Introducing Professional and Community Education: Training and coaching for professionals, families, and community

By Leah Persky, Phd & CFLE • Professional and Community Education Manager

JFCS is excited to announce that Family Life Education is now Professional and Community Education. This new name highlights the professional services we provide in this program. We serve professionals, families, and the community with training, coaching, professional development, and community education on diverse topics.

Family Life Education (FLE) was the program name we have used at JFCS for decades. For more than 20 years, FLE provided learning opportunities on diverse topics impacting families in the community – how to support the LGBT community, families impacted by HIV/AIDS, divorced parents, and families dealing with addiction were just a few of the highlights. These offerings demonstrate the ways that community needs have always informed the work and offerings of this program. We are honored to carry on this tradition to understand and meet the evolving needs of our community with a spirit of collaboration, respect, professionalism, and innovation.

As we took stock of our work over the past five years, we realized that much of it is focused on serving organizations for their professional development and training needs and making connections to the community through educational events and professional conferences. We also realize that coaching informs much of our work with families, staff, and organizations. The decision to change the name came from the idea that Family Life Education as a title does not accurately reflect the people and organizations we most often serve. The new program name of Professional and Community Education provides a more inclusive and comprehensive description of all of whom this program reaches.

The name change to Professional and Community Education will allow us to align our work with our name and find synergy between the variety of educational work that happens at JFCS. Our dedication to collaboration, education, prevention, and promoting the well-being of families, the community, professionals, and organizations remains unchanged. Parent coaching, professional trainings, community education, and the commitment to understanding and meeting the needs of our community remain the “why” behind our work.

We recognize that many JFCS professionals have contributed to making FLE a successful program for more than 25 years. The knowledge, expertise, care, and empathy that many staff have contributed to the program allows us to continue this important work in a changing world with evolving challenges and needs. We look forward to the future and working to support our diverse community in the spirit of tikkun olam (repairing the world) – one person, family, organization, and community at a time.

To learn more about Professional and Community Education contact Leah Persky, PhD & CFLE, Manager of Professional and Community Education & Addiction and Recovery Services, 952-542-4825 | lpersky@jfcsmpls.org