Pictured: Don Burt at the Parent Place with Heather Loughman, Sarah Jordan, and Haylee Aldridge of Community Action. Photo credit: Melissa Fuller, LNKTV

At the corner of K Street and Antelope Valley Parkway, inside Community Action’s Bansal Family Home for Head Start, there is a room that looks less like a social service agency and more like a living room. A Keurig machine hums in the corner, available free of charge. Plush couches are arranged for conversation, and a sense of calm stands in stark contrast to the chaotic world outside the building.

This is The Parent Place — a "third space" designed not for children in Head Start, but for the adults raising them.

Pictured: Coffee provided free of charge at The Parent Place. Photo credit: Brittany Wren, Stingray Writing

For Katherine Aleman, mother of three and now a part-time staff person at The Parent Place, the journey to this room began while navigating challenging times.

"We had just moved to Nebraska... and right when I applied [for Head Start], my husband was let go," Katherine recalls. "I didn't know anybody here. I didn't have a community."

Katherine’s experience highlights a critical, often overlooked public health crisis: social isolation. While poverty is frequently measured in dollars, its toll is often paid in loneliness, stress, and a lack of support networks.

A Place to "Just Be"

The concept behind The Parent Place was born from listening. For years, Community Action Partnership of Lancaster and Saunders Counties heard from Head Start parents and caregivers that they needed more than just a place to drop off their children — they needed a place to connect with each other.

Haylee Aldridge, Family Peer Support Specialist at Community Action’s Parent Place, remembered a mother who recently used the space to relax and resettle while grieving her mother’s death. "She said this is the most peace she has felt in weeks. She said, 'I wish I knew I could have done this sooner because I would have been in here every day.'"

Pictured: Snacks provided free of charge at The Parent Place. Photo credit: Brittany Wren, Stingray Writing

Unlike traditional programming that might prescribe parenting classes or mandatory workshops, The Parent Place is intentionally unstructured. It is a space where a parent can take a nap, grab a cup of coffee, paint a picture, eat a snack, share a recipe, or simply sit in silence with people who get it.

For Katherine, coming to The Parent Place between shifts at work helped her to build community.

“They just made me feel very welcome,” she remembered. “I would just come in here to talk, and it was very nice because it started to feel like I had my own little community, starting to make my own friendships.”

Dignity by Design: The Carole Burt Legacy

The room's welcoming atmosphere is no accident. It was furnished through a donation in memory of Carole Burt, a longtime educator and Community Health Endowment Trustee known for her "keen mind, quick wit, and visceral sense of justice."

Pictured: Plaque memorializing Carole Burt’s donation to furnish The Parent Place. Photo credit: Brittany Wren, Stingray Writing

Her husband, Don Burt, sees the room as a continuation of her legacy — a space that prioritizes equity. "She could sense somebody who was being put down and diminished... when I walk in this room, I see everybody’s going to be treated fairly," Don says.

Parent Place staff are starting to host meetups in the space that further foster community, such as movement Mondays and creative writing Wednesdays. 

“I want everyone to feel welcome, like they’re wanted here,” Katherine said.

The high-quality furniture and thoughtful design send a powerful message to the parents who enter: You are worthy of comfort. You are worthy of rest.

Place Matters: Connecting Data to Daily Life

While the impact of The Parent Place is personal, its existence is strategic. It sits in a Lincoln neighborhood with higher indicators of need, as highlighted in the Community Health Endowment’s (CHE’s) Place Matters reports.

• Poverty: The center is located in a census tract where poverty rates far exceed the community average of 12%. Poverty is often the "cause of causes" for poor health outcomes, creating chronic stress that affects the entire family.
• Mental Wellness: The Place Matters maps on Social Vulnerability highlight neighborhoods where residents are less resilient to external stresses. By providing a space for peer support, The Parent Place directly addresses mental wellness — a top funding priority for CHE.

Pictured: The Parent Place is located inside Community Action’s Head Start building on K Street in downtown Lincoln. Photo credit: Brittany Wren, Stingray Writing

"The maps tell you where need exists," notes Kate Bolz, CHE’s President and CEO. "The Parent Place is the living proof. It acknowledges that to support a child’s health and education [the mission of Head Start], a community must also support the mental and emotional well-being of the parent.”

As Haylee reflected, being a single mom is the greatest journey but also one of the “biggest struggles” she’s faced. Being involved with The Parent Place has changed her life for the better.

Pictured: Haylee Aldridge, Peer Support Specialist at Community Action’s Parent Place. Photo credit: Melissa Fuller, LNKTV

"They make me see that I’m not different, that I’m not a bad person," Haylee explains. "It makes me feel like I’m not alone."

A Partnership for Healthier Futures

CHE has been a longtime partner of Community Action, supporting initiatives that address food access, early childhood development, and family well-being. This includes current funding for the Gathering Place renovation and a previous grant for the Growing Great Beginnings program, a commercial kitchen that functions as part of a larger system to increase access to locally produced healthy foods. CHE also funded the transformation of the K Street facility into a Head Start and family engagement hub, now known as the Bansal Family Home for Head Start.

Pictured: The Parent Place is located inside Community Action’s Bansal Family Home for Head Start building on K Street in downtown Lincoln. Photo credit: Brittany Wren, Stingray Writing

By funding The Parent Place, CHE is investing in an innovative model of care — one that recognizes that connection is a health intervention. The model is also evolving to deepen that sense of ownership. Plans are underway to formalize volunteer opportunities, empowering parents to lead their own skill-sharing workshops and peer-led activities. It shifts the dynamic from simply receiving support to actively building it for others.

And the impact isn't stopping at the Lincoln city limits. Heather Loughman, Community Action’s CEO, noted that other early care settings are interested in establishing spaces that replicate this “living room” approach to family resilience.

Pictured: Haylee Aldridge, Peer Support Specialist at Community Action’s Parent Place, with Don Burt, husband of Carole Burt. Photo credit: Melissa Fuller, LNKTV

According to Don, the space is a way to "level up the playing field," ensuring that every parent, regardless of their circumstances, has a place where they are treated with dignity.

For moms like Katherine, Haylee, and the dozens of parents finding community on those couches, that playing field has shifted. The isolation that once kept them on the outside looking in is fading. In this room, they are building a healthier future for themselves and their children — one cup of coffee and one conversation at a time.

Learn more about CHE’s initiatives at chelincoln.org/placematters.