Center for Working Families

Bob Giloth, Annie E. Casey Foundation
	Good morning. It feels like we have done a lot of work already. I want to welcome all of you to an interesting two days. I want to thank you all for joining us. We are here to discuss the Centers for Working Families business model. We tried to bring together a large mix of people here today to address this issue. We wanted this group to represent all the people that are involved in the Center for Working Families. During the next two days we will be taking the Center for Working Families concept and making it better and more robust. Our goal is to understand the concept, pull together and merge business plans and provide feedback. We also hope that you all take something away from this experience that you can use back at home.
	The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a national foundation. Our mission is to create better outcomes for kids. We address this issue this from many perspectives that revolve around provide support for families and neighborhoods. We have a number of initiatives and the Center for Working Families idea came from an effort we started four years ago. The idea is around creating strong families and neighborhoods to support kids. Kids thrive in strong environments and we want to help create those environments.
	We identified the fact that a family needs confidence to meet basic needs to grow their assets to gain success. We want to understand how we can give families the confidence necessary for success. We have focused on neighborhoods and making connections. We have found there is a lack of support and infrastructure in the neighborhoods. There are also people that are not taking advantage of the benefits they have access to in their neighborhood. These benefits help families have a higher quality of life.
	When we look at neighborhood, we ask how we can raise the community up. Our neighborhood approach is to bring together multiple services in the context of a neighborhood to create family support.
Mark Mc Daniel
	Our vision for a Center for Working Families is that it will provide a supportive and resource rich environment where families can gain access to employment services, family economic supporters, consumer financial services, community connections, and other trusted and high quality services in a convenient location. Each Center for Working Families will possess its own unique set of characteristics with regard to location, service, menu, staff size and structure as they will be designed to meet the local context of communities and individualized need of consumers. The four common elements that will be implemented across sites are: family economic support, employment services, consumer financial services, collecting data for results, creating sustainable operation, identifying a set of local partners, creation of local planning and local leverage & blended funded streams.
Bob Giloth
	We want to gather the best ideas. We want to come up with some sample business plans and create a set of tools. We will take this information and publish it on our website. The hope is to use this information to raise money and launch some pilots.
Michael Kaufman
	Good morning. I am one of the facilitators today. I want to start by asking you a question.
	What is this? (Holds up a toy brain) A brain. A model. A model of a brain. What is a model? Parts. Models represent something. It shows something on a different scale. Do all models have scale? Some models are smaller or larger than the thing they represent. What else is a model? A tool. It is not real. A model is a way visualize something. Are all models visual? No. They can be conceptual or metaphorical. Why do humans make models? Humans make models to study, practice, or convey information. We make models to help us look at things outside of our perspective. Models help us experiment. We use models to help us make choices. They help us manage and understand the world we live in. What models do we use everyday? Some models we use everday include computers, maps, agenda, proposals, recipes, faith, organizational charts, strategic plans, resumes, television, parenting and money. Does a model contain all of the information of what it represents? Generally no. If a model has all the information it represents, it would be a replicate of the model. Are models flexible? Yes. Is a credit card a model? Yes. How do you know if a model a good model? In order to know if a model is good you need to test the model. You need to make sure you test the model over time. Does it impede or enable progress? Models are used to define progress. Models facilitate how we reach a goal. Are words models? Yes. What happens when two people talk to each other? They are communicating information. They are exchanging models and co-constructing models. They are shaping their world. If two people are exchanging models, the models bump into each other. What happens when two things bump into each other? They could have conflict or agreement. How do you resolve model conflict? When you are in model conflict you can impose your model, give up your model, leave both models, keep your models and go or let a new model emerge. For example if I say the word "center", "family", or "work" we could have 50 different models for each of these words. Today we need to make sure we understand each other's models. Are people in conflict? People are not in conflict. Models are in conflict. Today make sure you let the models bump into each other. Use this model conflict to our benefit. Something new will emerge. Is there ever a time when we as human beings are not using models? Our bodies are models. Sleeping? Infants? When we are dead. We as human beings are using models at all times. The only time we may not be in a model is when we are in the experience of the "present moment". What is the trap of using models? A trap is to mistake the model for the thing it represents. Another trap is to get fixated on the model. When we are fixated, we go deaf and blind. We get fixated on a model and we cannot hear or see anything that is not the model. A model that is built with poor or false information can also trap us. Our goal is to play with models today. There will be some creative tension as we play with these models the next two days.
Morning Activity Review
Click here to view Walk About	Now we will transition into reviewing the questions you were asked this morning. What jumps out at you?
	What are we trying to accomplish? What does the Center for Working Families look like? Is it a physical or virtual space? Are we here to test a hypothesis? Or are we here to create the hypothesis? We need to keep in mind the end user and what they need not what we think they need?
	Are we focused on the supply or demand side? We do want to address the issue that three are services that are not taken advantage of the services and how do we encourage them to use the services. We want to create a plan that show how we create a demand for what we are creating.
Langdon Morris
	I know you have a lot of questions. We have a lot of questions for you to answer. You will be working in teams and break out areas through out the next two days. We will be iterating our work. You never design the final product the first time you attempt it. We want you to begin with a first draft. We want you to be patient with each other and this process. We are here to begin to build the context. You are here to listen to each other’s models. We are not looking for perfection. We will be asking you more questions that you have time to answer. Focus on the questions that you have most energy around. We will not ever get to 100% today. We want to get about 80% of the work complete so we have something to test. The models will continue to develop after this event. In our first activity we are taking the approach that the Center for Working Families exists. Put yourself in 2007 and look back from the point of view described on the assignment.