Parent & Community Café Innovations: Insights from Oregon's Showing Up for Children and Youth Prevention Cafés
Thursday, August 14, 2025
10:45 AM - 11:30 PM
In this workshop, participants will experience a new model of Cafés, developed by the Café team of the Center for Childhood Safety and Wellbeing's 90by30 initiative. Inspired by the Be Strong Families (BSF) Parent Café model, and building on experience gained from four years of implementation, the team has developed and will share something new: a Prevention Café. The workshop – in two parts – includes an interactive mini-Café called “Showing Up for Queer and Trans Youth,” and the insights gained in the development, implementation, and evaluation of this model. 90by30 Cafes are co-created, peer-based learning, support and resource-sharing communities. They engage adults in prevention education and advocacy to strengthen families and communities and disrupt harmful social norms that reinforce a culture of silence. Cafés actively transform the narrative and promote family voice and wellbeing, in an environment steeped in inclusion and the practices of cultural humility and anti-racism. Stepping away from a top-down “expert” model, and taking guidance directly from youth, Cafés draw on lived experience, embracing self-connection to support adults reclaiming agency to improve their lives and the lives of children. 90by30 Prevention Cafés embody a by-us-for-us approach for sharing relatable, accessible information in community with peers. They retain the strengths of BSF Cafes and expand the possibilities of a research-informed structure. Within this structure, Prevention Cafés add a component from research or practices addressing child and family wellbeing, supporting norms change, and deepening impact. We share the tool, learn about it together, and work to apply it. 90by30 Cafes, including Prevention Cafés, strive to move toward a world in which every Oregon child and youth experiences safety, belonging, and connection, every family has the support and resources they need, and community members routinely act to advance this vision.