The document describes the Great Families program, which aims to support family functioning by including youth, caregivers, and siblings. The program creates a safe space for families to discuss issues affecting their dynamics and acquire communication skills. However, the original curriculum did not meet families' needs, as many were experiencing complex trauma from issues like undocumented status that were not addressed. The curriculum was modified based on parent feedback to include topics like community violence, domestic violence, and trauma. Going forward, the program would divide the curriculum into sections for in-depth discussion and real-life skills application.

1. Enlace Chicago
GREAT FAMILIES
Alicia Martinez and Monserrat Vazquez,

2. Great Families
• Little Village (include map - boundaries)
• Little Village families within our schools
• Stigmatization of mental health and lack of mental health
support,especially adding the parent component to intervention
• Partners: Community schools, i.e TCEP

3. Great Families
• Approach to (Approach) Great Families was created to support family
functioning by including not only youth but their caregivers and
siblings.
• (Goals) Great Families creates a safe space for families to discuss and
work through issues that affect their family dynamics by acquiring
communication skills and awareness of different topics that affect
youth and caregivers. The program is intended to bridge the gaps and
provide a clear understanding of how trauma intersects with our family
roles, developmental stages, and how developing communication skills
support our ability to process difficult emotions as a family and
problem-solve when issues arise.

4. Lessons Learned
• What were the challenges?
• Original curriculum did not meet the needs of our families - the
expectation was for families to come in with a basic level of
knowledge about family functioning and build on those skills.
• Our families were experiencing complex trauma that was not
addressed in the curriculum.
• For example, our community has a large population of mixed status
families and often times one parent or both are undocumented. This
creates additional layer of trauma that families needed a space to
process.
• Having the families to commit to be part of the full curriculum.

5. Lessons Learned
• What was accomplished in expanding access to services?
• Our School-based Counselors sat with parents that went through the
curriculum and had an honest conversation of what was effective and
ineffective. Parents provided an insight of what topics they wanted to
further discuss, which included community violence, domestic violence,
and a deeper understanding of trauma.
• By intentionally providing a space where everyone is an expert and letting
participants take lead of the topic.
• What has been sustained?
• Although we modified the curriculum, we kept the structure which
continues to accommodate the whole family system where youth and
parents communicate effectively but also allowing the younger siblings to
acquire the same skills to their developmental understanding.

6. Lessons Learned
• What were the main ‘takeaways’?
• Families who do stay on for the full curriculum have a positive
experience where they start to put into practice the skills they
acquired in group into their daily lives.
• What would you do differently if you had it to do over again?
Divide the curriculum into two sections. The first section being 6
weeks, where families get to discuss different topics in depth and the
second section being 6 weeks where families get to apply what skills
they acquired into real life situations and process them in group.