Standing Strong With Families in L.A. County: The 2022 Family Strengthening Network Summit
Be the buffalo, who charges into the storm and makes it pass quickly — not the cow, who prolongs it by trying to outrun the rain as it approaches.
Keynote speaker Shola Richards got this sage advice years ago from his father, and he shared it with the 750 attendees at the Family Strengthening Network’s annual Summit on June 2, 2022. With the Summit’s theme Standing Strong With Families in Los Angeles County, Shola’s message was fitting.
The event, which was conducted virtually for the third year in a row, brought together the 14 Welcome Baby hospital programs, along with the more than two dozen agencies affiliated with Healthy Families America and Parents as Teachers home visiting programs across L.A. County.
LA Best Babies Network — in partnership with First 5 LA, Maternal and Child Health Access, PAC/LAC, Work2Live Productions, California Hospital Medical Center, and LA County’s Department of Mental Health, Department of Public Health, and Department of Public Social Services — hosted the event.
Always a celebratory affair, the Summit included laudatory remarks from leaders in the county, grateful testimonials from client families, an impressive presentation of data on activity and outcomes over the year, a spoken word presentation, and even a yoga stretch. With the exception of the keynote address (not recorded, at the speaker’s request), it’s all in the video recordings below.
Staff members also took the opportunity to recognize each other. See the nearly 200 shout-outs they gave to highlight their coworkers’ dedication, hard work, compassion, and amazing ability to stand strong with the families they serve. The agenda, speaker bios, and handouts/slides from all presentations are here. (Want more? See recordings from previous Summits.)
Part 3: Honoring the speaker’s request, we are not including a recording of Shola Richards’s keynote presentation. But you can see video and information about him at SholaRichards.com.