About Our Chapter
Our Volunteers
We are currently recruiting volunteers to be Family Coaches, Family Friends, and Connect Friends. We currently have 150 approved volunteers. We have a team approach to volunteering so that no volunteer feels alone or overwhelmed. We average 3 volunteers matched with each family, so we are in great need of more volunteers!
Our Churches
Church partnerships are the foundation of our work to serve families. We have 19 congregations fully committed to be a Safe Families church, and are continually seeking to partner with more churches. Our current churches are from Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx. We are praying for church partnerships in all 5 boroughs.
Our Team
Safe families is a volunteer-driven ministry. Our volunteers do the most significant work of connecting with families in need. We currently have six staff members in two teams:
- Family Support Team (conduct intake with families and provide professional support to volunteers)
- Volunteer Mobilization Team (recruit churches and volunteers and thoroughly screen volunteers).

Nicole Amoako, Church Engagement Coordinator
Nicole is a life-long New Yorker, born and raised in the Bronx, NY. She grew up in a thriving church community that was diligent and active in serving the community, uplifting others and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable. She took this same passion for others into her career when she began working with young adults focusing on workforce development and economic justice. She currently lives in Yonkers, NY with her husband and son and is excited to serve her city with Safe Families for Children.

Emily Cowan, Family Support Team Lead and Family Coach Supervisor
Emily lives in Brooklyn, NY with her quirky, bearded, artist husband and her ninja aspiring 6-year-old. Hospitality, to friend and stranger, has always been central to how they do life. Since marriage, Ben and Emily have intentionally pursued family-like relationships with others; sharing homes, hosting guests and welcoming all at their dinner table. Emily graduated from Moody Bible Institute with a desire to love God and serve people. After a year of youth ministry in England, Emily returned to Chicago to pursue a Master of Social Work where her heart for justice and reconciliation took deep root. Since then, she’s worked with youth and at risk populations in Chicago, Indiana, and Brooklyn. For her, Safe Families for Children is the perfect union of ministry and justice.

Laura Galt, Director
Laura has lived in Brooklyn since 2006 with her husband and 4 children. Her family has temporarily hosted several children from her block when they were in crisis, including respite foster care. These experiences led to her desire to lead a team to start Safe Families in NYC. Laura is passionate about mobilizing communities into the work of prevention and family stabilization.

Jamie Knauss, Family Coach Supervisor
Jamie and her husband Rob, moved to Manhattan in 2014 from L.A. where they raised their 4 now-adult children. Jamie is grateful for the opportunity Safe Families provides to draw on her experiences as a pediatrician. She is excited to be part of an endeavor that helps us all better understand God's powerful and inclusive love as we walk with families in NYC who are striving to love and care well for their children but are overwhelmed by hardship, isolation and injustice.

Hilary Yeo, Family Support Coordinator
Hilary is a native New Yorker, thrilled to be back home after many years living in North Carolina, Indonesia, and Hong Kong, where she worked to provide help and hope to children, women, and families facing difficult circumstances. Hilary believes that a safe and loving family is the best environment for human flourishing and that by keeping children safe and helping families stay together, we can help build a great city. Hilary is happily married to her husband Curt, and they are the proud parents of two awesome adult children.