Though I'm not a mother myself (of human children, shoutout to all the bulldog mamas out there), I am a newly minted auntie. We also have a really great parenting / early learning program at work, and I have many friends who are in the early years of motherhood themselves. Having children is an adventure on many levels, and it's essential to have a support system to help navigate the waters of parenthood.

My friend Chelsea hipped me to one local community that's really helped her and her family as a new mother. There's a lot to love about Families of Color Seattle (FOCS), and I wanted to share the beauty that is FOCS with all of you.

FOCS is helping parents and children to have a strong sense of community, advocacy and pride to counter the prevailing biases through using a race and social justice lens and providing a counter-narrative through parenting classes and social media.

The FOCS vision is to provide a cultural cornerstone and a creative blend of family programming, child-centered play and an intergenerational space for families to gather.

To achieve that vision, they've recently launched the Cornerstone Café in South Seattle, which provides entrepreneurial avenues for parents to integrate conscious parenting to perpetuate a global culture of inclusivity, community building and play-centered learning. FOCS' values are global community, inclusivity, entrepreneurship, and women of color & mother leadership.

Cornerstone Café’s play-centered drop-in café and child-care program invite children to experientially learn though our outdoor garden play & programming in the Collaboratory’s 4000sqft community garden. Right now, you can also sign up for toddler breakdancing, Brazilian capoiera and Hawaiian ukelele classes!

Parents can enjoy self-serve coffee and locally catered prepared foods, while children play with parents, in drop-in childcare with FOCS trained staff. Parents have the option to drop-off children for supervised child-care up to three and a half hours or enjoy gathering with other families in the Cornerstone Café in the beautiful Hillman City Collaboratory facilities. The goal is to teach children cultural resonance in a loving inclusive community of families of color and integrate the local neighborhood of South Seattle’s rich and diverse cultural base, the 98118 (where I grew up!)

I love that Chelsea, B.B. and beautiful little Kennedy Rae have been able to connect with other new families in meaningful learning spaces for friendship and resource-sharing.

Read up on FOCS and sign up for future classes and events at the FOCS website.

Thanks Chelsea for sharing!