Community matters when raising kids.  Through Community Connections, How are the Children? is creating positive environments for children by:

• Connecting families with community supports and resources; and

• Connecting caring adults to kids and the programs serving them.

Many places have a role to play in providing positive opportunities for young people to develop well.  When we think about “how are the children?”, we tend to focus on individual factors, but children and young people develop within the context of family, peers, neighborhood, schools, community, and the larger culture.  When all of these work together to create positive, healthy environments for kids, the cumulative effect is much greater than focusing on the child alone, the family alone or the community alone. 

Reducing Isolation for Kids and Families

The future prosperity of our communities depends on our ability to foster the health and well-being of the next generation.  When all children don't have equal opportunity for healthy growth and development, we put our future at risk.  At How are the Children? we are working to connect and strengthen the informal safety net that supports the health and well-being of kids and families. 

We are systematically gathering information on all programs, projects, groups and organizations who assist children, young people and families.  For more information on this project, click here. 

Connecting to Kids

Everyone of us can point to influential people and experiences from our youth--the coach who made us try hard, the neighbor who encouraged us, the youth minister who helped us see how we could contribute to our community, the teacher who really believed in us.

Children don't always have equal access to reliable, consistent, and engaged interaction Caring adults can have a buffering effect, especially when environments aren't reliable and supportively interactive. 

Perhaps the most surprising thing about being a community volunteer is how easy it is to have a positive influence on kids.  Positive attention on the part of adults is something that children and young people crave--and it's a key ingredient in their development--as important as an essential vitamin. 

We have gathered and created tools to help you intentionally create an environment where all children and young people feel welcome, respected, cared for, useful, and celebrated.