Cross-Generation
Building Strength, Safety, and Hope in Families
History of Cross-Generation
Co-founders Lynne and Jim Jackson determined early in their careers that supporting parents is often the most important element for helping children. Jim worked in youth ministry leadership beginning in 1985, and Lynne focused her Occupational Therapy efforts on young people’s sensory needs beginning in 1987. As Lynne and Jim worked effectively with “other people’s kids” they came to understand that the most effective way to help children was to care for and equip their parents if at all possible. So in 1993, in their spare time, they began developing a curriculum for parenting that is now known as “The Connected Families® Framework.” Their experience teaching and seeing profound results for nearly a decade fueled a sense of calling, and in 2002 Cross-Generation was born, with a mission to build strength into families by caring for, inspiring, and equipping the parents to receive and pass on God’s grace and truth.
Scope of Cross-Generation Work
In the first couple of years, Jim and Lynne mobilized locally, teaching in churches, schools, and community organizations. By word of mouth alone they were busy most weekends and many weeknights. They spent their days mentoring individual parents, networking, and writing tips to share with a growing email list.
In 2003 Jim received a call from County Social Services asking if he could help support high-risk families. It turns out that the principles Jim and Lynne taught had powerful application within the toughest of family situations. Jim took on a few cases and one day got asked if he could “clone himself.” This request led to the hiring of a dedicated team, and by 2008 the team was asked to train others. This service branch flourished, was renamed SafeGenerations, and eventually became a separate organization.
Meanwhile, in order to create a clear identity for the work done at Cross-Generation, the branch of Cross-Generation dedicated to serving the Church was renamed Connected Families® and today conducts the ministry described throughout this website.
The name Cross-Generation is still the “official” IRS recognized name of the organization, but Connected Families is the functioning name. It is registered as a DBA (doing business as) and also trademarked with the U.S. Trademark Registry.
Info and Audits
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We’d be delighted to chat about our history, development, and growth since 2002.