Program
Agenda
Together for Families is designed as an intentional journey from understanding what families are carrying to identifying what communities and systems must build in response. Throughout all three days, participants can also follow the conference’s three tracks.
Pre-conference learning opportunities
From Under the Radar to All the Rage
Family Resource Centers & FRC Networks. Access on demand →
Supporting Families Through Best Practice
An overview of the Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support. Access on demand →
Standards of Quality Certification Training
Register by October 6. Learn more →
Session formats
The program includes three kinds of sessions.
Plenary and featured sessions
Four shared sessions bring the full conference together: the Welcome and Opening Plenary, a featured interactive session, a featured plenary, and the Closing Conversation.
Bright Spot Deep Dives
Six organizations and communities share promising practice in two rounds. Each round begins with a 15-minute shared preview of all three. Participants then choose one for a 60-minute deep dive.
Concurrent Sessions
25 interactive workshops across the three conference tracks. Several sessions run at the same time in each block, so participants can choose what fits their work.
Schedule at a glance
All times Eastern. For session descriptions and presenters, use the full agenda below.
Tuesday, October 20
Day 1| 11:00am–12:20pm ET | Welcome & Opening Plenary: From Adversity to PossibilityThe Catalytic Drivers of Primary Prevention |
| 12:20–12:45pm ET | Break |
| 12:45–2:00pm ET | Concurrent Sessions |
| 2:00–2:15pm ET | Break |
| 2:15–3:30pm ET | Bright Spot Deep Dives: Round 1 |
| 3:30–3:45pm ET | Break |
| 3:45–5:00pm ET | Concurrent Sessions |
Welcome & Opening Plenary
11:00am–12:20pm ET
From Adversity to Possibility
The Catalytic Drivers of Primary Prevention
Primary prevention is more than intervening earlier. It requires positive experiences, nurturing relationships, trusted community supports, strong practice, aligned systems, and the conditions that help families flourish. Together, the speakers will explore how positive childhood experiences, early relational health, lived experience, community-rooted support, and public-system transformation can work together as a national primary prevention strategy.
- Dr. Robert SegeTufts Medical Center / HOPE
- Rebecca Jones GastonNew York City Administration for Children’s Services
- Dr. David W. WillisGeorgetown University Thrive Center / Nurture Connection
- Romero DavisTexas Alliance of Child & Family ServicesModerator
Each round begins with a 15-minute shared preview of all three. Participants then choose one for a 60-minute deep dive.
Community-Rooted Support
From Grassroots to Comprehensive
Building and Sustaining a Multigenerational, Community-Rooted Family Support Center
Presenters: Dr. Barbara Palmer
Organizations: Kingdom Kare, Inc
Housing
Keeping Families Rooted
Housing Innovation Designed With Families, Not For Them
Presenters: Cheri Williams, Alisa Otto, LaTanya Bennett
Organizations: Imagination Factory; Samaritas
Community Data + Funding
Building Communities of Hope
Turning Local Data into Community Action and Sustainable Investment
Presenters: Lucas Gerber, Tecoria Jones
Organizations: Casey Family Programs; Everybody LLC
Wednesday, October 21
Day 2| 11:00am–12:15pm ET | Bright Spot Deep Dives: Round 2 |
| 12:15–1:00pm ET | Break |
| 1:00–2:15pm ET | Concurrent Sessions |
| 2:15–2:45pm ET | Break |
| 2:45–3:45pm ET | Featured Interactive Session: Follow the Money: A Sustainability Lab for Family SupportFiscal approaches to sustain local programs and build prevention capacity |
| 3:45–5:00pm ET | Concurrent Sessions |
Featured Interactive Session
2:45–3:45pm ET
Follow the Money: A Sustainability Lab for Family Support
Fiscal approaches to sustain local programs and build prevention capacity
Sustaining Family Support programs takes more than finding the next grant. It requires understanding what capacity communities need to preserve, what resources can support it, and what partnerships and infrastructure are necessary to make that financing work over time.
In this interactive session, Foster America will take participants inside a real financing challenge facing a state network of Family Resource Centers. Drawing on lessons from Foster America’s Fiscal Leadership Circle and NFSN’s fiscal resources, participants will examine the challenge from the perspectives of program, Network, and public-system leaders. Together, they will explore potential funding pathways, including federal opportunities such as the Family First Prevention Services Act and Medicaid, and consider what each leader could do next.
Participants will leave with a practical framework for examining their own sustainability challenges: What capacity are we trying to sustain? What resources could support it? Who needs to be at the table? What infrastructure must we invest in to make it work?
Each round begins with a 15-minute shared preview of all three. Participants then choose one for a 60-minute deep dive.
Trust and Flexible Funding
Mending the Gaps
Operationalizing Trust and Flex Funding to Build Neighborhood Stability
Presenters: Adrienne Elder, Jonah Johnson
Organizations: Resilient Oklahoma; RestoreOKC
Family Stability
Addressing Family Housing Instability and Homelessness
Data, Strategies and Opportunities
Presenters: Leah Lindstrom Rhea, Kristy Piescher, PhD, Samantha Goldman, Bianca Stewart, Peter Goldstein
Organizations: Corporation for Supportive Housing; University of Minnesota; Scott County Human Services
Primary Prevention
Reimagining Prevention
Building a Primary Prevention Ecosystem with FRCs in Virginia
Presenters: Kiersten Sutton, Ronald L. Brown, Cassandra Calender-Ray, Erin Watson
Organizations: Prevent Child Abuse America; Families Forward Virginia; Family Matters FRC; Weaving Change
Thursday, October 22
Day 3| 11:00am–12:00pm ET | Featured Plenary: One Big Doable Thing!Advancing Flourishing Through Relationship-Centered Practices and Systems Change |
| 12:00–12:30pm ET | Break |
| 12:30–1:45pm ET | Concurrent Sessions |
| 1:45–2:15pm ET | Break |
| 2:15–3:30pm ET | Concurrent Sessions |
| 3:30–3:45pm ET | Break |
| 3:45–4:45pm ET | Closing Conversation: The Future Families NeedA Call to Build the Systems and Supports That Help Families Flourish |
Featured Plenary
11:00am–12:00pm ET
One Big Doable Thing!
Advancing Flourishing Through Relationship-Centered Practices and Systems Change
A future-facing conversation about what becomes possible when relationships, flourishing, family and community leadership, and systems change are treated as essential infrastructure for child and family well-being.
- Dr. Christina BethellJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative
Closing Conversation
3:45–4:45pm ET
The Future Families Need
A Call to Build the Systems and Supports That Help Families Flourish
What would it take to build a future in which every family can access meaningful support, strong relationships, and opportunities to flourish, long before challenges become crises?
In this intimate closing conversation, Dr. Melissa Merrick and Jerry Milner will explore why reaching families early, strengthening relational health and connections, and investing in primary prevention are essential to the well-being of children, families, and communities.
- Dr. Melissa MerrickPrevent Child Abuse America
- Jerry MilnerFamily Justice Group
Full agenda
Browse every session, including descriptions and presenters. The full agenda is kept current in Whova.
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Register for Together for Families 2026
Virtual, October 20–22, 2026. All times Eastern.