Annual Lakewood Family Collaborative Kick-Off Luncheon

If you could build a community from scratch what would your community look like?  Who would be the members of your community and what would you provide for them? 

These were the questions posed to the members of the Lakewood Family Collaborative at their June meeting.  Members were divided into several groups and given wooden building blocks to represent the “building blocks” of a community. As you can imagine, many types of communities were created. 

However, as each group shared their vision with each other it became clear that all of the groups created communities where all of the stakeholders were represented equally. The activity brought forth dialogue about how communities have the potential to be stronger when members of the community work toward acceptance of one another through building relationships. 

The Lakewood Family Collaborative (Collab) is a network of organizations, businesses, agencies, and dedicated individuals working together to enable children, youth, and families to thrive and be successful members of the Lakewood community. The Collab gathers once a month (every 4th Thursday) to be educated about resources that are available to help kids and families become successful in our community. 

In addition, Collab committees work to help out the Lakewood community by sponsoring activities such as the Lakewood School Supplies Initiative, Job Seeker Workshops, and by promoting Adoption and Foster Care Awareness. 

The next Collab meeting is the annual Kick-Off Luncheon scheduled for Thursday, September, 22nd at the Lakewood Women’s Pavilion.  Each month The Collab will “spotlight” an organization or member of our community.  This month the “spotlight” will be on the Lakewood City Schools.  Please join us as we welcome new superintendent Jeff Patterson who will talk about our schools, goals, and the exciting future of the district. Networking and lunch begins at 12:30pm with the presentation and discussion from 1pm-2:30pm. 

To RSVP, or learn more about this event and the Lakewood Family Collaborative, email lakewoodfamilycollab@gmail.com.  Or, call 529-6868.  All are welcome.