin the first eight-week classes at three sites.
- Months 4 to 10: Run classes in each season, with support circles and a family advocate.
- Months 11 and 12: Hold a graduation celebration, survey parents, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. Classes are held in school rooms, libraries and community centers, provided at no cost.

Safety and privacy.
- Child care staff pass background checks, and two adults are present with every group of children.
- Staff are mandated reporters, and parents are told this at the start.
- Every staff member and volunteer passes a background check and completes safety training.
- Staff work in pairs or in view of others whenever participants are minors or in a vulnerable situation.
- We keep an emergency plan at every site, and participants complete an emergency contact form.
- We keep records private, share them only with a participant's permission or as the law requires and follow a written policy.

Equipment. We buy about $6,000 of equipment once at the start: laptops and a projector for classes ($3,000), child care supplies and toys ($1,500), portable sound and storage ($1,500). Later years replace or add a few items.

Staffing. In Year 1 I serve as Executive Director. The Program Coordinator, paid $42,000 a year, manages classes, child care and partners. Two part-time parent educators, each paid $20,000 a year, lead the classes. We add an educator as we add sites.

Management & Organization

Monica Reyes, Executive Director. I lead the organization, report to the board and am responsible for budgets, partnerships and reporting. I came to this work as a school social worker who saw how much a little support could change a family. I will complete the training we require of our parent educators so I understand the program from the inside. (Replace this paragraph with your own background.)

Staff. The Program Coordinator manages classes, child care and partners, and part-time parent educators lead the classes. Each passes a background check. These positions are part of our grant request.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a social worker, a pediatrician, a parent, a banker who serves as treasurer, an attorney and a school principal. The board meets every other month, approves our budget and reviews our safety plan. No board member is paid, and members with a conflict of interest step out of related decisions.

Advisory partners. A family therapist, a school counselor and a pediatric nurse give guidance twice a year.

Staffing and pay in this plan: Executive Director, paid $50,000 a year; program Coordinator, paid $42,000 a year; parent Educator (part-time), paid $20,000 a year.

Milestones Narrative

Our goals, how we will measure them and when we plan to reach them.

Year 1 outcomes (July 2027 through June 2028):
- Serve about 120 participants at 3 sites.
- Run at least two full seasons and a summer session.
- Have at least 85 percent of participants attend most sessions.
- Have at least 80 percent of participants return for a second season.
- Receive positive feedback from at least 90 percent of families who answer our short survey.

What we count and how.
- Participants enrolled, sessions and games attended, from our records.
- Skills learned and goals met, from the coach's checklist.
- Equipment issued and returned, from our log.
- Participant and family feedback, from a short, confidential form.
We report what we find, including what did not work, and use it to improve.

Growth over five years.
- Year 2: About 170 participants at 3 sites.
- Year 3: About 220 participants at 4 sites.
- Year 4: About 270 participants at 5 sites.
- Year 5: About 320 participants at 6 sites.

Learning along the way. At the end of each quarter, the director and the board review the numbers and decide whether we are on track. If we are behind, we will adjust our outreach, our sites or our schedule before asking for more money.

After the grant. By Year 5, grants make up about 46 percent of our budget, down from about 67 percent in Year 1, as partners and donors give more. We will keep building those relationships every year.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $50,000 from the Strong Families Foundation for the Program Coordinator and class materials, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Program Coordinator salary, $42,000.
- Supplies: Curriculum and class materials, $8,000.

Other money in the program. This request is about 43% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $174,500, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $7,300 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: Grant Revenue $116,500; state Family Support Funding $30,000; hospital and Health Partners $20,000; individual Donors $8,000. Year 1 costs: executive Director $50,000; program Coordinator $42,000; parent Educator (part-time) $20,000; curriculum and Materials about $6,000; child Care During Classes about $8,000; meals about $5,000; transportation about $4,000; educator Training about $3,000; administration and Insurance about $8,000; about $2,800 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $13,000 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $3,000 for laptops and a projector for classes; $1,500 for child care supplies and toys; $1,500 for portable sound and storage; $2,000 for attorney review of the consent form, mandated reporter policy and privacy policy; $1,500 for banners, bilingual flyers and a simple website; $1,500 for background checks and educator training; $2,000 for first insurance payment.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($13,000), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $41,500, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $54,500. We start with $6,000 from our founding board and $51,000 in startup support from a community foundation and a hospital partner, $57,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $174,500 in Year 1 to about $226,500 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $116,500, $102,500, $110,000, $96,500 and $104,500 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: state Family Support Funding from $30,000 to $54,000; hospital and Health Partners from $20,000 to $44,000; individual Donors from $8,000 to $24,000. Our surplus is planned at about $7,300 in Year 1, about $7,500 in Year 2, about $9,000 in Year 3, about $9,400 in Year 4 and about $11,100 in Year 5. We grow from 3 sites to 6 by Year 5, adding a part-time coach for each new site.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $52,500, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $6,980 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per parent. In Year 1, our total costs are about $1,393 per parent served, which includes setting up the program. By Year 5, with more parent served and a trained team in place, that falls to about $673 per parent.

After the grant. State family support funding, corporate sponsors and individual donors grow every year, so grants become a smaller share of our budget. Participants and families share their stories, and businesses can sponsor a team or a season by name. We will look for partnerships with schools and the city that want a safe, free parenting education option for every child.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- An injury. Certified coaches, proper equipment, groups matched by age and skill, a written emergency plan and insurance.
- A site is no longer available. We keep agreements with more than one site and a plan for bad weather.
- A coach leaves. We keep a list of trained backup coaches and share lesson plans.
- Low attendance. We adjust sites, times and rides based on family feedback.
- A privacy problem. We follow a written policy, use secure systems and train every staff member and volunteer.
- A grant ends. We keep savings and grow partner and donor support each year.

If you are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status through a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for you and passes them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Another way is to start smaller: one neighborhood, a handful of parents and a small team, tracked carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach with this proposal:

- Your IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your most recent financial statements and your current year budget.
- A list of your board members and what each one does.
- Signed letters of support from partner schools, agencies and sites.
- Your site agreements and your insurance certificate.
- Your consent, waiver and privacy policy.
- Your safety plan and background check policy.
- Your program outline and schedule.
- Quotes for equipment and materials.
- Resumes for your Executive Director and key staff.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Grant Revenue: $116,500 in Year 1, growing to $104,500 in Year 5.
- State Family Support Funding: $30,000 in Year 1, growing to $54,000 in Year 5.
- Hospital and Health Partners: $20,000 in Year 1, growing to $44,000 in Year 5.
- Individual Donors: $8,000 in Year 1, growing to $24,000 in Year 5.
- Pay (a full year, per person, including payroll taxes and workers' compensation): executive Director $50,000; program Coordinator $42,000; parent Educator (part-time) $20,000.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: curriculum and Materials $6,000; child Care During Classes $8,000; meals $5,000; transportation $4,000; educator Training $3,000; administration and Insurance $8,000. These grow between 4% and 5% a year.
- Equipment: $6,000 at the start, then $1,500 to $2,500 a year.
- Startup costs: $13,000, paid once from $57,000 in startup money.
- Participants served: about 120 in Year 1, growing to about 320 in Year 5. Sites: 3 in Year 1, growing to 6 by Year 5. Eight-week classes run in each season.
- About 4% of each year's income is still owed to us at year end.
- Tax: none, as a nonprofit.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your own quotes and real budget.

Startup Costs