FamilySpeak: A Focus on the Life Guides Program

On September 22, 2014, Michigan’s Children launched its FamilySpeak forum in partnership with the Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Michigan and the Michigan Association of Community and Adult Education (MACAE). Modeled after our signature KidSpeak® forums, FamilySpeak forums provide a venue for families who have struggled for a variety of reasons to speak before a listening panel of policymakers and decision-makers. At the annual MACAE Conference, Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Michigan’s innovative multi-generation program called Life Guides was highlighted in a FamilySpeak forum before a 15 member panel of local- and state-level policymakers. The Life Guides Program works with families in Allegan and Kalamazoo Counties, making a twenty year commitment to their efforts to move towards economic self-sufficiency and build educational and life success for themselves and their children.

Read our Focus on Michigan Communities publication to learn more about the Life Guides program and how public policy can better support two-generation strategies like this one. And, learn more about the launch of our FamilySpeak forums.