Our History

1976 - We began as The Criminal Justice Project, the first community-based corrections program for women in the state. The 1973 Community Corrections Act had introduced the philosophy that certain types of offenders were not a danger to public safety and would benefit from spending time in a therapeutic atmosphere outside of prison. The Criminal Justice Project was financed through a federal Law Enforcement Assistance Act (LEAA) grant administered by the MN Crime Control Planning Board.

1979 - The agency was incorporated as Genesis II for Women, Inc. and began to accept women referred in lieu of a prison sentence and/or as part of a probation plan. Genesis II for Women secured long-term funding through Hennepin County Court Services and Ramsey County Community Services.

1981 - Genesis II for Women added a strong parenting education component to the program. Ninety percent of the women served were mothers who were repeating the cycles of trauma and instability that they had experienced during childhood. The addition of parenting education programming was meant to address this perpetual cycle of abuse. Start-up funds for parenting education were provided by the Bush, General Mills and Northwest Area Foundations. Longer-term funding was secured through the Minneapolis and St. Paul United Ways and Hennepin and Ramsey County Human Services.

1990s - The organization further expanded its focus on parenting by naming the women’s program Family Focus and adding a Child Development Center and Parent-Child Interaction Time for the mothers and their children, as well as Supervised Parenting and Parenting Assessments for other families referred by county systems.

2001 - The Teen Parenting Program was created to meet the needs of young parents who, without intervention, would be at risk for perpetuating cycles of abuse and neglect.

2003 - The agency’s name was officially changed from Genesis II for Women to Genesis II for Families, Inc. to reflect our continually expanding focus on the whole family.

2005 - A new Behavioral Health department increased our capacity to address our clients’ complex mental health issues through on-site clinical mental health services.

2006 - A busy year! Our Buzzy Beehive Childcare became fully licensed and open to the public. We merged with mentor program Bright Beginnings. Hennepin County Child Protection contracted with us to provide In-Home Parent Education to their families. We received a state grant to start an Independent Living Skills program for teens living in out-of-home placement with the goal of preventing youth homelessness.

2007 - Genesis II for Families was awarded “Outstanding Chapter of The Year” by Circle of Parents®, a national network dedicated to using the mutual self-help support group model as a means of preventing child abuse and neglect and strengthening families.

2008 - We celebrate serving nearly 2,000 children, teens and adults this past year!