Richmond Family Health Clinic: Mural
If you’ve recently gone to visit the Richmond Family Health Clinic you might have noticed a beautiful Mural on the side of our building. Thanks to the Founding Director of the Bay Area Mural Festival Sarah Siskin, Brighter Beginnings was more »
Basket Brigades
Basket Brigade began as a philanthropic project of inspirational speaker Tony Robbins. There are many different ways that this concept can be implemented. Brighter Beginnings’ experience with this activity has been as a collaborator with a Piedmont Girl Scout Troop more »
Richmond Family Health Clinic: Mural
If you’ve recently gone to visit the Richmond Family Health Clinic you might have noticed a beautiful Mural on the side of our building. Thanks to the Founding Director of the Bay Area Mural Festival Sarah Siskin, Brighter Beginnings was more »
Playing Together 2017 Recap
Thank You Thank you to everyone who made our 10th Annual Playing Together for a Brighter Beginning fundraiser a success. With your support, we were able to raise over $47,000 for our work with vulnerable East Bay Families. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thank more »
Staff Spotlight: Gina Hernandez
In 1989, Gina Hernandez applied for an Administrative Assistant position at The Perinatal Council, a family services organization focused on reducing the high infant mortality rate among African Americans in Oakland. Since then, The Perinatal Council has grown to provide more »
Here are just a few of our recent outcomes:
80% of the teen parents we serve graduate from high school (more than double the national average), significantly increasing their earning potential
Only 4% of the teen moms we serve have repeat births, compared to 30% nationally
99% of the teens and children we serve are successfully connected to health care resources
Our Emergency Closet enables us to provide emergency supplies to more than 400 families each year
Parents in our parenting support groups report feeling less isolated and 80% have made fundamental improvements in how they care for their children as a direct result of the program
97% of dads we serve reported they felt more confident as parents after participating in a fatherhood group; 79% said they spent more time with their children
A group of parents whose children have been involved in Early Head Start for one year have been so gratified by the results that they are working together to put out an educational newsletter for parents by parents
100% of the clients that set financial goals in our Family Financial Fitness workshop series indicated through a survey question that they felt competent to achieve at least one of the financial goals they set
Our social service colleagues and collaborators strongly believe in our approach. And the fact that we have received successive yearly grants from many of our grantors testifies to our able stewardship of the funds and grants
we receive.
What others are saying…
“We highly value our partnership with Brighter Beginnings. Not only have they been excellent financial stewards of the many grants we’ve awarded them, their innovative and comprehensive approach to helping young children and their families is a model with proven results. Young children in our County have benefited greatly from the dedicated professionals at Brighter Beginnings!” — Mark Friedman, CEO, First 5, Alameda County
“The need for family-strengthening services in East Contra Costa County is exceedingly high because it has the highest incidence of domestic violence and child abuse, which has led to an increase in families entering the child welfare system. Dr. McCullough of Brighter Beginnings has been instrumental in terms of her proactive intervention with distressed families in the county, and she has been a tireless advocate for the reinstatement of the recently-cut Black Infant Health program.” — Ray Merritt, Division Manager, East Contra Costa County, Employment and Human Services (Retired March 2011)
Kaeneithia’s Story
“My Family Advocate really helped keep me grounded, and she taught me about new ways to care for my children. She encouraged me all the time to keep going to school, supported the decisions I made and helped me become a better, more active and informed mother.” more…
Fatherhood Stories
“Being able to play with my
children in a positive and supportive environment — among a community of fathers – has given me such a better perspective on how I can be a good father to my sons.” more fatherhood stories…
Thank you to all of our donors who helped us make the 2014 Holiday Season happy, healthy, and productive for our families throughout the East Bay.
The Adopt-a-Family Tradition
At Brighter Beginnings, we work with families in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties who need help. Often, those needs are felt most acutely during the Holiday Season, when society celebrates gift-giving, and kids aren’t shy about asking for presents. For parents who lack the means to provide gifts to their children, this can be a very difficult time.
Our Adopt-a-Family program pairs donors with real Brighter Beginnings client families. Brighter Beginnings staff work closely with families to ascertain pressing, material needs, then list those needs and families on our Adopt-a-Family site.
Requests for basic needs and gifts that enable education, work, and wellness are prioritized. So you can expect to see needs for things like pots and pans, backpacks, interview clothes, educational toys, and books.
Once a donor – or a group of donors – signs up to “adopt” a family, they are responsible for locating gifts, wrapping them, and dropping them off at one of our Brighter Beginnings sites.
This year a total of 325 families were adopted across our sites in Oakland, Richmond, and Antioch.
