Cultivating Systems Change Through Direct Service

This report is the culmination of a two year research project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that aims to shift mindsets and narratives around family-serving organizations’–or FSOs’—expertise and role in policy and systems change work. This research is based on the assumption that FSOs are well-placed to advocate for systems and policy change that better meets the needs of and represents the lived experience of families given their direct connections through their services and programming. The report describes the myriad systems and policy changes that FSOs contributed to, illustrates four approaches that describe different ways service-advocacy hybrid FSOs are catalyzing these changes, and examines the conditions necessary for achieving these successes. Finally, the report poses a set of questions for systems change leaders who want to more meaningfully partner with FSOs and center the families they work with to catalyze family-centered changes.