Starfish Family Services

Strengthening families to create brighter futures for children

Donate

Starfish Cares: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Community Updates

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • Culture of Trauma Care
    • Contact Us
    • Locations
    • Meet Our Team
    • Publications
    • Press
    • Accreditation
    • Privacy Policy
  • Our Services
    • Early Childhood Education
    • Behavioral Health Services
    • Nurse-Family Partnership
    • Office of Integrated Health Care
    • Parenting Programs
    • Request a Speaker
    • Starfish University
  • Donate
  • Get Involved
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Host a Drive
    • Celebration Luncheon
    • Celebrating 60 Years of Starfish Family Services!
  • Careers
    • Job Listings
    • Internships
  • Press
  • Blog
  • Marygrove EEC

In Solidarity, Not Silence

June 3, 2020 by Starfish Family Services

Message from Board Chair Janet Lawson & CEO Ann Kalass: In these troubling times, we lean on our Starfish core values of compassion and respect. And we look to our Starfish community for guidance as our hearts cry out for justice.

Starfish Family Services stands resolute in our mission of strengthening families to create brighter futures for children. 

Our beloved founder Ouida Cash built the foundation for an inclusive and humble Starfish community. Ouida believed that staff should walk hand in hand, alongside Starfish families, recognizing we can learn as much from our families as they can learn from us.

Never before has it been so important to listen and learn. To feel each other’s hearts. To contribute to healing and creating a community and country where our Black colleagues, friends, and families can thrive without fear and prejudice due to the color of their skin.

Our hearts ache for the continued acts of hatred, murder, and violence against the Black community. Our hearts ache for the disproportionate devastation COVID-19 has brought to Michigan’s communities of color.

More than that, we are called to speak out today on behalf of Starfish staff, children, and our neighbors and acknowledge that families live in the context of systems, policies, and a culture that often perpetuate hatred, racism, and inequitable distributions of power and resources.

From the earliest days of our organization, Starfish has sought to bring compassion and effective practice to our work supporting and partnering with the families of Wayne County as they seek the best developmental, educational, and health outcomes possible for their children.

While our services have evolved and our geographic footprint has expanded over the decades, one thing remains—systemic racism and its negative impact on our Black community including disparities in health, education, and housing. This is not acceptable for the well-being of children, families, or communities.

As we look to the future,

  • We commit to giving voice to the issue of systemic racism.
  • We commit to addressing the roots of inequity and to moving beyond our programs and services to help create sustainable systems and policies that positively impact the context in which our families live.
  • We commit to lift up the voices and needs of our Black colleagues, friends, families, and community.

By doing so, we contribute to creating a just society in which opportunities for children, their families, and their communities are not determined by the color of their skin.

In these troubling times, we lean on our Starfish core values of compassion and respect. And we look to our Starfish community for guidance as our hearts cry out for justice.

Filed Under: Blog, Starfish Family Services Tagged With: black community, inequity, solidarity, systemic racism

Media Inquiries

For media inquiries:

  • Email: jwaits@sfish.org
  • Call/Text: (313) 949-3142

Categories

  • Blog
  • News
  • Starfish Family Services

Recent Posts

  • A Note from our CEO, Roxanne Brinkerhoff: Tragedy at Michigan State University
  • Talking to children about racialized violence: Tips & Support from Starfish behavioral health and DEI experts
  • Starfish announces selection of next CEO!
  • Juneteenth, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day
  • Healing our children, community, ourselves

Archives

  • February 2023
  • November 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • December 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015

Our Mission

Strengthening families to create brighter futures for children.

Our Vision

A just society in which all children, families, and communities have equitable opportunities to grow, learn, and thrive.

Starfish Family Services
(Headquarters)

30000 Hiveley
Inkster, MI 48141
734. 728. 3400

starfish@sfish.org

Stay connected and join our newsletter

    Your Name

    Your Email

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    ~~

    Copyright © 2023 Starfish Family Services · Developed by mediaRAVE