Rooted in Strength. Built on Compassion. Focused on Change.
The Foundation for Strengthening Families (FSF) is a St. Louis–based nonprofit working to improve the lives of children and families by addressing racial and economic disparities across education, health, and opportunity.
At the Foundation for Strengthening Families, our mission is to improve the lives of children and families by addressing racial and economic disparities across education, health, and wealth.
Through community-driven, place-based programs, FSF empowers parents and children to overcome systemic barriers and create strong, healthy, and connected lives.
Meet Our Founder
From Numbers to Nurturing Change
Originally pursuing a career in accounting, Cortaiga Collins was working toward her CPA when motherhood reshaped her perspective.
As a young mother navigating limited resources in North St. Louis, she experienced firsthand the inequities faced by Black women raising families in poverty. That experience ignited her purpose: to ensure that other mothers would never have to face those challenges alone.
With more than 24 years of experience in early childhood education, Cortaiga has transformed her individual drive into a movement that reaches across neighborhoods and generations.
Under her leadership, FSF has grown from a single childcare center into a multifaceted organization improving health, education, and community outcomes for families throughout Missouri.
CORTAIGA COLLINS
Founder & Executive Director, Foundation for Strengthening Families
“It’s easier to build strong boys than repair broken men. Black boys need a safe space where they can be encouraged, affirmed, and educated.”
— Cortaiga Collins
Meet the People Behind the Foundation
Montina C. Mullen
Kia Ivy-Gibson
Mahogany Moore
Katina Kinnel
Our Background & Approach
Strengthening Families is a research-informed approach to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect.
The Favored Foundation for Strengthening Families was officially formed May 31, 2013 and began working on developing programs in February 2018. Our founder has a 20 year background in early childhood education in the target community. During her time in early education she realized children were being sent home to toxic environments with a lack of resources. She saw a need for a more holistic approach to caring for children which included providing education and resources to the entire family. Some areas she noticed families need more education and resources were nutrition and child development. She witnessed the adverse impact poor nutrition had on children including frequent illnesses and developmental delays.
The goal of our organization is to increase positive outcomes for children and families. Strengthening Families is a research-informed approach to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect. It is based on engaging families, programs, and communities in building five key Protective Factors:
- Enhancing parental resilience
- Providing an array of social connections
- Providing parents concrete support in times of need
- Facilitating knowledge of parenting and child development
- Supporting healthy social & emotional development in young children
Strengthening Families is used as a common framework for aligning practice and approaches across the systems that touch the lives of young children and their families. Strengthening Families implementation is most effective when it takes place through cross-systems collaboration. Our program will work in concert with other organizations to expand our reach. We will share information and refer our clients to these programs whenever appropriate. Participation in our programs will equip families with tools to break negative cycles of poverty in our community. We want to increase knowledge and awareness related to healthy eating, physical activity, financial literacy, family engagement and career advancement in the black community. This increased knowledge will translate into healthier behaviors and subsequently longer, more fulfilled lives for the most underserved communities in St. Louis. Education is the great equalizer and it is the mission of our organization to unify and strengthen families through education and meaningful interactions between guardian, child and community.
Strong Families Make Strong Communities.
FSF aims to strengthen the lives of children and families in the low-income, high-opportunity neighborhoods by providing three key Avenues for Impact: (1) Black Maternal Health, (2) Early Childhood Education, (3) Concrete Support in Times of Need — all designed to simultaneously work together to break generational cycles of poverty disinvested communities.
Want to join our team?
Together, we can create a future where every child begins life with promise, and every family has the strength to nurture it.
Vision in Action
Today, FSF stands at the intersection of compassion and strategy—combining heartfelt service with measurable outcomes.
Its programs—from Healthy Start to Good Shepherd Academy for Boys (opening 2026)—address critical moments in the family journey, ensuring that both mothers and children receive the tools, resources, and support they need to thrive.
Rooted In a Framework of Strength
Our philosophy draws from the Strengthening Families Framework developed by the Center for the Study of Social Policy.
This nationally recognized model identifies five protective factors that help families thrive:
Managing stress and navigating adversity with confidence.
Building positive, trusting relationships within the community.
Understanding how children grow, learn, and behave.
Accessing help and resources when life becomes difficult.
Encouraging empathy, communication, and self-control.
Every FSF program is intentionally designed to strengthen one or more of these factors, empowering families to build stability that lasts for generations.