Extended Family is proud to launch the 2026-27 season of Extended Family for Kids (EFK) and Extended Family Leadership Academy (EFLA), serving schools and juvenile diversion programs throughout Calhoun, Cherokee, DeKalb, and Etowah counties. For the first time ever, during the 2025-26 season of EFK and EFLA programs, Extended Family enrolled more than 1,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students! This fall, our programs will again reach hundreds of students in more than 40 groups.
EFK and EFLA are thoughtfully designed lessons focused on strengthening the physical, mental, emotional, and moral development of participating youth. We are deeply grateful for dedicated education partners, counselors in schools and juvenile diversion programs, who help identify students and ensure that program logistics run smoothly – often while balancing the demands of already busy academic calendars.
We are also incredibly fortunate to have a committed team of Program Leaders representing a wide range of professional and personal backgrounds, united by a genuine passion for children and a deep commitment to their success. Each member of our team shares the same goal: that every child leaves each group meeting knowing, “You matter.”
EFK serves students in grades k-12 who have ever had a loved one incarcerated. Students learn to make healthy lifestyle choices to improve their quality of life. EFK lessons build self-esteem, ease feelings of shame, ease isolation, decrease stress, address anger issues, and strengthen communication skills.
EFLA follows the guiding motto, “Lead yourself,” a statement designed to empower young people in the areas of job readiness, health, communication, and financial independence. By developing competency in these key areas, students learn to set and achieve personal and professional goals to get them from where they are currently to wherever they want to be in the future.
To learn more about Extended Family programs, visit our website, www.extendedfamilyhelp.org and follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram @extendedfamilyhelp. We strive every day to fulfill our mission, “To offer help and inspire hope,” one child at a time.