Northern Lights Child Advocacy Center and Marquette Alger Child Abuse & Neglect (CAN) Council are collaborating on strengthening families through prevention services.

Formerly known as Michigan Children’s Trust Fund, Children Trust Michigan is the only statewide organization whose sole focus is to proactively support programs with education, funding, and resources across the state to prevent child abuse and neglect. We believe in a Michigan where children are happy; supported; and have access to a bright, safe future.

Our Mission

Together, WE CAN protect children through strengthening families.

Child abuse and neglect prevention not only protects children's health and well-being but also offers a strong return on investment for our community's future. With grant funding from the State of Michigan's Children Trust Michigan the Marquette Alger CAN Council:

  • Raises awareness of the lifelong effects of adverse childhood experiences and the importance of nurturing relationships, experiences, and environments.

  • Provides education and support to community service providers who assist children and families facing challenges.

  • Collects and uses data to inform our actions. 

Donations are essential to our prevention work. Our grant funds require a 50% community match through monetary donations and in-kind services. When our donations increase, we can meet even more community needs.

A young black girl leans her head while laughing towards a young white girl. Sunlight warms the light around them.
A young Asian masculine presenting preteen in a yellow wheelchair laughs with joy beside a setting sun over a body of water. With the youth is an older male relative smiling assisting the youth.
A young boy with light brown skin writes on paper in a classroom.

Community Resources

We support early childhood home visitation, high-quality child care, and preschool enrichment opportunities that help children build a strong foundation for future learning and opportunity by improving their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development, language and literacy skills, and school readiness.

Education

We support social-emotional learning to teach children and youth communication and problem-solving skills, alcohol and drug resistance, conflict management, empathy, coping, and emotional awareness; and teach parents and caregivers developmentally appropriate expectations for child behavior; behavior management and problem-solving skills; safe and effective discipline; healthy relationship behaviors; and ways to support communication between parents and children.

Evaluation

We collect data on all CAN Council-provided funding and report back to the State of Michigan. We monitor the ongoing needs of the community and evaluate the impact of prevention efforts. We ensure all resources and educational elements listed here are evidence-based and provided by trusted sources.

  • Link to our annual impact statement (coming soon)

Connect

Business owners, community members, parents, and professionals working with children and families are invited to join the Marquette Alger CAN Council meetings. Volunteers are also needed to assist with several public outreach events throughout the year, such as Strengthening Families Month in April.

  • 2023/2024 Bi-monthly meetings are held from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM on 12/11/23, 2/13/24, 4/9/24, 6/11/24

Request a training, or request a new member orientation today.