We asked Board Chair Tommy Hillman and spouse Evelena Hillman to share their perspective on healing our community and why they support The Family Partnership. 

How did you get involved with The Family Partnership?

“I met Dianne Haulcy in 2009 at an event when we happened to be sitting at the same table and we connected right away. She was looking for a board member at Reuben Lindh (the organization she led prior to its merger with The Family Partnership). They had an early childhood education focus which was a perfect fit with my interests to help kids get a good start in life.  Now I’m thrilled she is back as President and CEO of The Family Partnership.” – Tommy

What has kept you involved?

“I see the direct line between the work we are doing to support the organization and how that is helping people in the community thrive and lead more fulfilling lives.” – Tommy

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“I see myself in some of the families, children and adults that are helped by the programs at The Family Partnership. To be honest, you’re just one circumstance or one opportunity away in some cases from being in a situation where you need services and support. I have been fortunate, but I understand that life is fragile.” – Evelena

 What are your hopes for our community?

“I understand the challenges of growing up in the United States and being African-American and all the different things you face. I want to instill in our kids, and all youth, the idea that you have the power to drive positive change and make things better in the world.

What struck me when I did speaking to elementary and middle school kids about my career in North Minneapolis was that many of them said ‘Oh, I don’t think I could ever be what you are, ever.’ I said of course you can! You are just in third grade, you can do whatever you want. But they didn’t have that belief instilled in them.”   – Tommy

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What do you want people to know about The Family Partnership?

“Initially, we became involved because of my interest in early childhood education. But now we understand there is a lot more to The Family Partnership’s services. For example, the pandemic made us more aware of the mental health issues people face. Quite frankly, The Family Partnership is serving communities where people would not have access to those services, because they are not going to be able to pay for therapists out of pocket.” – Tommy

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 Learn more how you can support The Family Partnership through volunteer opportunities or ways to give.

Terry Forliti is a survivor leader and has worked with The Family Partnership on UPSIDE, an initiative targeting sexual exploitation in Minneapolis. We asked her to tell her personal story and why change is possible.

I am one of the lucky ones.

I survived a 30-year drug addiction and a decade living on the streets of Minneapolis being sex-trafficked. Today, because of Fentanyl, using any chemical can be a death sentence. I’ve said goodbye to many of my street family friends because of drug overdoses or gun violence.

Not many of us who have traded sex for money (or other items of value) want to perform sex acts up to ten times a day. It isn’t normal and it doesn’t feel good, despite narratives of sex workers that you may have heard.

I never thought I would end up trading sex for drugs or money. Nor did I think that my partner would use me as a tool to secure money, drugs and status as a trafficker. Nevertheless, that is exactly what happened. As a woman, I had the body parts to generate revenue and I was forced to use them.

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I grew up in Bloomington in an upper-middle class family. When I was 15 years-old and got my first job, I was raped by someone I trusted, my boss. I buried my feelings and didn’t tell anyone about it, but that act took my self-worth away. It led me to bury my feelings with drug use, and to further experiences of sexual exploitation that I didn’t know how to process or cope with.

Eventually, I descended to unspeakable places and lows in my life.

I was living on the streets of Minneapolis/Saint Paul with chronic mental health issues and a real bad cocaine addiction. At that point, I had a failed marriage, the inability to care for my two babies, and I had lost a 15-year corporate career. The streets were my family now.

Surviving on the streets meant I had to learn the ‘game’

Most of the women and men that I met on Minneapolis/Saint Paul’s streets and avenues including Franklin & Chicago, Bloomington & Lake, University & Rice, and Broadway & Lyndale, were people of color and had family members that were already in the life and had many years of lived experience. They took me (a white girl) under their wing and taught me the skills to survive.

To reduce physical harm (beatings), I would have to be compliant and make quota so that we, my pimp, co-pimps and others, would have enough cocaine/heroin/crack and a place to stay for the night. I was also responsible for all food, clothing and hygiene materials that were needed on a daily basis. A woman working in sex-trafficking might be sold for 6-10 sex acts per day. I had to find a way to earn up to $500 to $1,000 every day in order to survive.

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I did not think that I could overcome my addiction. I spent weeks at different jails, workhouses in Ramsey, Dakota and Hennepin County. When I was released, I always came away with a new ‘plug’ or new hustle. I saw my life as a burden to myself and those around me.

The crew that I ended up being a part of, would find us a place to stay by sharing drugs with a vulnerable person. One day, the young lady we had been staying with, was getting evicted from her apartment. Once again we were going to be homeless and needed to find another place to stay.

I was too tired to go on. I felt sick, nauseous and was ready to quit. We didn’t even have a car to sleep in. Little did I know, but that day was the catalyst for my life changing.

Long story short…I ended up getting arrested in Ramsey County that same afternoon. I had eleven bench warrants for my arrest in three counties. That meant that I was going to be locked up for a minute. I would have to serve my time in each county before being released. During that time, a jail guard suspected that I was pregnant and had me do an ultrasound in the jail. Indeed, I was pregnant.

I went straight from jail to drug treatment and supportive services. I didn’t know at the time that there were places that provided services for those who had been sex-trafficked like me, but eventually I was able to find supportive services and housing. Compared to twenty-five years ago, there are many more resources and organizations available to help those who have been sexually exploited.

I went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Bethel University. Most importantly, I was able to deliver a healthy baby girl, who is now in her twenties. I also have a relationship with my son and daughter from my marriage and with my extended family.

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I’ve spent years as an advocate and leader at several organizations walking alongside those who have had similar experiences in an effort to create community and healing. I know life can be hard, and it’s not necessarily fair or just. It’s not a cake walk, but I want others to know you can have joy and peace every day.

Change is possible! I believe that it takes a community of people that are non-judgmental and supportive. We can build that healing informed and person centered approach by mirroring it ourselves.

You can learn more about UPSIDE here.

The Family Partnership’s PRIDE program provides anti-sex trafficking services.

When I was growing up, diverse characters and stories in children’s books were almost non-existent. Although there are more opportunities to access diverse stories today, there is still much work to be done. According to the Associated Press and Huffington Post, in 2020, children’s books written about racially diverse characters or subjects represented only 30 percent of all new children’s books. And, their data from 2018 shows that there were more books with animals as the main characters compared to books with main characters from diverse backgrounds.

Black History month is a great opportunity for you to expand your children’s library and purchase stories written by African American authors that give a window into the African American experience. I have picked a few of my favorites I am pleased to share with you.

1. Cute and Curly  by Dr. Rosemarie Allen

I love this story about a girl who loves her natural hair. She talks about the texture of her curls and the time it takes to put all the products on her hair. She also describes how she feels when people touch her hair without asking, “I don’t like it when other people touch my hair”, she says.  “Sometimes they touch my hair without even asking.”   

2. The Magic in Me (personalized book) by Timi Bliss

I love this unique concept, written by a Minnesota African American author, that allows you to personalize this book with your child’s name. Very young children need to see themselves in the stories that are told to them so they see their value and, in this book, they actually get to see their name as well!

3. Magnolia Flower by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

This is my new favorite children’s story about a young girl born to parents who fled slavery and the Trail of Tears. Magnolia Flower is a girl with a vibrant spirit. It is a story about how love can conquer the injustice in our world and it aptly describes the history of both African Americans and Indigenous people in America.

4. Daddy, Why Am I Brown? A Healthy Conversation About Skin Color and Family by Bedford Palmer

This book is a great tool to use as a starter conversation on how kids can learn to talk about skin color in a way that is kind, thoughtful, and healthy. They also learn a little bit about how to understand the difference between race, ethnicity, and culture. This is an important conversation to have with young children so they can learn that it is okay to talk about race.

5. A History of Me by Adrea Theodore

This story is a good story for people that live in areas where there are few people of color. It aptly describes how it feels to be the only young black or brown child in a classroom. Life can be hard for the only brown girl in a classroom full of white students. When the teacher talks about slavery, she can feel all of her classmates staring at her. When they talk about civil rights, she is the one that other kids whisper about on the playground. In those moments, she wants to slip away or seep into the ground and she wonders, is that all you see when you look at me?

“What really matters is what she sees when she looks at herself. She is a reflection of the courage, strength, intelligence and creativity that’s been passed down from generation to generation through her ancestors.” From the publisher.

In celebration of Black History Month, The Family Partnership is giving away four of these books. Follow us on Instagram and click here for details!

Learn more about Dianne Haulcy’s Early Risers podcast. Early Risers is a podcast from Little Moments Count and MPR with frank facts, engaging stories and real how-tos for anyone who cares about raising children with a clear-eyed understanding of cultural differences, race and implicit bias.

Learn more about Early Education and Care at The Family Partnership.

In 2021, The Family Partnership’s Board of Directors adopted a refreshed strategic framework with five priority areas. The framework focuses on how we accomplish our mission to build strong families, vital communities and better futures for children.

In 2022, we made progress on each strategic priority as part of the three-year plan.

For National Human Trafficking Prevention Month our PRIDE team answers a Q&A on UPSIDE, a new innovative anti-sex trafficking initiative. The Family Partnership, Breaking Free and The Link, service providers with a history of doing anti-sex trafficking work in Minneapolis, are working together to provide coordinated services to people that are being sex trafficked.

Q. How big an issue is human trafficking/sex trafficking in Minnesota?

Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the U.S. and 28 million people are trafficked worldwide. In 2015, Minnesota had the third-highest number of human trafficking cases nationally, and the FBI ranked the Twin Cities as one of 13 U.S. cities with the highest incidence of sex trafficking for youth (although people of all ages are trafficked).

The Duluth harbor has been a source of trafficking since the turn of the century, while today interstates 94 and 35 are routes traffickers use to move people between Midwest cities. For more than 40 years, The Family Partnership’s PRIDE (Promoting Recovery, Independence, Dignity and Equality) program has provided support services to sexually exploited adults, youth and their families so they can live a life free of exploitation and abuse and move towards self-sufficiency.

Q. What is your approach?

The UPSIDE  outreach teams meet people experiencing sexual exploitation on our streets today – especially those facing the greatest disparities in access to services (Black, Indigenous and People of Color; and, transgender/gender non-conforming individuals).

What makes UPSIDE unique is that collectively, we have the opportunity to “pair” folks up with culturally specific, safe and healing informed services that are age appropriate and gender-based. Each agency in the partnership offers an array of services that we can leverage. We help people access food, clothing or a place to stay, medical or mental health care, and provide longer-term intensive case management, participation in survivor led support groups, legal advocacy and more to provide the support systems needed for lasting change.  

Q. How does this initiative differ from past efforts?

Our strategy is to offer help, resources and real options for the whole community, not just survivors but businesses and residents as well. We offer one phone number to call or text for information. The UPSIDE team offers trainings on how to identify sex trafficking and what to do if you suspect someone might be trafficked.

Through street outreach (or by request by businesses) we offer outreach kits with personal hygiene items, hand and feet warmers, snacks, water, information cards and hand sanitizer. In the winter months, we also bring hats and mittens for those who need them. The kits offer tangible resources and a bridge to conversations with those in need.

Q. How will you determine if UPSIDE is making a difference?

To track progress, UPSIDE is using a measurement tool called “The Bridges to Self-Sufficiency” which gauges progress by survivors in specific, measurable goal areas. A goal may start small such as talking with a case manager or attending drug counseling or support group meetings. This leads to bigger goals like finding stable housing, gaining education or getting a new job.

We also track the number of people we interact with on the streets. We know it takes multiple contacts with those in “the life” to build trust. In short, we walk alongside victims, as they become survivors.

Q.  What gives you hope for change with UPSIDE?  

We see positive changes every day. We believe that connections and relationships are powerful forces for change. Street outreach is a tool we use to bring people to UPSIDE, but the real change begins when they are connected with a case manager or advocate. By demonstrating grace and respect to everyone we interact with, UPSIDE is empowering people with sustainable solutions that stand up against some of the darkness in our community.

UPSIDE is funded by the City of Minneapolis through the American Rescue Plan Act.

The Family Partnership is expanding pilots across Minnesota of its Virtual Home Visiting Executive Functioning Across Generations™ curriculum. Through a partnership with the Minnesota Coalition for Family Home Visiting and the Medica Foundation, The Family Partnership seeks geographic and cultural diversity in the family pilot participants from northern, central and southern Minnesota programs.

Three sites selected, applications remain open!

Three sites are conducting new pilots of The Family Partnership’s parenting component of the executive functioning curriculum in Minnesota. Family Home Visiting pilots are beginning in Stearns County and the Healthy Families America® programs with Headway and The Family Partnership in Minneapolis. Each pilot site will recruit 10 households with at least one parent and a child 3-5 years of age in the household. The curriculum is designed for delivery in 10 sessions over 20 weeks.

Who is eligible? Any Home Visiting program in Minnesota, serving families with children ages 3-5 is eligible to apply for this pilot program—full details are in the application materials here.

Application deadline extended until participants are selected!  Applications should be emailed to: John Everett Till, VP of Strategy and Innovation, The Family Partnership at jtill@thefamilypartnership.org. Call 612-728-2086 with any questions.

Programs will receive training in brain-science concepts and coaching during the implementation process, implementation funding and ongoing access to the Virtual Adaptation of the Executive Functioning Across Generations™ curriculum materials. Full details in the application materials.

Brain-Science Curriculum Builds Core Life Skills

The Family Partnership’s intervention counteracts the negative impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma faced by many young children and families, especially those living in poverty. The 2Gen Executive Functioning Across Generations© curriculum, is the first designed to boost children’s and their caregiver’s executive functioning and self-regulation skills – the essential skills needed to stay on track with goals, imagine consequences of actions, inhibit impulsive behavior and succeed in school and life.

Award-winning, Nationally Piloted Curriculum

The Minnesota Council on Nonprofits (MCN) recognized The Family Partnership as the winner of its 2021 Nonprofit Mission Award for Innovation for the Executive Functioning Across Generations™ model.

The Family Partnership’s original curriculum for preschool classrooms, piloted in 2017-2019, led to national pilots in four states. The curriculum was adapted for home visiting and parenting group pilots supported by The Harvard Center on the Developing Child Frontiers of Innovation (FOI).

Dr. Chris Wing developed the language-based curriculum that first establishes “Internal State Words” for thoughts, feelings, sensory perceptions, physical sensations and moral concepts. As children learn, they can use these words to identify and express themselves and develop personal narratives about their experiences. As parents’ skills related to executive function and self-regulation increase, they are able to model use of these language skills with their children. The parents also increase their ability to recognize and respond to their children and provide supportive relationships.

Read more about how Brain-Science informs our work here.

The Family Partnership was one of ten programs nationally selected for the highly competitive Promising Ventures Fellowship supporting social entrepreneurs in the early childhood field. Our Executive Functioning Across Generations® innovation that builds school readiness, buffering kids against toxic stress while building brainpower, was selected for the Early Innovations track.

Dianne Haulcy, President & CEO and John Everett Till, Sr. Vice President of Strategy and Innovation will participate in the fellowship for six months (October 2022-March 2023) gaining access to innovators and experts in both early childhood and social enterprises. The fellowship includes dedicated coaches and specialized training resources with sponsorship from the Overdeck Foundation.

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Promising Ventures selection criteria included ventures that centered equity along with having the potential to drive social impact at scale. The Family Partnership’s executive functioning curriculum was centered from the beginning on the children and families of color that The Family Partnership serves  building-in a strong focus on addressing equity in communities seeking resources to break intergenerational cycles of poverty, adversity, and trauma.

Promise Ventures Studio invited The Family Partnership to participate in a national exploration of school readiness ventures hosted by the Gates Foundation in October. The new international initiative called Measures for Early Success brings early childhood innovators together so they can pool their talents to identify equity-centered measures of school readiness that do not “fade out” when children enter kindergarten.

Learn more about Executive Functioning Across Generations^©

Dianne Haulcy rejoined The Family Partnership as President and CEO in mid-July. We asked her to share her thoughts on the organization’s mission and her career.  

What can you tell us about being back at The Family Partnership?

“It has been a whirlwind! However, it is good to be back and, it feels as if this is where I am supposed to be.  I love the direct service work that The Family Partnership does, and that we are located in both north and south Minneapolis. We have all been through a lot over the last couple of years and we can play a role to help bring healing to the community.”

You are well known as an early childhood education leader, what path led you to focus on early childhood education in your non-profit career?

“Early in my career, I worked with youth in the low-income housing projects in Minneapolis (that no longer exist). I quickly realized these 13-15 year-old teenager’s vision of the future was already set. The girls talked about having babies and the boys discussed not if they would go to jail, but what year they would be going to jail.

These brilliant young people’s circumstances had deeply impacted their future. That grew into a real knowledge around the power of early childhood development to change the trajectory of children’s futures, especially those without financial resources to get high quality care.”

Increasing preschool enrollment is one of your priorities. You were able to attend our preschool graduations recently, and you looked like you were having fun!

“One of the best parts of my job is seeing families celebrate their children and see young children be proud of their accomplishments. At The Family Partnership’s two preschools, over 90% of children routinely graduate rated kindergarten-ready and our on-site screenings and developmental therapies assist in removing any barriers to learning.”

“We are not unique in the impact the pandemic had on our preschool enrollment and availability of teachers.  Right now, we are hiring additional teachers and getting the word out for preschool enrollment. Everyone is working hard to restore our preschool enrollment.”

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What are longer-term priorities?

“We have a brand new building at Lake Street and Bloomington Ave. that opened in the middle of the pandemic. Now we have an opportunity for more use of our facility as a space for community building. I want us to have our eyes and ears open and listen to the community so we can see the trends and ways we can bring healing. Relationship building is very important for me.”

Anything else about your impressions of The Family Partnership?

“We have some really, really committed staff people here that love the work they are doing, serving the families that they serve.  Their passion is the foundation that drives what we do. The idea of listening to the community is not a new one, it’s how The Family Partnership has continued to evolve and morph for over 140 years as the community has grown and changed. We will continue to do that!”

Learn more about Dianne Haulcy

Learn more about our preschools

Learn more about current job opportunities

In the U.S. and around the world, the LGBTQ+ community celebrates Pride Month in June. We asked LGBTQ+ Trans BIPOC advocate Roxanne Anderson to share their story and talk about Pride.  

Pride honors the 1969 uprising when patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment and persecution, marking the beginning of a more public movement to end discriminatory laws and practices against LGBTQ+ Americans.

What is the legacy and impact of Pride Month for social change?

Millions of people celebrate Pride globally. Here in Minnesota about 450,000 people attend the Twin Cities Pride celebration (in its 50^th year!) There is also MN POC Pride and there are pride celebrations in Duluth, Golden Valley, Pine City, Rochester, and many more cities and towns across the state. That is power! 

The power and visibility of the Trans (transgender) community literally fueled this whole celebration we call Pride. Remember that the Stonewall riots were led by Trans women of color. (African-American Marsha P. Johnson and Latina-American Sylvia Rivera). I remember the impact of Rivera standing on stage in 1973 and calling out the larger queer community with “Y’all better quiet down”. She talked about the real discrimination, surveillance and violence she experienced. 

You currently serve as Director of the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition, and a mission of yours is creating SAFE SPACES for the LGBTQ+ community. 

Since 1996, I have dedicated a great deal of time and energy to creating safer places for LGBTQ+, BIPOC communities. One of those places is RARE Productions and one of the events we produce is  the Power to the People area at Twin Cities Pride, a space and stage by and for Queer BIPOC folx. It started from discrimination against a black Trans woman not getting her stage time. This year marks the 20^th anniversary for us being in (Loring) park. Visibility is vital. 

Talk about challenges facing the Trans community in Minnesota

The greatest challenges facing the Trans community—all communities really—are transphobia, racism and white supremacy and all the ways it impacts economics, education, housing, and employment. White supremacy leeches into and supports transphobia, ableism, and misogyny. 

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Can you share your back-story growing up?

I am a black presenting, mixed race, trans-racially adopted, gender non-conforming person, raised in a white home. A very WASPie white home. I grew up in a traditional family. Both my parents were preachers’ kids and worked. Our active lives with family and friends included piano, dance, girl scouts, tending our massive gardens, as well as church activities like choir, bells and youth group. 

In my younger years, we lived in a city that had some diversity, in that people of color went to my school, attended our church and our family had relationships with people of color not only from our immediate environment but also in extended family/community relationships. When I was in high school, we moved to an all-white rural community. With this life history, I have the unique experience living and being with white people who really do love me, and sometimes have no understanding of the impacts racism has had on my life. 

So when I speak about racism and white supremacy being the greatest challenges facing the trans community, I do so with the profound understanding that white folx can love people of color and have no real understanding of what white supremacy in all its forms is or does. 

How important are Trans-specific mental health services and what are barriers to care? 

Mental health care is vitally important to help counter the isolation and address the trauma of transphobia and violence. These services should support transgender folx not only during transition, but to help them transform to their most authentic, higher selves. 

There are many barriers to Trans folx receiving or even seeking the support – from finances, time, a lack of insurance or stigma and not feeling worthy of care. There is a lack of culturally competent providers that have a real connection to Trans lives. Sometimes people are just so overwhelmed by pure survival they can’t even think about mental health support. 

What drives you to do this advocacy work for the LGBTQ+ community?

I do this work of gay for pay or professional queer because it is my path and purpose – my legacy if you will – to make true and authentic connections, build relationships and create safer space for trans and queer BIPOC folx. 

We matter, black Trans lives matter, and we have always led across social justice movements.

Roxanne Anderson is an activist, artist, entrepreneur and organizer working at the intersections of Race, Gender and Sexuality to dismantle systems of oppression. 

FAQ on The Family Partnership Transgender Mental Health Services