Community service has always been a passion for Joan Chanman-Forbes but family is primary and very important. After years of service to the community her focus changed when in 2013 her brother became ill. Suddenly there was this new realm of unknown rushing towards her.  Her brother wasn’t married, his teen age son was out of state in college, so as his caring and compassionate sister Joan, had to step forward and put family first.

Joan then seized the role as his caretaker which resulted in her quitting her full time job of 15 years.  Immediately after leaving work, Joan also had to resign from the group she volunteered with.  It is fair to say, that this new roll of being a caretaker that God had graciously bestowed upon her was frightening.  She had no experience in home care and had to learn on the go.  Thankfully Joan had a solid base of support.  Her husband continued to be her strongest inspiration and she had family and friends supporting her but that feeling of being lost kept rising to the surface.

It took approximately a year to regain some control of her time.  Joan could finally care for her brother and was able to regain steady footing enough to get back into community service.  Now Joan needed to find a way to include her brother in the community service activities she loved so much. With a focus on children, Joan and her husband decided it was best to start an organization of their own where they could manage their own time and involvement.

Soon after, they discussed the idea with family and close friends and began researching how to start a non-profit organization.  They worked tirelessly gathering the information needed and then submitted the paperwork. Today with much delight, they are OUR CHILDREN THE FUTURE INC. 

The goal of OUR CHILDREN THE FUTURE INC. is primarily to support children in the need in the areas of Education, Health and Financial Support.  The intent is to provide various avenues of support to assist in making the family’s stress-status less arduous.

Their target population consists of several communities within the Los Angeles City area, economically challenged communities of Trinidad and Tobago and other international communities