Friends of the Family was awarded the most prestigious honor in the nation for publicly funded programs, the Innovations in State and Local Government Award. Bestowed jointly by the Ford Foundation and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the award recognizes ''Ten Shining Examples of Government at Its Best'' each year, and includes a $100,000 cash prize for each recipient. Friends of the Family is one of only three Maryland initiatives ever to have won this honor. The selection process was one of intense scrutiny, including a two-day site visit from an expert in the human services delivery field, submission of two lengthy descriptive documents, and an oral presentation at the JFK School of Government to a highly esteemed panel of judges. In granting the Innovations Award to Friends of the Family, the reviewers concluded that Maryland’s forward-thinking public/private/community partnership represents an important direction in the provision of preventive social services to high-risk families. They were impressed by the State’s use of an intermediary agency to represent the interests of Maryland government and its private sector partners, the focus on very early intervention with infants and toddlers, the comprehensive nature of Family Support Centers, and Centers’ ability to motivate parents to complete their education, seek employment, and strengthen their parenting skills.

Friends of the Family is one of fewer than 50 nonprofit organizations in Maryland to achieve this certification from the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations. Covering every aspect of operations from fund raising to governance, from employee relations to mission focus, the painstaking Maryland Nonprofits peer review process to which we subjected our materials revealed that we are an exemplary nonprofit, and we're very proud. For our readers who want to know how well we're doing in achieving our mission, you can rest assured that an independent board of investigators determined that:

For those of you who are curious about how we're using your money, the Standards for Excellence certification guarantees you that:

For people who would like to know who our Board members are and what they do, we successfully demonstrated that:

In fact, there are 8 guiding principles and 55 standards that Maryland Nonprofits reviews and evaluates in the process of deciding if an organization merits the honor. Learn more about Standards of Excellence.