The Shift: Voices of Prevention — A podcast by Prevent Child Abuse America

From Hope to Strength: Prioritizing Family Access

• Prevent Child Abuse America

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In this powerful episode of The Shift: Voices of Prevention, discover how hope can be transformed into meaningful action for families. The conversation with Yolanda Bronner-Wooten dives deep into strategies for ensuring families have the access and support they need to thrive, highlighting the ripple effects of strong, connected communities.

“When families have access, communities have strength.”

Listen in and be inspired by actionable insights on building systems that center families, empower caregivers, and strengthen the foundation for long-term well-being.

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SPEAKER_01:

This is the Shift Voices of Prevention, a podcast from Prevent Child Abuse America, where we explore bold ideas, cultural change, and what it truly means to support children and families. Join us to change the narrative one conversation at a time. Today's show was brought to you by PCA America's 2025 National Conference. Hosted in Portland, Oregon, August 12th through August 14th, the transformative three-day conference features three keynote speakers and more than 70 workshops that dive into the key drivers of change. From innovative programs and practices to family-focused policies, cutting-edge research, and public awareness and engagement strategies, the conference is designed to push the field toward upstream prevention and creating a future where every child and family can thrive. To be in the room when change happens, visit preventchildabuse.org. Hello and welcome to the Shift Voices of Prevention, a podcast by Prevent Child Abuse America. I'm your host, Nathan Fink, and I'm thrilled to be joined by Yolanda Braunerwooden, the State Link Director at Canopy Children's Solutions, who connects Mississippi families with the supports and resources that build stronger, healthier relationships. Yolanda, thank you so much for joining the show.

SPEAKER_00:

Good morning. Thank you. And I must say thank you for the invitation.

SPEAKER_01:

It's great to see you. But I have to say, when I first dove into Link, which of course is under the awning of Canopy Children's Solutions, I was taken aback by the amount of services that you offer. Can you give us a sense of what those services are?

SPEAKER_00:

Sure. So I want to start off by saying that Link is a preventative solution. So before there's like DHSs involved, true and C CPS, that's where Link steps in. Our ultimate goal is to provide families with support, education, training, but most importantly, it's hope. And we're linking families to resources, both local and federal. And we're doing this across the entire state of Mississippi, all 82 counties.

SPEAKER_01:

Now you made a point of saying prevention, prevention, prevention instead of intervention. Why is that such an important distinction?

SPEAKER_00:

Because it's important because sometimes people just need help. They need help. So once we step in and identify what their court need is, it's not a case of CPS. It's not a DHS case. It's someone that they don't have the support and they don't know where to get that support from. So that's when we step in. We want to prevent things from happening, prevent a child from being removed from the home. We want to prevent CPS from being involved if we can. So that's why it's so important for us to go in and identify what is the need, what is that initial need of yours. And so we can identify that. And once it's identified, we can go in to action and make sure that they understand and know that we're here to help and things can change.

SPEAKER_01:

I love what you did there. I love that you brought the doorway to success closer to all families by saying, hey, prior to having a crisis or a problem, why don't we get you the support we know all families need?

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, the larger idea then is that you're stitching together an ecosystem of services through existing organizations, if I'm not mistaken, to meet families where they're at.

SPEAKER_00:

When we say meet families where they are, I don't think people literally understand what that means. But for us, under the canopy umbrella, and especially in Link, we're literally meeting families where they are. Whether that's in their car because they're homeless, we will show up and assist you. Whether or not it's a family that is under a bridge. We've been in those situations. These are lived experience that I've seen myself. We're identified and we're meeting those families where they are. We're providing them with hope. And by us being able to do this, it's not just us standing alone, it's the partnerships and relationships that we've built along within the community for us to be able to do those things.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, I want to talk briefly about the nature of hope, if you don't mind, because while the power of it, of hope, certainly gets me out of bed in the morning, at times it can feel passive, like something we say to others when the bottom falls out. But hope is much more active. So let's redefine this together. When you say hope, what do you mean exactly?

SPEAKER_00:

We are helping families to see, create, and understand that there are pathways to hope. We're there for them to believe and understand that things are going to happen. Situations might look dark, but we're there to step alongside with them for them to access whatever they're needing. We are increasing that ability for them, those families to stay in the home, stay together, and we're identified. It's not just us talking to talk. You know, people can talk the talk all day, Nathan. It's not that. It's us showing up and to action. We can say a lot of things, but yet when once we show up with a solution, they know that we are there. So with us having a solution to their situation or their problem, they understand there is hope. We're not saying it. We're taking action to provide that.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that you break it into these component pieces because sometimes we talk about it as the science of hope. And I heard you say three things that I want to dive into see, believe, and then pathway. So talk to me a little bit about some of the things that you might help a family see, believe, and then continue on their path.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, one thing that we're helping families to see that there are resources out there. Nathan, I'm gonna be very transparent. Before moving into this position, I didn't know that there was a number of resources out there for families, access, local, federal, informal, and formal resources and support out there. So that's us helping them to see and to show them this is what we have, this is what we can do for you. This is the partnership that we have. And we bring that partnership alongside with us to show them like, hey, they are ready to step in as long as you have that willpower to move forward and do what needs to be done. So we're helping them to see that. We want them to believe it because guess what? They're gonna believe it because we're coming in with the action. We're coming in and say, hey, here is a resource for food, here is a resource for transportation, here's a resource for your child that's on the spectrum and you're in need of a school for your child. Here's a resource for our autism clinic. So we're providing them with the materials. They see the materials, it's right in front of them. So they understand that we're there to support, they can believe us, and they can trust us, that we're there to educate them and help them on whatever that need is.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you have any examples of, say, cross-sector partnerships that you have brought to bear for Mississippi families?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yeah, I can think of a number. How much time do we have, Nathan? Nathan, we build relationships across the entire state, whereas we can literally call them and say, hey, can you do this for a family? I can think of one, our bridge builder relationship, and that's a relationship with the face base, whereas they provide free after-school care, free summer care, as long as that individual has transportation to make it there, they're able to provide that with them. That's a relationship that we have built, whereas I can call them and say, Hey, I have a family that we just enrolled, they're looking for child care, they cannot afford it. Is there a way for you to fit them in? And they will do that for us. The bed ministry, like I told you, Nathan, do we have time? I'm gonna go down the list of them now. The um the bed ministry, whereas if there's a family that is in need of beds, and I we found out there is a number of families in Mississippi that have never, never had a bed, let alone a mattress. They've been sleeping on the floor on the couch. But with our partnership with the bed ministry, we're able to contact them, let them know the needs, how many they build those beds, they deliver the beds, and it comes with all of the bells and whistles. It comes with the comforter, it comes with um carrots, whatever. If it's for a little boy or a little girl, we identify the age and they are there to support and give those resources. Another one, Elijah's Closet. Elijah's Closet is a clothing resource for families across the state of Mississippi for the entire family. Um, another one, the Salvation Army. We were able to partner with them and give out 400 mattresses, 400 mattresses, Nathan. It was the hottest day ever in Mississippi. We were out there breaking down boxes, open them up, helping families tie them to the top of their cars. By any means necessary, we were going to make sure that those families walked away with the need of a mattress that day. So just by the partnerships and the relationships that we've had across the state of Mississippi, it has been, let me say, priceless.

SPEAKER_01:

We were started this conversation a bit with hope, right? Because what we're talking about now is material goods, creating environments where parents and families have access to the things that they need to be successful in their unit, which then leads to belief, which leads to stronger and maybe deeper levels of hope. Can you think of any examples of families or anecdotes from families where this type of service or effort led to a new horizon line for them as a family?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, Nathan, I can think of a number of families that we've served, so many families that have benefited from our services. But I will say there is one family that sticks out in particular. And it was a young lady that um came to us and she was expecting she was in need of employment, she was in need of resources for her son that was on the spectrum. She was struggling with the public with her child being in public school and just not getting what he what she felt like he was needing. And then on top of that, she was living in a hotel and so she was in need of housing. With those relationships that I mentioned earlier, we were able to link her to those resources for her to be able to obtain employment. We've built relationships with a number of businesses across the state, and we're able to contact them and make sure that our families, those that are needing employment, they become employed. We were able to link her to a voucher for her to be able to obtain housing. And one thing I can say when it comes to these families, link is a voluntary solution. It's not a program. People come to us for a solution, not a program. So it's a voluntary solution. So as long as that family is willing and ready to participate and know and understand what to do, we're able to assist them. And with her, with that individual, she was elevated to the next level. She's currently now have had her wonderful baby boy. She is now employed. We were able to link her to resources for her child that's on the spectrum because we have our autism clinic under our canopy umbrella. We put her in contact with individuals there, and her child was able to receive services. And so was she able to receive ABA therapy, ABA therapy support for her child until that child was actually enrolled into the school. Her gratefulness is just thankful to us. It was just undescribable. She continued to say, I thought that there was nobody out there to help me because I've been homeless for a while. I've been struggling with these, and I kept on hidden block after block after block until she met us.

SPEAKER_01:

When you step back or when we step back from programs and services or even solutions to look at this web of support, how do we begin to create support networks that unite these component pieces as you have at Canopy Children's Solutions?

SPEAKER_00:

So when we take a step back, it's all about listening, Nathan. Listening to the need of the community. It's about showing up to those already existed coalitions and showing that, hey, I'm here. We can offer this. And in connection with you all and combining that, the number of families that are will can be affected just by us collaborating to provide that for those families. It's about listening, identifying what that core need is. And in return, you're going to be building trust within the community. So they're going to call upon you because they're going to see that you're going to show, you're showing up. You're going to be building understanding, more partnerships, more relationships, more support groups. So it's all about being a visual in the community, listening to what the community wants because we have our own wants and needs for the community. It's not about us, it's about what the community needs. What is that main core need? And once you listen to them, you become involved, you're visible within the community and you show up, that's how you're building those relationships. And you're creating your own. We've created our own coalitions, like with the juvenile justice system. We're in court Mondays. We're there every single Monday showing up. And if that judge realizes, like, hey, this is a case for Link, we're there. She immediately sends them to us and we're able to assist them and help them out. So it's all about listening, identifying, showing up, and coming with a solution in order to build on to what you already have in the community.

SPEAKER_01:

Now it feels to me like hope isn't something just for an individual. It transcends the socioecological model where it's personal, interrelational, community level, society level, that your judge that you just mentioned had to believe that the solution was there and reach out to you.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And that's exactly what happened, Nathan. She was at a presentation and we were showing what we were doing, and she immediately reached out and said, Oh, I need you all. Can you all be in court? I have a number of families or a number of children that can benefit from the services, but of course, that core need comes from what's going on at home. So we can identify what's going on at home, the behavior of that child would change. So it was like a marriage made in heaven when it came to us connecting with the juvenile justice system.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Now, if you're like me and you're hearing this, I'm guessing that you're pretty fired up. And you want to do something like Link and Canopy Children's Solutions in your community. Do you have any advice for those community champions who want to help support or maybe even engineer their own ecosystems of family support?

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Like I mentioned earlier, it starts off by listening. The key is listening, relationships, listening, partnerships, listening, collaboration. Those are the main keys. And if we do those things, they're going to show up. And when I say show up, Nathan, I mean show up like boots on the ground, ready to take action and to show. And when you show up with a solution, when you listen to your community, when you understand and remove self and identify this is what the community needs, this is that core need for that community. When you mix the relationships, the partnerships that you're going to build, those support groups, when you help those families identify that support group. And sometimes the support group is not within the family unit because some people don't have family to support on. But when you lean in and become that support and walk alongside those individuals, when you mix it all up together, those are the perfect ingredients for increased hope. And if you can do that and show them that you're there to support, you're there to educate, and you're not linking and leaving, but yet taking their hand and guiding them to access those resources, you have what it takes to rally your community for them to be able to trust and support you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yolanda, where do you get your energy?

SPEAKER_00:

Let me tell you just a little disclosure. They call me sunshine. When people are having a glim day, they come to my office, Nathan. This is me always. I love one thing I can say about my organization about Canopy is I can be my authentic self. This is me every single day. I often say you never know what the next person is going through. So sometimes just my smile or me just being this sunshine throughout the office, it changes. It changes the outlook. And people want people are drawn to you just because of that. But this is me all day, Nathan. Everybody has a story, but for me, this is this is me, and I have to. And it's not just about me, it's about how others see me.

SPEAKER_01:

So Yolanda, thank you so much for coming on the show and being part of such an important conversation.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you so much and have a good one.

SPEAKER_01:

And you can invite upstream solutions into your feed by subscribing to The Shift Voices of Prevention today. Join us to create an ecosystem where children and families live purposeful and happy lives with hope for the future.