James, a Rochester resident and grandparent, has been a part of FRC's Skip Generations program since 1997. The program provides grandparents/kinship caregivers in the community with information, education, and support to strengthen their ability to care for their grandchildren.

Throughout her career, James has also been a very strong advocate for kinship caregivers. She says this was a factor in her award selection.

"The reason they honored me was not only for Skip, but I do a lot of advocacy on the local, state, and national level for kinship caregivers," says James.

She notes that the importance of advocating for this segment of the population is to raise awareness of the fact that there are now some six million kinship caregivers across the United States and that they are still in need of governmental assistance "to sustain their lives, but also the lives of their grandchildren."

"The struggles that they go through are what drive me. They struggle but they are driven to not give up," says James. "With that attitude, it gives me the desire to advocate for them so that our government on a local, state, and national level will look and say that these kinship caregivers are making a difference."

About Crestwood Children's Center