The Annual Family Strengthening Summit is this week!

This Tuesday (June 11), roughly 600 of us — home visitors, outreach and hospital staff, administrative and data gurus, and supervisors and managers of Welcome Baby and partner home visiting programs — will gather in Hollywood to celebrate and take stock of our achievements.

It’s the annual Family Strengthening Summit, which will include keynote speakers, a discussion panel with parents and staff, and much better food than one might expect at the countless training workshops we conduct throughout the year. Oh, and goody bags with donated items — thanks to First 5 LA (which funds all these home visiting programs) and partners and friends like PAC/LAC, MCH Access and L.A. Care.

At previous summits we’ve presented videos with testimonials from parents and staff, but this year we’re skipping that in order to maximize time for the in-person guests on the parent-staff discussion panel.

But we do have this quick preview of one of the parent-staff pairs who will appear on the panel this year. Thank you, Natalia and Helen!

Are you joining us this year? Here are details on location and agenda, plus a few other things to keep in mind:

• Doors will open shortly before 8:00 am. We kindly ask staff to line up outside by last name, and staff will usher small groups in to register and get breakfast.
• We will break for lunch based on the color of name badge lanyards. Want to eat with your table-mates? Be sure you all choose the same lanyard color. At lunch, one door will be used to enter the lunch line, and another will be used to get back to your table.
• Table reservations are the responsibility of the organizations. Each table will seat 12.
• Transportation: Parking for 600 guests is a challenge, so carpooling, taking public transportation, or ride-sharing (Uber and Lyft) are highly recommended.
• Candy … yes, sweet-tooths, you can get your sugar-high here. The candy station will be open for longer periods, and not just on breaks.
• Take plenty of pictures, and share them along with your insightful commentary, on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Be sure to include #StrongerFamiliesLA and tag @LABestBabies!
• It will be a full house, so please be patient with each other, and with the Taglyan staff, so everyone can enjoy this celebration. Thank you all in advance!