Springfield Area
Springfield, Marcola, and Surrounding Areas
Co-Chairs: Caleb Fjarli and Cynthia Nagao
The Springfield Regional Leadership Team is made up of community volunteers who live or work in Springfield. It includes everyone from educators to CASAs (Court-Appointed Special Advocates for Children) to business owners. Team members and community stakeholders members came together to write a prevention plan specifically suited to Springfield, and now the team is excited to be implementing strategies like Roots of Empathy and Parent Cafés.
This is a team that excels at community engagement: It entered an amazing float in the Springfield Christmas Parade and drew a line of people to its photo booth at events like the Children’s Celebration and Eugene-Springfield PRIDE.
Get in Touch with the SpringfieldTeam
Strategies in Springfield
Roots of Empathy
This classroom-based program cultivates empathy in children in order to build more caring, peaceful, and civil societies. Through interactions with an infant and caregiver, and with the guidance of a Roots of Empathy Instructor, children learn to identify and understand the feelings of the baby, then their own feelings and those of others. 90by30 has partnered with Roots of Empathy to bring this program to 50 first- and second-grade classrooms in Lane County.
Parent Cafés
The Parent Café program is a nationally recognized peer-to-peer learning process to keep children safe and families strong. Parents and caregivers create safe spaces to explore their strengths and learn from themselves and each other how to use the Strengthening Families Protective Factors with their loved ones. Child care is provided.
What’s Next
Along with the Eugene team, Springfield is currently piloting the Parent Café program and is hoping to launch its first public events in 2021. Also ahead is an expanded partnership with Safe Families for Children, a faith-based program that aims to keep children out of foster care by providing respite care to families in crisis. In upcoming years, the team will bring the Welcome Baby Bundle to Springfield-area families.
How You Can Get Involved in Springfield
- Volunteer as a Roots of Empathy Instructor or Family
- Join the Regional Leadership Team
- Join a workgroup for a program like Parent Cafés or an event like Child Abuse Prevention Month
- Commit to be a member of 5,000 Strong
