Our Why:
The Power of Community and Collective Impact
Connect & Serve knows that breaking cycles of poverty requires more than just services—it requires a movement.
Traditional models of aid often provide temporary relief, but true transformation happens when people are empowered with resources, relationships, and opportunities that meet their full range of needs. That’s why we choose community engagement models and the collective impact approach—because sustainable change is only possible when we work together to address the whole person and the whole community.
Parent Cafe's in 4+ Schools
What began
10 years ago
As a small parent movement with just a few families from a network charter school in Washington, D.C., has grown into four (4) strong school partnerships across Prince George’s County, MD, and the District of Columbia.
At Connect & Serve, we believe in the healing power of community. When families are healthy and whole, our communities are stronger.
Through our Parent Cafés & Community-Building Cafés, we create intentional gatherings designed to meet the needs of diverse audiences: WOW (Women of Worth), Menz Space, Emerging Youth Leaders, veterans, seniors, and families. These groups reflect the heart of our communities.
For over a decade, we have proven what the data alone can’t explain: lived-experience facilitators, when equipped with the right structure, can change outcomes in real time.
why do holistic interventions matter?
We’ve retained 83% of our participants and increased peer-support networks by 30% in Black and Brown neighborhoods that many agencies have written off as too hard to reach.
Human needs are layered; and when the most basic ones are unmet, individuals cannot focus on higher growth and fulfillment.
We believe in collective impact because no single organization, program, or service can address poverty’s deep and systemic roots alone. Poverty isn’t just about a lack of money—it’s about a lack of access, opportunity, and connection. When basic needs go unmet—when a child is hungry, a parent is financially insecure, a family lacks stable housing, or a community is fragmented—people cannot thrive.
By addressing needs holistically, fostering relationships, and creating clear pathways to self-sufficiency, we build stronger individuals, stronger families, and stronger communities.
why do Community Engagement Models Work?
“I said yes to a Café invite and wound up with a paid role observing classrooms—even through the pandemic. That opportunity led me to a full-time nonprofit job. Connect & Serve doesn’t just talk empowerment—they build it.”
-Ty (Parent Cafe's & WoW Support)
Because they are powerful: given the right environment, support, and access to resources, every individual has the potential to thrive. Our role is to remove the barriers—poverty, systemic inequities, lack of access to education and healthcare, broken community ties—that keep people from reaching their full potential.
Poverty is not just a financial issue—it is deeply interwoven with systems, relationships, and community structures. No single organization, school, or government entity can address these challenges alone. It takes a village.
Community engagement ensures that solutions are not imposed from the outside but developed from within—by those who know their challenges best. This model works because it:
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Respects the lived experiences of those we serve, making them part of the solution.
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Bridges the gap between families, institutions, and decision-makers.
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Creates sustainable, long-term change by shifting power back to the community.
All the evidence that we have indicates that it is reasonable to assume in practically every human being, and certainly in almost every newborn baby, that there is an active will toward health, an impulse towards growth, or towards actualization.
-Abraham Maslow-
Why do Meals & Child Care Matter in Our Engagement Model?
Every Community Café & Conversation includes a meal and child care—not just as conveniences, but as critical success factors in our engagement model. These two features ensure that every participant can fully engage without barriers, addressing basic needs. 🔹 A Meal: Nourishing food provides a sense of security and care, ensuring that no participant is distracted by hunger. ✔ Supports families experiencing food insecurity. ✔ Creates an environment of hospitality and dignity, making engagement more welcoming and inclusive. 🔹 Child Care: Safe, supervised care allows parents and caregivers to focus on discussions without stress or worry. ✔ Encourages higher participation rates by removing a common barrier for parents. ✔ Ensures children are engaged in positive, enriching activities while caregivers focus on learning and connection. By meeting these essential human needs, we create a foundation for deeper engagement, trust-building, and transformative conversations that lead to real change.
Poverty: A Moral and Social Injustice
Mahatma Gandhi believed that poverty is a form of violence—one that strips individuals of dignity, opportunity, and hope. He called it a “moral collapse of society” because when basic human needs go unmet, the very fabric of our communities unravels. At Connect & Serve, we recognize that breaking cycles of poverty requires more than charity—it demands systemic change.
This curated collection of articles explores how collective impact strategies—coordinated, cross-sector collaborations—are addressing the indignities of poverty. These resources provide valuable insights for educators, policymakers, nonprofits, and community leaders who seek sustainable solutions.
Why the social sector is vital to healthy, thriving communities
Human services groups focus on meeting basic human needs and promoting well-being through direct assistance, support programs, and social services. They often serve vulnerable populations including low-income individuals and families (with services like food banks and housing assistance), children and youth (foster care, child abuse prevention), seniors (meal delivery, adult day care), people with disabilities (disabled veterans, vocational training), and people experiencing homelessness (shelters, transitional housing).
Promoting Place-Based Strategies to Address Poverty: Exploring the Governor’s Role
Positive transformation can occur and be sustained when the collective resources of all available institutions and stakeholders are brought to bear on locally-identified needs.
Essentials of Social Innovation: Collective Impact
This foundational article outlines how collective impact frameworks are transforming social challenges like poverty through shared measurement, collaboration, and systemic change.
Promise Neighborhoods - Department of Education
Promise Neighborhoods is a place-based U.S. Department of Education program striving to turn poverty-concentrated neighborhoods into communities of opportunity. Learn more
“You have a status”: a Case Study of Parent Leadership In a U.S. School Readiness Initiative
This study examined parent leadership in an urban school readiness initiative in a northeast U.S. city. This school readiness initiative (hereafter referred to as Ready for K) took a unique approach by mobilizing parent leadership as one key strategy toward meeting its goal that every child in the city would enter kindergarten ready to succeed.
Restorative Justice In School Communities
In response to recent school violence, most schools in the United States have adopted increasingly punitive disciplinary policies. However, some schools have embraced restorative justice practices. This article explores the recent implementation of these practices in school communities in Minnesota, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, examining howschoolcommunitiescanmakeuseofthisapproachtoaddressdrugandalcohol problems and how this approach may offer an alternative to zero-tolerance policies.
Trauma-Informed Approaches and Programs
Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a framework that recognizes the impact of trauma on individuals and systems. TIC networks connect practices across disciplines to identify gaps and implement new practices.
Now more than ever
Your support can make a difference.
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Volunteer your time.
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Partner with us.
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Invest in families by giving today.
Together, we are transforming lives—one individual, one family, one community at a time.