Serving Communities,
Strengthening Families
Communities and families are at the center of our identity.
Our Mission
For over 10 years, we’ve been fulfilling our mission to transform communities by strengthening families through committed coalitions and proven character-building programs.
- Transform Communities
Our Aim — seeing cities, communities and our culture changed for the better.
- Strengthening Families
Our How — building up and equipping parents, kids and families to thrive.
- Committed Coalitions
Our Model — wraparound support from community leaders and organizations.
- Proven Character-Building Programs
Our Product — transformational, substantiated programming that strengthens kids and families.
Our Community Partnership Model
Lasting transformation takes a community of support. Our collaborative approach sets us apart. Wherever we go, we become part of the community fabric to make the program successful in reaching families. This is the RezilientKidz model:
Identify Your Community Champion
Our first step in a new location is to establish a relationship with a leader in the community. This Community Champion is willing and able to mobilize the local coalition, and partners with us to cast the vision, establish the program and sustain the initiative.
Mobilize Community Stakeholders
These stakeholders are like-minded partners and organizations who rally around the program to support it and ensure its success. We work with the Community Champion to identify and equip a powerful coalition — people, businesses, non-profits, schools, faith-based partners, and many others.
Train Facilitators
These are boots-on-the-ground community members who we train and equip to facilitate the program. They can be parents, teachers, community leaders, etc. To ensure an effective launch and sustainability of the program, we continue to provide ongoing support and resources for this essential team.
Engage Families
Strengthening and serving families is our ultimate goal. Through our proven programming, parents, kids and families are equipped with knowledge, skills and resources to help them thrive. When families thrive, there is long-term, multi-generational, community impact.
Our Programs are Proven to Impact Kids and Families
Our programs are built upon extensive research, and developed by experts in family development. Our premier parenting program, Raising Highly Capable Kids, has been verified as evidence-based by an independent third-party evaluation.
Our Team
We’re an ambitious, passionate (and pretty fun) group of people who care deeply about kids, families, and community.
Our History
RezilientKidz began in 2010 when Eleanor Rodriguez, an elementary school principal in Santa Ana, California, reached out to community leaders for help. Rising poverty, gang violence, drugs, and other high-risk behaviors were impacting the education and well-being of the city’s children. The city’s youth were being lost. Parents and leaders were desperate for long-term solutions.
Mike Haley, founding RezilientKidz Director, helped assemble a local coalition who would strategize and respond to this need. This led to the development of a parenting tool that would be translated into Spanish. The “Santa Ana Parent Project” was born and piloted in 6 elementary schools in the community with tremendous response.
This effort led to the founding of the non-profit educational organization RezilientKidz, and the development of our premier parenting program, Raising Highly Capable Kids. This program, along with strong community support, brought powerful transformation in the city of Santa Ana. This proven model continues to be successful in communities throughout the United States.