Goals:◦ Motivate attendees to rethink about collaboration

and what it can do to make dreams come true for the betterment of grandfamilies.

Objective:◦ Engage participants in intergenerational

connections.

Sankofa Safe Child Initiative opened its doors in 1999 with a mission to provide supportive services, referrals, resources & skills that encourages underserved families and communities to be strong, self sufficient and remain intact.

Our goal was and still is to reduce the numbers of families involved in the child welfare and/or juvenile justice systems.

We meet families where they are, help them look back to identify their strengths and move them forward towards family preservation, stabilization, and reunification when possible.

Sankofa’s Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Initiative was created in 2002 with a grantfrom Generations United. We was one of 10 to receive the grant that year and applied dueto a response to the large number of grandparents calling seeking various resources suchas affordable housing, legal services for temporary and/or permanent guardianship,food, clothes, school enrollment, physical and mental healthcare services, individual andfamily counseling, household furniture and day to day necessities and resources to helpthem raise their grandchildren.

Recognizing that within the village today, many children are being raised by theirgrandparents. We’re currently funded by the Chicago Department of Family & SupportServices, Senior Services Area Agency on Aging, the Illinois Department of Children &Family Services, and the Illinois Department on Aging to advance opportunities andimprove the quality of life for older relatives raising children.

Sankofa have a 24 hour Helpline (877) 838-9377 to assist families in crisis; an innovativeIntergenerational Supportive Housing complex, assessments, case management,counseling, support groups, intensive case advocacy and support services, gap fillingservices, educational services, and respite services for the child and older caregiver. andother supportive services deemed necessary to help keep families intact throughout theChicago Metropolitan communities. As an agency, we don’t limit our services tograndparents. We strive to empower the entire family including the child, birth parents,kinship caregivers, foster parents, and adoptive parents.

This is innovative housing for grandfamilies located at 4041 W.Roosevelt in the North Lawndale community. Many villagepartners assisted in the building of this five story, 58 unitresidential facility designed by Harley Ellis Devereaux’s LifeEnhancement Studio for grandparents/kinship caregivers raisingchildren and youth aging out of foster care dubbed bygrandparents raising grandchildren as a; “Miracle on 12th Street”.

Sankofa House currently has 62 children between the ages of 1-18 years old being raised by their grandparent or kinshipcaregiver.

Sankofa Intergenerational House was developed with “the It Takesa Village to Raise a Child Concept”. Dr. Collier Jones developed aintergenerational curriculum that’s used to promoteintergenerational learning from each other in formal and informalways. Our goal is to bridge generational gaps and show thatalthough we’re different, we have a lot of similarities.

“Working together; the ants ate the elephant” African proverb

Members from the National Council of Negro Women-Chicago Midwest Section(active women committed to community work) reviewed a research completedby Chapin Hall which highlighted that over 40% of children in the child welfaresystem resided in the 7th Congressional District. Upon their findings, theypresented them to Congressman Danny K. Davis who convened a Town HallMeeting on Adoption, Placement & Parental Rights and that was the birth ofSankofa Safe Child Initiative. This district is also the 2nd largest to havegrandparent led households raising children in Illinois.

Since then; Sankofa has partnered with the National Association of Black SocialWorkers – Chicago Chapter, the National Association for the Advancement ofColored People – Westside Branch, Illinois Association of Colored Women’s Club,and the National Black Nurses Association – Chicago Chapter, that providesresources to help keep families intact.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006, in collaboration with Congressman Danny K. Davis, we held a Legislative Briefing in

Washington, DC where child welfare experts talked about supporting kinship caregivers, increasing

permanency for children in foster care, helping children transition from foster care to self-sufficiency, and

improving performance information related to child protection on the following federal bills:

H.R. 3380: Guardianship Assistance Promotion and Kinship Support Act - This bill promotes guardianship and

kinship care as key permanency options. The bill addresses gaps in existing foster care laws that withhold

important supports from children living with relative providers or legal guardians.

H.R. 3379: Stronger Families Act - This bill extends the adoption incentive program to include two primary

avenues to permanency for children in foster care: reunification with the child’s family of origin and legal

guardianship.

H.R. 3471: Strengthening the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program Act - The goal of this act is to help

children transition from foster care to self-sufficiency.

H.R. 3470: Accountability in Foster Care Act - The goal of this act is to improve State performance

information related to the operation of child protection and child welfare programs.

This event was co-sponsored by: the Black Administrators in Child Welfare, the Children’s Defense Fund, Child

Welfare League of America, Generations United, The Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, and Race

Matters.

Because affordable housing is a gigantic concern for grandfamilies, HUD collaborated and supported Sankofa

and Interfaith Housing Development to build Sankofa House designed for grandparents raising grandchildren

and young adults aging out of foster care.

The Illinois Department of Children & Family Services funded usto serve 25 families in 1999 and we served over 320 familiesthat first year and we have increased in volume each year. Whenwe opened our doors; approximately 54,000 children wereinvolved in the child welfare system.

Those numbers has since been reduced to 15,000 which remindus that it takes a “village to raise children”. The state of Illinoisis very committed to empowering families and communities toremain intact.

Created by the Illinois Legislature in 1989, the Illinois AffordableHousing Trust Fund assists in the provision of affordable,decent, safe and sanitary housing such as “Sankofa House” forlow- and very low-income households.

The City of Chicago Department of Family & Support Services,Senior Services Area Agency on Aging currently funds Sankofa SafeChild Initiative and another agency to provide supportive services toolder relatives 55 and older raising children. The services are butnot limited to: assessments, case management, family andindividual counseling, support groups, legal assistance, intensiveadvocacy and support services, gap filling services, educationalservices and respite services for children being raised by olderrelatives.

The Chicago Department of Family and Support Services is a keyplayer in Chicago’s effort to end homelessness; therefore provided56% of resources needed to build Sankofa House which servicesinclude prevention, outreach, shelter and housing programs, andsupportive services.

The clip below is an example of elected officials and communitystake holders contribution to keeping families intact.

Giv ing Gifts at Sankofa House.url

Understand each generation and it’s culture ◦ The Silent Generation 1923-1942 “generation without a cause, early age

marriages” ◦ The Baby Boomers 1946-1964 “free spirited”◦ Generation X 1965-1981 “slacker generation”◦ Millennial Generation 1998 – Present “considered a lost/digital generation”

Identify differences and similarities Use those similarities to build support and strengthen the village Understand parenting and discipline changes due to societal laws As an intergenerational village; we must understand the different

generations and their value system. Robert Hill identified five assets of families, especially African

American families:1.They have strong achievement orientation2.They have strong work orientation3.They integrate flexible family roles4.They have strong kinship bonds5.They comprise strong religious orientation

Born 1925 - 1942 "generation without a cause"

Desired job security

Early marrying ages: Male average 23 yrs., Female average 20 yrs.

Started a divorce epidemic

Cold war generation

Conformity encouraged: "children should be seen and not heard"

Brought the US civil rights and unparalleled economic and artistic wealth

The baby boomers was the first group to be raised on television, andtelevision has been identified as what solidified a sense ofgenerational identity more than any other.

Starting in the 1940’s, people and diverse geographic locationscould watch the same show, listen to the same news and laugh atthe same jokes.

Memorable events: assassination of JFK, Robert Kennedy, and MartinLuther King, political unrest, walk on the moon, Vietnam War,antiwar protests, social experimentation, sexual freedom, civil rightsmovement, women’s movement, protests and riots, experimentationof recreational drugs.

Key characteristics: experimental, individualism, free-spirited, socialcause orients, less optimistic, distrust of government, and generalcynicism.

Generation X is a term used to describe generations inmany countries around the world born from 1965 toaround 1982

One of the defining factor of Generation X is thetransitions resulting from the decline of colonialimperialism to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end ofthe Cold War.

Born 1961-1981 "slacker generation"

Grew up with highest divorce rates ever, computers, andAIDS "latch-key kids" Roe v. Wade (1981) legalizedabortion, dotcom jobs leaving many without jobsecurity, cold war ends, and strong individualism.

Generation Y, also known as the 'Millennial Generation', refers to aspecific cohort of individuals born from about 1980 through andincluding the year 1994.

However this is disputed by demographers and varies acrosscountries; so the years 1988-2008 is also somewhat widely used.

Generation Y are primarily children of the Baby boomers andGeneration Jones (US only), though some are children of older Gen Xadults.

Generation Y is often called the millennial because of the impact ofcomputers.

They are considered a lost generation with no focus, no respect forauthority, and lost but can be awaken.

Most recognized AA celebrities (Dominique

Dawes, Summer Olympic Games 1996) in 2000

The term has been used to refer to today's newborns, but is used more often to refer to people born after the year 2008.

The first full generation to be born into a digital world.

Grandparents often lack information about the range of support services, benefits andpolicies they need to fulfill their caregiving role. In an effort to remedy this situation, agroup of national organizations working on behalf of children and/or seniors hasprepared State Fact Sheets for Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children, whichprovide helpful state-specific data and information for each of the states, Washington,D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

More than 6 million children are being raised in households headed by grandparentsand other relatives.

2.5 million children are in grandparent-headed households without any parents present

2.4 million grandparents report they are responsible for their grandchildren living withthem: 29% of these grandparents are African American; 17% are Hispanic/Latino; 2% areAmerican Indian or Alaskan Native; 3% are Asian; 47% are White.

71% of these grandparents are under the age of 60.

19% of these grandparents live in poverty.

In a unique national partnership, AARP Foundation, Brookdale Foundation Group, CaseyFamily Programs, Child Welfare League of America, Children's Defense Fund, andGenerations United have compiled and released state fact sheets and one national factsheet that include:

There are 213, 465 children living in grandparent-headed households (6.6%of all children in the state). There are another 75,362 children living inhouseholds headed by other relatives (2.3% of all children in the state).

Of the children living in households headed by grandparents or otherrelatives in Illinois, 119,676 are living there without either parent present.

103,717 grandparents report they are responsible for their grandchildrenliving with them [41,328 in Chicago and 1,576 in Rockford]: 41% of thesegrandparents are African American; 16% are Hispanic/Latino; 2% are Asian;and 39% are White. 28% of these grandparents live in households without thechildren’s parents present. 76% are under the age of 60; 12% live in poverty.

Additional data on grandparents raising children are available from theUnited States Census at http://factfinder.census.gov or

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t17.html

Have grandchildren and grandparents separately talk about people they know from their generational era, the relationships, and allow them to share their experiences.

Have a conversation with caregivers about their challenges as caregivers raising today’s children and how parenting differ from raising their children?

Build on those strengths and experiences to embrace and respect the generational differences and learn from each other utilizing life skill activities.

Engaging in community and neighborhood activities.

Holiday activities such as baking, cooking, eating, arts and crafts, boardgames, puzzles, and planning and implementing various partiestogether.

We incorporate activities around the 7 principals of Kwanzaa toencourage cultural development such as Kwanzaa learning thedefinition of Kwanzaa’s 7 Principals:◦ Umoja – unity◦ Kujichagulia – self-determination◦ Ujima – working together◦ Ujamaa – supporting each other◦ Nia – purpose◦ Kuumba – creativity◦ Imani – faith

As well as engage them in Kwanzaa games such as word search, wordjumble, cross word puzzles, counting games and arts & crafts.

Engaging both the grandparent and grandchildren together and/or separately in activities that provides temporary relief from child rearing responsibilities.

Sample grandfamily respite activities are:◦ Attending social events, plays, workshops, trips to

the zoo, amusement parks, water parks, picnics, parades, gardening, etc…

NCNW-CMS Women & Girls Making History & Purple Reflection event

Grandparent Appreciation Awards Dinner

Chicago Dept on Aging Senior Fest

Women Health Conference with Congressman Danny K. Davis

Night at the movies

Conversation with Dorothy I. Height at DuSable Museum

Girl Scouts

Tutoring & Mentoring Program

Computer Classes

Peer to Peer Educational Programs

When you wake up in the morning complete the

following statement;◦ My purpose is to__________ today.

◦ I am thankful for______________.

Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, issues of

the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot

control.

No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

When you are feeling down, start listing your many

blessings you'll be smiling before you know it.

Remember; you’re not alone; It takes a village to raise

a child.

Sankofa Male Responsibility Curriculum by Useni Eugene Perkins Training African American Parents for Success by Marquita Hill Strengths of the Black Family by Dr. Robert Hill Sankofa’s Intergenerational Curriculum by Dr. Collier-Jones www.census2000 www.aarp.org www.brookdalefoundation.org www.casey.org www.cwla.org www.childrendefense.org www.gu.org www.iconculture.com www.generations.com

Sankofa Safe Child Initiative1500 S. Keeler Ave.Chicago, IL 60623

Office: 773-542-9900 Fax: (9790)Email: wsafechild@sbcglobal.net

Rosie Hicks Patton & Loretta Wash