It was a Thursday evening around 6pm, and the youth center at UrbanPromise Ministries in Camden, NJ was a hive of activity. Kids buzzed with energy as parents signed in at the greeter table, while down the hall a line of eager possibly people were being served a hot meal before finding seats in the main room. Further down the hall was the childcare room bright with colors and activities awaiting little hands to use them. Welcome to the Be Inc. Collective Family Café!
Brainchild of Siomara Wedderburn, MSW, founder of Be Inc. Collective, this was the fifth of six community gatherings as a pilot project, in partnership with Urban Promise, Garden State Equality, Saving Grace, NJEA and Hopeworks. Sio is creating a psychologically safe space for families to connect and build a sense of community. Garden State Equity Consultant Alisha De Lorenzo led parent conversations by using the Positive Deviance Framework as structure while Carolyn Shultz, an NJEA ACE Interface Master Trainer, engages children in the childcare room. Behind the scenes a group of teens, trained in wellness practices supported every aspect of the night, from serving food to leading the children's sessions. This team of adolescents is being trained by Be Inc. as peer mentors to model skills like emotional regulation and equip children with valuable life skills that will help them navigate everyday life. The topics the children learn about parallel what the parents are discussing. On this particular night the children talked about the "safe" people in their lives and created community wreaths to identify them. The hope is that the activities and discussions will help foster meaningful conversations within and amongst families.
It's hard to hear some of the challenges families face. “My son has autism – he can’t talk. Do you know he didn’t receive a voice box until he was 14? Now he’s 19.” Another person chimes in: “You can get someone to advocate for your child with special needs,” and shares who they need to contact. Other barriers that families face include accessing medical care, particularly mental health services, employment barriers, violence, and the challenges of parenting in the age of social media.
The conversation shifts to solutions and principles of Positive Deviance are shared by participants. Positive Deviance is rooted in the belief that solutions already exist within communities – these Family Cafés create safe space to have asset-based improvement conversations. One parent shared that they could function like parents to other children in their neighborhoods as a way to keep kids engaged…and out of trouble. It takes a village!
As the evening draws to a close and children start to rejoin their parents in the main room prizes are raffled. One woman says, “wait – I didn’t sign in! You know, I kind of go under the radar at these things…” and the raffle is paused while she (and a few others) sign in to get their raffle ticket. It’s so hard to trust…but Be Inc. Collective is determined to be that trusted space.
View attachments to see some of the children enjoying their time in this program.
Be Inc. Collective is a recipient of the NJ Office of Resilience’s first round of microgrants.
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