Happy Gregorian New Year! At the beginning of each new year, I like to reflect over the past year, think about what I want to take with me into the new year and to leave behind what no longer serves me. And given how personal the mission of Our Family Coalition is, I like to do the same when it comes to the work of the organization.
We had a full year of activities last year including a return to in-person programming. Thank you for trusting us with your families. Some of the highlights from last year include the release of our Community Needs Assessment finding. We learned a lot from that report and we started implementing some changes immediately. In fact, we launched our family navigation services and mental health services as a result of what you shared with us. In addition to this we learned that we need to do more to serve the diverse needs of our families in addition to providing more social events to counter the isolation felt by many of us during the pandemic. That is why last year we held over 100 events including a camping trip weekend.
Let’s not forget we also had a major policy win with the passing of SB 951, which OFC co-sponsored. These things were not small feats and we were able to do this thanks to you and to the hard work of the OFC staff.
Of course, last year wasn’t filled with only wins. In fact, the last two years has reminded us that barriers to accessing justice, health services, social & legal services, education services, and more continue to exist and that there continues to be a documented disparity of outcomes that disproportionately affects our community especially our Trans, Non-Binary and BIPOC members of our community. That is why we are continuing to dig deeper to learn and implement changes to the way we work in partnership with our Parent Action Boards while making sure we are doing everything we can to reduce barriers to services. We want to make sure that we move forward being both community driven and accountable to our community.
I know the last few years have been extremely difficult for many of us. And for that reason, I thank you for staying close with Our Family Coalition and I want to remind you that we are here for you. And to our BIPOC, Non-Binary, Trans, Single, Poly families and those among us with accessibility challenges I know that there is more that we can do to serve you and we are committed in making this promise a reality.
We have an exciting lineup of programming planned in 2023 from camping trips to our sorely missed San Francisco PreSchool Fair. I am excited to start the new year strong and to welcome back our community. Thank you again for being part of our community and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Sincerely,
Mimi Demissew
