The Midwest Learning Center

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting our Web site. The Midwest Learning Center of Family Focus, Inc. provides training, professional development, and program partnerships to ensure that family support principles are integrated in human service practice nationwide to strengthen families. In all of our work we are committed to:

Building on the skills of program staff at all levels who work with families
Cultivating Parent Leadership
Advancing best practices, capacity building, and program development

Professional development to meet your staff's needs and build on their strengths.
High-quality, innovative training curricula developed and delivered by expert trainers.
A forum for advocacy and discussion to advance the family support field.
An online bookstore that houses the most widely used family support tools.

A Family Support America legacy subscription providing access to research papers, publications, and articles spanning more than 25 years.
Customized training based on your organizations specific needs.
Programs to serve family support constituencies developed and delivered with partner organizations.

What's New?

To: Family Support Field and Network Partners of the Midwest Learning Center

From: Kevin Limbeck , Executive Director, Family Focus, Inc.

Date: January 13, 2010

Please join me in congratulating Cynthia Stringfellow on the exciting new position she has taken as Vice President of the Bounce Learning Network, Ounce of Prevention. We thank Cynthia for her nearly 8 years of devotion and excellent leadership in establishing the Midwest Learning Center for Family Support at Family Focus.

We will miss Cynthia�s exceptional talent and we will always be grateful for the legacy she has left us. The Midwest Learning Center is now well positioned to carry on its mission of providing training, professional development and program partnerships to ensure that family support principles are integrated in human service practices nationwide to strengthen families.

The Midwest Learning Center will continue to offer high quality trainings, curriculum development, and innovative programming throughout this new year and beyond. In the interim, our Communications & Professional Development Manager, John Vizuete, MSW, will assume the role of point person for the Midwest Learning Center as we initiate recruiting and interviewing candidates for the position of Center Director. Mr. Vizuete is available to answer any questions you may have about the Midwest Learning Center�s services and operations. A copy of the Midwest Learning Center brochure is available by clicking the link on this page as well as the position announcement for the Center Director, Midwest Learning Center for Family Support at Family Focus.

Regards,

Kevin Limbeck, Executive Director

Family Focus, Inc.

kevin.limbeck@family-focus.org

John Vizuete, MSW, Communications & Professional Development Manager

Midwest Learning Center for Family Support at Family Focus
jvizuete@midwestlearnincenter.org

Family Focus, Inc.

310 S. Peoria

Chicago, Illinois 60607

Tel: 312-421-5200

Fax: 312-421-8185

The Midwest Learning Center launches the
Family Support America Legacy Subscription
25 Years of Service

The Family Support America Legacy Subscription materials are among the most highly cited and utilized in the family support field and are now available online! The benefit of your subscription will be to access over 300 useful articles, research, evaluations, fact sheets, magazines, reports, programs, publications, meeting output, and papers representing Family Support America�s legacy of 25 years from 1981-2006.

Click here to be directed to the subscription page: Legacy subscription

The Midwest Learning Center rolls out the new curriculum on:

Learning about Trauma
and
Children Exposed to Violence

This training was developed collaboratively among multiple Strengthening Families Illinois Partner agencies:

The Midwest Learning Center for Family Support
Chicago Safe Start
Illinois Department of Human Services
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services

Providers can play a major role in helping prevent future trauma and mitigating the current impact it is having on families. The Curriculum is designed specifically as a starting point to increase early childhood providers? knowledge and ability to help them become a strong resource for families struggling with these challenges.

At this workshop participants will:

Increase their awareness and understanding of trauma.
Be able to generalize the trauma experience for children, families, communities and themselves.
Be able to recognize general symptoms or behaviors children can experience when traumatized or exposed to violence.
Become familiar with the tools to support children, families and care givers who have experienced trauma and/or exposure to violence.
Learn how to prevent future trauma and exposure to violence that may lead to trauma.