The S.H. Cowell Foundation makes grants to establish and strengthen Family Resource Centers (FRCs) because they play a unique and pivotal role in bringing together services, resources and opportunities that improve the well-being of low-income children, their families and communities.

Cowell supports FRCs that exist in a variety of settings—on school sites, in shopping centers, in converted houses—but all are centrally located and easily accessible to the families most in need of support. They are comfortable, welcoming places for families with children of all ages across diverse family structures and different cultural, linguistic and racial backgrounds. They provide a common meeting ground where families can break through social isolation and develop mutually supportive relationships with their neighbors and peers.

Cowell funds FRCs that establish themselves as hubs in a community-wide system of services designed to best serve families. They provide a platform for providers from public, nonprofit and other community organizations to collaboratively offer a range of supports that respond specifically and comprehensively to the needs and hopes of local families. Partner agencies work closely together to align and integrate services, often developing a common case management system, to ensure that families are easily able to get what they need to achieve their goals. Services cross a broad spectrum, including prevention efforts aimed at helping families avoid problems, early intervention and safety net services to help families reverse or overcome existing challenges and enrichment activities aimed at sustaining and furthering family well-being.

Cowell supports FRCs that by design truly belong to the communities they serve. Within this model, families recognize and build on their own strengths and then use those strengths in service to others. Community residents actively participate in FRC activities and services, and take on leadership roles—organizing events, becoming staff and board members, and shaping the FRC’s vision and direction. At their best, FRCs foster civic engagement, encouraging local residents to take on leadership roles and become catalysts for positive change in the neighborhoods where they live.

FRC Funding Criteria