Mission

SBFC’s mission is to improve K-12 students’ social-emotional wellness. We do this by connecting parents, guardians and teens with valuable resources, education and support, as well as reducing stigma around mental health issues and sparking conversations that inspire people to reach out for help when they need it. For instructions to view this website in Spanish, click on en Español.

Goals

1. Provide evidence-based education, insight, and tools to:

   • Understand what is trending in youth substance use and other harmful behaviors, and help youth stave off use during the teen years

   • Implement family strategies to help children manage screen time, stress and anxiety, and other challenges in healthy ways

   • Know how to talk with children about critical wellness issues, and when to reach out for help when they need it

   • Connect youth directly with current and relevant wellness resources curated for them

2. Reduce stigma and spark community-wide conversations around the challenges that many South Bay families face

3. Engage parents and caregivers early, starting in elementary school through high school graduation, with consistent and continuous social-emotional wellness messaging and information

A Collaborative Approach

SBFC has partnered with 115 South Bay schools and dozens of health care providers and community organizations, all of whom share the same goal of helping youth thrive. We're all in this together.

Programing and Online Resources

SBFC is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 that offers parents, caregivers, educators and teens the following free resources, education events and opportunities to connect around the youth wellness issues and challenges currently trending, from helping our youth managing stress and anxiety in healthy ways, to reducing the likelihood that they will use drugs and alcohol.

• SBFC Parent Resources

• The Families Connected Parent Chat

• SBFC Virtual Teen Center

• SBFC Educational Videos

• Community outreach and education

• South Bay Opioid Awareness Project

• The Families Connected Parent Advisory

Engagement and Impact

Please click on the link below to hear from SBFC Partner School administrators, South Bay parents, and SBFC advisors about the need for, and the impact of the SBFC project to date.

Team

SBFC Non-profit Board

Annmarie Whitney, Board Chair

Kimberley Digilio, Treasurer

Jill Millstein, Secretary

Charlotte Gesten, Esq., V.P. Opperations

Kelly Hendrickson, R.N., Community Outreach

Amy Howorth, Outgoing Board Chair

Carla Ramirez, Outgoing Treasurer

Staff

LSM Communications Team, partner school implementation and management, newsletter, social media, website, blog production & event calendar management (contracted)

Bookkeeping provided by Andrea Rawitt (contracted)

SBFC Volunteers

Laura McIntire, Program Director

Liz Glozman, Youth Mentorship Program

Jen Elledge (Barber), MPH, Youth Advisory Council

Marie Puterbaugh, CFA, CFP, Fundraising

SBFC 501c3 organization co-founders

Ellen Rosenberg, former SBFC Board President

Charlotte Gesten, former SBFC Board Vice President Operations

Sandi Gleason, former SBFC Treasurer

Liz Glozman, former board member, SBFC Youth Advisory

Founder, the Families Connected Project

We thank Laura Short McIntire, President, LSM Communications LLC, (LSM) for her vision in creating the Families Connected project concept and website, as well as the SBFC logo and concept pro-bono in 2015.