Mission
The Children,
Youth, and Family Consortium was established during the Fall
of 1991
to build the capacity of the University of Minnesota and
Minnesota communities to use research, influence policy and enhance
practice to improve the well-being of Minnesota’s children,
youth and families.
Core Functions
1. Build Networks - CYFC connects people within
the University, within the community, and between
the University and the community with each other and with
resources to enhance their mutual work. To do this we:
Convene – CYFC brings people together, often across
disciplines or sectors of society, to network, to undertake joint
projects, and to address topics of importance affecting children,
youth and families.
Connect – CYFC responds to requests from within the
University and in the communityfrom Minnesota communities to be linked
to people and to intellectual resources.
2. Build Bridges - CYFC engages people across professional,
intellectual and disciplinary boundaries in creating partnerships
and initiatives that embrace creative visioning, critical thinking,
and big picture planning that will benefit children, youth and families
in Minnesota. To do this
we:
Conceptualize – CYFC assists university and
community partners in developing a deeper and broader understanding
of the ways their work fits into the larger picture of children,
youth and family issues.
Catalyze – CYFC assists constituencies in moving
their ideas to reality by initiating bold visions, encouraging
critical thought, and stimulating creative energy in their work and
partnerships.
Coordinate – CYFC supports the work of University
and community members by providing coordination for such initiatives
related to children, youth and families.
Build capacity – CYFC strengthens the ability of
University and community members to engage in meaningful partnerships
that are respectful, interdisciplinary and collaborative; to advocate
for children, youth and families; and to apply research to policymaking
and practice.
Navigate – CYFC assists stakeholders in achieving
their goals by helping them identify and navigate systemic barriers,
particularly with regard to interdisciplinary and community-university
collaborative work.
3. Communicate– CYFC is a credible source
of information about University work and evidence-based information
about children, youth and family issues. To
do this we:
Distill – CYFC evaluates information to assess
its reliability and to condense it, and focuses attention on critical
elements to improve constituencies’ understanding of
issues affecting children, youth and families.
Translate – CYFC communicates research and academic
knowledge to constituencies in accessible terms.
Disseminate – CYFC distributes research, academic,
and practice knowledge broadly.
Showcase – CYFC highlights the knowledge produced
at the University of Minnesota and places it within the context of
the cumulative knowledge in the field. In addition, CYFC highlights
knowledge produced within Minnesota communities and integrates it
with what is known from research.
Perspectives:
Interdisciplinary - Children,
youth, families and the communities in which they function are complexmulti-dimensional. The
strengths they present and the problems they encounter are not the
purview of a single discipline. Complex problems require Ssolutions
that must integrate the best of multiple areas of inquiry and diverse
ways of knowing in order to be successful.
Complex - The well-being of children, youth
and families is shaped, at least in part, by ecological contexts:
the reciprocal influence of multiple systems and environments in
which they individuals live and interact. This includes the social
environment, made up of family, neighborhood, workplace, schools,
community, religious institutions, policy, law, media, society,
culture, and more. It also includes the natural and designed environments.
Developmental-
Development occurs at every stage of life with each developmental
stage influencing the next. All individuals go through processes
of change throughout their lives that have lasting effects on their
well-being. Over time, the interaction of innate or biological factors
(such as maturation) and environmental factors shape an individual’s
life course.
Guiding Principles:
Collaboration - CYFC partners with stakeholders in a reciprocal
relationships, characterized by reciprocity, respect, trust, authenticity,
communication and commitment, to insure mutual benefit and accountability.
Diversity - CYFC embraces and respects the various experiences,
perspectives, knowledge and values that come from diverse socioeconomic
backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, world views, faith systems, sexual
orientations, physical and mental capacities, and stages of life.
Nonpartisanship - CYFC contributes balanced, evidence-based information
to policy conversations. CYFC’s work, including policy work,
is grounded in research. We are non-partisan and support no specific
political position, party, or ideology.
Strengths and Assets - CYFC identifies and highlights the assets
and strengths of children, youth, families and communities and builds
on them to develop solutions and strategies to address needs and
problems.
Balance - CYFC balances responsive and self-initiated strategies
to assure constituents that its work is timely and relevant. CYFC responds
to the needs and requests of University and community constituencies
to assure that its work is timely and relevant. CYFC also undertakes
proactive work to raise awareness, provide frameworks for understanding,
generate new ideas and create novel strategies.
Mission-oriented - CYFC aligns its work with the threefold land
grant mission of the University of Minnesota – teaching, research
and outreach - by modeling and encouraging the adoption of public
engagement methods and principles in the implementation of research
and teaching.
Children, Youth
and Family Consortium
Consortium History
and Related Documents
