Folsom Cordova Community Partnership: Cultivating Community Resilience and Connection

Folsom Cordova Community Partnership is a beacon of hope and support for families and youth, serving a vibrant and diverse community from pre-birth through the senior years. With a focus on empowerment, they offer a variety of programs tailored to meet the unique needs of families, helping to build strong connections and promote well-being throughout the life journey. Their innovative approach includes resources that strengthen family bonds, enhance parenting skills, and provide youth with the tools they need to succeed, all while fostering a sense of belonging and cultural appreciation.

Kars4Kids is delighted to support Folsom Cordova Community Partnership with a small grant as a testament to their incredible impact on the lives they touch. By championing initiatives that nurture resilience and growth, such as parenting workshops and youth mentorship programs, they’re paving the way for brighter futures. We’re eager to stand alongside such a passionate organization that is transforming challenges into opportunities for families and youth in the community!

We put some questions to Folsom Cordova Community Partnership Resource Development Director Elayne Holder to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about the community you serve? What’s your demographic?

Elayne Holder: We serve families pre-birth to age 99 in our community. This is a diverse group of people speaking many languages and celebrating a wide variety of traditions and customs.

Kars4Kids: Your Family Resource Center is part of the Birth & Beyond Family Resource Center network. Can you explain what this is, and why Folsom Cordova Community Partnership wanted to be a part of this network?

Elayne Holder: Folsom Cordova Community Partnership joined the Birth & Beyond Family Resource Center Network because the concept was built on collaboration from the start. The Family Resource Center network model was established over 25 years ago with the creation of Birth & Beyond. Resource Centers were strategically placed in areas with the highest rates of child abuse, neglect, and child deaths at the time. Since then, the collaborative has worked to provide tailored support for local families, aiming to reduce child abuse and neglect, strengthen community connections, and offer consistent services that promote child development and family well-being.

Kars4Kids: Would you give us an overview of Make Parenting a Pleasure? It sounds really different from any other parenting programs we’ve heard about! Why did Folsom Cordova feel it important to offer this program?

Elayne Holder: Make Parenting a Pleasure parenting program equips families with essential skills to foster healthy relationships and child development. Parents learn effective strategies for stress management, positive discipline, and communication while gaining insights into child development. The curriculum of Make Parenting a Pleasure, is designed for expectant families and parents of children ages 0-17.

Each session includes best-practice approaches to self-care, stress management, and discipline, with pre- and post-assessments to measure progress. Participants also complete home practice assignments to reinforce learning. Our staff are certified facilitators, trained by the Child Abuse Prevention Center, and the curriculum is approved by the Department of Child, Family, and Adult Services (DCFAS).

Additionally, this program is approved for Sacramento Court-Mandated Parent Education, ensuring accessibility to families who require structured parenting support.

Kars4Kids: What is PlayCare? Is this for children parents attending your workshops? Is it similar to a babysitting service, or is there a wider purpose to this offering?

Elayne Holder: Our PlayCare is available for the children of parents who are attending our Parenting Classes, workshop, celebrations and classes. In addition to the traditional play provided during this time we also focus on exploration with music. Dance, sing and play instruments builds creativity and helps with math skills.

Kars4Kids: Would you give us an overview of your Out of School Youth Program?

Elayne Holder: Out of School Youth supports youth with high barriers to employment which includes low income, foster youth, unhoused or involved in the criminal justice system, drop out or other barriers to employment. Students must not be enrolled in school in order to participate in the program. We provide case management support which includes job readiness workshops, financial literacy and leadership training. Students receive a $100 stipend for completing workshops. We offer paid internships – called WEX – in which we partner with businesses to act as a host site for youth to receive on the job training while we pay them as staff of our agency. We provide resources and referrals for the other service as well as some supportive services are available as needed.

Kars4Kids: What is S.T.E.P.?

Elayne Holder: Student Training and Employment Program supports youth ages 16 through 21 who are in school and have a disability. They must have an IEP or a 504 plan and maintain enrollment in an educational program. (If youth are not currently enrolled, they can enroll in S.T.E.P and we can assist them in enrolling into school). We provide similar supports as resources as for our Out of School Youth program.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about Youth Rise. This program seems to be focused on social emotional development. Is that right? How does it work?

Elayne Holder: Youth Rise Summer camp is a 9-session (3 weeks) day camp for connecting youth to social emotional learning, mentorship and job readiness. We partner with local agencies to teach life skills, like financial literacy, mental health care / self-care and healthy relationships. We also provide job readiness workshops to support with transitioning youth into adulthood. Youth enroll for the program and attend camp where they build relationships with each other, play games and engage in meaningful education. We try to provide lunch for them if possible, as well as snacks and drinks.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about JobEx for Youth? Why is this of particular importance to the youth of your community?

Elayne Holder: JobEx for Youth provides job readiness support for the youth in Rancho Cordova. In collaboration with community partners and local high schools, we provide extended services for job readiness, access to jobs and career pathways, events and poo-up style workshops and more. We teach kids how to build resumes and cover letters, as well as job search safely and efficiently. We also share information about career growth, offer career assessments, goal setting, and connection to employers, colleges and Career Specialists to support with transitional age youth – 16 to 24.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Folsom Cordova Community Partnership?

Elayne Holder: We continue to build our events and programs. One of our new programs is Job Readiness Academy, a 9-week program for unemployed people who face many other barriers (housing, transportation, legal, food insecurities). Skills such as resume building, job seeking and interviewing are matched with life skills that prepare our clients for success.

Our largest event, Juneteenth, is coming up in June. More than 600 people attend this celebration.