Our Story
Village Roots began long before we had a new name.
In 1999, our work started under Apex Family Care, a treatment foster care agency committed to supporting children and families in crisis. As we listened to families, mentors, and community partners over the years, one truth became clear: families needed support before foster care became a possibility.
In 2015, Trisha Behrens and Marlon Brewer launched the Integrated Family Care (IFC) program after seeing a heartbreaking pattern. Parents were doing everything asked of them: working, attending appointments, following case plans - but reunification was still out of reach because of homelessness, poverty, or lack of support. IFC was created to fill that gap by providing short-term housing, mentorship, and wraparound support so families could stay safely together.
Over time, IFC grew into something larger than a program. It became a movement of community members, mentor families, volunteers, and donors who believed that prevention works best when it’s rooted in relationships, not systems.
In 2023, that vision expanded with the creation of Apex Community Services, a sister organization designed to give the community a direct role in keeping families together. It allowed us to build programs like the Community Closet, deepen partnerships across Omaha, and involve more people in supporting families before crises turn into removals.
By 2025, our identity and our impact had outgrown our original name. We needed a brand that reflected who we had become: a village of support, connection, stability, and hope.
A place where families could grow strong roots.
And so, Village Roots was born.
Today, Village Roots continues the work started years ago, operating IFC, the Community Closet, and emerging community-based initiatives that strengthen families, stabilize parents, and prevent unnecessary foster care involvement. We walk beside families, not above them. We believe parents are capable. We believe community is powerful. And we believe every child deserves to grow up surrounded by the people who love them most.
This is our story.
This is your village.
And this is only the beginning.
