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Mailman School
of Public Health
Columbia University
722 West 168th Street,
8th Floor
New York, NY 10032
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Irony and hope in the emerging family policies: A case for family empowerment associations Richard Kordesh The author suggests that families need new organizations that can exert influence on existing institutions (e.g., zoning commissions) to help shape communities in ways that enhance and support families. Current family support strategies are designed to humanize formal systems and agencies to better serve families; a family empowerment strategy is designed to create institutions through which families shape the conditions in which they live. Though not necessarily contradictory, the two systems have different characteristics. For example, family support systems focus on social capacity and caring, while empowerment systems emphasize the exercise of political, economic, and religio-cultural capacities. Also, support systems assert that the community is a resource for families, while empowerment systems say families help build communities. The author traces the shift of functional productive roles from families to formal institutions; asserts that the capacity of families must be strengthened to encourage empowerment; and says that strong communities that strengthen family capacities affirm values, develop shared histories, build attachments to shared places, establish a spirit of interconnectedness, and construct common visions. Family empowerment associations are the best institutional base for families to learn to care for themselves and contribute to community building. The author describes the attributes and goals of empowering organizations, offers a scenario of how to build a family empowerment association, suggests possible host organizations, considers state policies that affect family empowerment, and proposes that family empowerment associations become the mediating influence between individual families and institutions.
Institute for Policy Research and Evaluation
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Disclaimer Free To Grow is a national program supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with direction and technical assistance provided by the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. |