Family Foundations, originally Family Counseling Service, was founded in 1955 by the Junior League, United Way and the Jewish Welfare League and initially lead by Executive Director, Jean Kirkpatrick. The current President is Dawn Lockhart, who has worked at the agency for over 20 years.

Family Counseling Service began providing marriage, family and individual counseling services on the Westside and moved to its present location in 1969. Jessie Ball duPont donated the present building to us.

Up until the early 70’s, our primary mission was to provide marriage counseling. We then branched out into providing budget counseling and family life education programs.

In 1984, United Way asked the Board of Directors to consider a merger with the local Consumer Credit Counseling Services. Family Counseling Services then became the local CCCS organization.  We have achieved enormous success since 1984 in providing financial counseling and debt management services to thousands of local families.

Family Counseling Services began providing services directly in local schools with the Families and Schools Together (F.A.S.T.) program, a nationally acclaimed juvenile delinquency prevention program. We are now utilizing our own program BLAST, Building Lives and Solutions Together with program outcomes reflecting our success at strengthening families and improving children’s success in school.

Our Family Life Education Program introduced Character Counts!, a national character education program created by the Josephson Institute, to the local community in 1988. This character education program teaches the Six Pillars of Character to individuals of all ages. With the assistance of a local advisory board of community leaders, Character Counts! Was spun off into an independent 501(c)3 organization.

Employee Assistance Program Services were added to our suite of services. In 1999, we were selected by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to develop a stress management and critical incident training program for their staff. The program was implemented with great success and is now a national training program model.

With the many changes and additions to the agency services, the Board of Directors approved a name change in 2006. Our new name, Family Foundations, reflects our approach to building lives on solid solutions.

Family Foundations continues to be innovative in creating new programs to meet the needs of families and the community.