Family Leadership Foundations
The program offers education, leadership skill development, and mentoring for family members and caregivers of children and adults who qualify for this state service system.
What is DDS?
Mentors may help facilitate these kinds of discussions during the Series.
What are breakout or small-group discussions?
This is what families often discover in the Series: confidence, skills, and strength
What is empowerment?
This kind of support can be informal or formal and often grows from lived experience.
What is peer support?
This training focuses on how an idea becomes a law, navigating the Massachusetts Legislature website, and delivering testimony.
What is Finding Your Voice?
This is one person you could invite to learn more about Family Leadership.
Who is a parent, caregiver, self-advocate, provider, friend, or community partner?
The impact slide says the program has reached this many FLS graduates.
What is 3,000?
The Family Leadership Program began in 1990 and helped lead to Chapter 171, also known as this law.
What is the Family and Individual Support Law?
The outreach training’s guiding principle is to create a culture of collaboration, support, and this.
What is care?
This kind of outreach helps families who may not see themselves reflected in a program feel seen, welcomed, and included.
What is cultural and linguistic outreach?
The flyer says Family Leadership graduates have driven systems change by expanding opportunities, forging partnerships, and even doing this.
What is running for public office?
This graduate-led awareness effort was born from Outreach and Mentoring discussions. It’s focus is on dignity and inclusion.
What is the United to Empower Campaign?
This is one small leadership step someone can take this month.
What is making a call, attending a meeting, sharing a resource, inviting someone, writing testimony, or joining a group?
This phrase describes the program’s vision that leadership is created by people with lived experience.
What is “By Families, For Families”?
The Family Leadership Series is described as a minimum of six days of learning, mentoring, and this.
What is community building?
This outreach role helps connect Family Leadership to community events, fairs, resource tables, and local opportunities.
What is community outreach?
This is what a good mentor gives another family: not all the answers, but encouragement, connection, and confidence to take the next step.
What is support?
This is what families may give at the State House or a public hearing to support or oppose a bill.
What is testimony?
This monthly virtual space lets families discuss current issues, share strategies, and coordinate action.
What is Advocacy Roundtable?
This is one place outreach volunteers might share information about Family Leadership.
What is a resource fair, school event, support group, provider agency, library, or community event?
The impact slide says the program reaches this many families annually.
What is 1,000+ families?
Participants create this kind of vision for their loved ones.
What is a vision of a good life?
Outreach and mentoring training is meant to cultivate alumni growth as leaders and help families be successful in this program.
What is the Family Leadership Series?
Language access, increased flexibility, accessibility, and representation all help break down these.
What are barriers?
This is the highest level on the leadership pyramid, where families work to change laws, policies, or systems.
What is policy and systems change?
These workshops help families craft and share personal narratives to drive change.
What are Storytelling Workshops?
This is one way a mentor can help without “fixing” everything for someone else.
What is listening, encouraging, asking questions, or sharing experience?
The flyer describes the Series as a program for families, by families, that helps create these.
What are lasting bonds?
The Family Leadership Program was developed for families, by families with this kind of experience.
What is lived experience?
This role helps participants feel more confident, empowered, and resilient during the Series.
What is a mentor?
This bi-monthly communication shares upcoming regional and statewide events, flyers, articles, resources, and advocacy information.
What is the newsletter?
This is when families speak up for their own needs or their loved one’s needs.
What is advocating for self or family?
This network gives graduates a way to stay connected for continued leadership, support, and information-sharing.
What is the Alumni Association?
This is one word you might use to describe how Family Leadership made you feel.
What is empowered / connected / confident / supported?
The flyer says Family Leadership has been a catalyst for parents and caregivers for more than this many years.
What is 30 years?
This turns lived experience into a tool for change.
What is storytelling?