Network Events
Connect with Vital Village Network at these upcoming events. Click event to RSVP or learn more.

5:30-8:30pm @ BU School of Medicine, 72 E. Concord Street
Join network members to have a courageous conversation about discipline and restorative justice. Co-hosts include the  Suffolk County Sheriff's Family Matters Program, the Family Nurturing Center, and Janet Connors, Restorative Justice practitioner, Trainer and Consultant.
RSVP here .






October 17th: Virtual Tour of of NOW Innovation Forum
The Networks of Opportunity  for Child Well-being (NOW) Initiative will be hosting a virtual tour of the new NOW Innovation Forum and key features. See below for more information about the great work being done by the NOW Initiative.  Register here  http://bit.ly/2IkhsuR. 

8:00-4:00pm @ The Kroc Corps Community Center (Salvation Army), 650 Dudley Street
This year's theme is Community Resilience: Roots of Collective Empowerment. We invite you to join us and our co-hosts to build connections and be inspired by amazing entrepreneurs, experts, and community champions who are making a difference in the Boston community and beyond. 

Our keynote speaker has just been announced! We are excited to welcome Dr. Marva Lewis, a sociocultural psychologist who will discuss her research on the act of hair-combing, trauma, bonding, and healing. 



Village Voices 
Network members' voices bring good news and share highlights from around our community.   

6th Annual Haitian's Americans United Conference
Network member, Smith Lamothe, a member of the 
Haitian Americans United helped plan the 6th 
Annual State of Haitian Americans in Massachusetts Conference that took place on September 8th.  The conference hosted a range of speakers and encouraged  attendees to engage in discussions about civic engagement,  education, child development, and immigration. Congratulations  Smi th and H.A.U for a successful conference! 




Breastfeeding Sch olar
Story Highlights
Network member, Dominique Graham, of  Dommie's Blessed , interviewed many of the  Boston Breastfeeding Coalition 's members--both our peer breastfeeding scholars and parents. To close out Black Breastfeeding Week, Aug 25-31, the Coalition posted a new Scholar Stories which are video interviews and blogs featuring our amazing volunteer breastfeeding counselors who are on a mission to increase breastfeeding support in neighborhoods across Boston.  Watch and read 
Dominique Bellegarde, Melody Lopez, and Melissa Minaya tell their stories on The Daily Milk.

Welcome, New Vital Village
Team Member Soojin! 
We are excited to welcome a new member to the Vital Village team, Soojin Min. Soojin is our new data coordinator who be working hard to help us better understand the impact of all of our hard work. Soojin is passionate about advancing equitable health policies, promoting health education, and addressing health disparities and inequities. Be sure to give her a warm welcome and check out her full bio here!
 
Community Events
Join Vital Village Network partners and other community organizations at these upcoming events. Click event to RSVP or learn more.
 
October 6th and 7th: Boston Mini Maker Faire
10:00am-5:00pm @ 308 Congress St
Come to the Boston Children's Museum for an action-packed day of learning, fun, and discovery. We have limited free tickets to this event so please reach out to erica.pike@bmc.org if you are interested.

8:00am to 4:00pm @ The Sheraton Framingham Hotel and Conference Center
Join Mass Kids for a day of skill-building sessions to increase the confidence of school and youth organization leaders to learn how to prevent and respond to a range of boundary-violating behaviors. Register here.

7:30pm @ The Strand Theater, 543 Columbia Rd Dorchester 
The Dorchester Short Film Festival at Dorchester's original "movie palace," the Strand Theater, will be showing award-winning films. Purchase tickets here

8:30am to 12:30pm @ The Westin Copley Place, 10 Huntington Ave
Parenting Journey is hosting the Social & Family Justice Institute, a convening of stakeholders to advance an agenda that promotes community, uplifts parents, and cultivates leadership.This year's Institute focuses on harnessing parents' power to create social change. Here is the registration link. Discounts may be available to those who sign-up in a group.

Join this two-day conference with mothers from around the country to learn from each other's successes, gain technical assistance from experts, and build an alliance to end senseless street violence. See  more information and  register  today!


Check out  more community events on our Website and Facebook
Opportunities
Check out job, volunteer, and grant opportunities available in our community.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is hiring a Racial Equity Coordinator  to support the bureau in making its programs, policies, and practices more racially equitable. Apply  here.
Boston Youth Sanctuary is hiring a new member for their direct care staff. The new team member will interact with at-risk children residing in inner-city Boston. Look here for more information. 

Program Application for Nurturing Fathers Program
Family Nurturing Center in collaboration with Father Friendly Initiative , Children's Trust , and Whittier Street Health Center is currently accepting applications for the Nurturing Fathers Program. The series starts on October 9th from 5:30 to 8:30 pm and runs for 13 weeks. There will be an open house on October 2nd. All meetings are at Whittier St Health Center (1290 Tremont St).  Contact John O'Neil for @  joneil@familynurturing.org 
for all questions
Resource Connector
Learn more about resources relevant to children and families in our community from our community.

New Resource: Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Innovation Forum 

New Resource: Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Innovation Forum
The Vital Village team is excited to announce the launch of the Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Innovation Forum! The NOW initiative aims to improve  the c capacity  of local communities and coalitions working to promote child well being and align early childhood systems of care and education by using a trauma-informed lens.

The NOW Innovation Forum brings together resources and stories in a central hub, to promote shared learning and networking among communities across the country. Through this online platform, members of the NOW network will be able to access a wide range of tools to increase the reach, scale, and sustainability of local efforts . This includes tools focused on NOW's key levers of community change: how to utilize equity tools; develop inclusive, family-centered coalition and governance processes; mobilize broader community engagement; utilize data and storytelling tools; and plan for sustainability.


Visit   https://www.networksofopportunity.org and become a member today! 

100 Ways to Play
The Boston Children's Museum sha nred a resource on 
100 Ways to Play, creative  ways for children and  
adults to play and grow together. Check out some 
new  ways that you and your kids can play together!







Launch of New Abundance App
Thanks to the visioning of network members
Suzeth Dyer-Dunn and Patrick Dunn, we have 
recently launched the new Abundance App
Abundance  shows you affordable, healthy food 
options near you to  increase the accessibility of 
healthy food resources.  Download the app for your iPhone today! 




The Family Independence Initiative (FII) trusts and invests  directly in low-income families
so they can  work individually and collectively  to achieve prosperity. FII 
does this by providing a technology
platform to strengthen social networks, access resources, and support one another
in achieving mobility. FII-Greater Boston 
is currently enrolling families in Cambridge, MA. Please contact crystal@fii.org for more information.


 
Scoop on the Stats
Explore data related to child and family well-being.

Did you know that 69% of parents say that they would use more positive parenting strategies if they knew them? (Source: Zero to Three) Positive parenting is all about making choices that reflect your beliefs and values as a parent, your child's age and stage of development, and your child's temperament.

If you'd like to learn more parenting and educator discipline strategies, join in at our Courageous Conversation on October, 15th, 5:30 to 8:30.