A single mother rushes into the social worker’s office with two young children in tow. She’s frantic and apologetic for being 20 minutes late to the appointment. She wipes the sweat from her forehead as she rummages through her purse to find the documentation she needs to apply for food assistance. She sighs deeply as she realizes she left it at home. She looks up at the social worker with tears in her eyes and a feeling of quiet desperation.
As a helping professional, it can be all too easy to feel discouraged when this happens. After all, social workers have tight schedules and must juggle the needs of their own families while serving 10 or more families simultaneously. What’s important in this situation — and many others like it — is to try to understand what’s going on behind the scenes. For example, consider:
- What kind of work schedule does the mother have? Does she work more than one job?
- Where is her childcare located?
- What kind of support does she have at home?
Increased understanding leads to greater empathy for the families being served, enabling helping professionals to better meet their needs.
The Institute for Family is focused on helping practitioners see the full picture of the challenges families in North Carolina face. For several months, they have been hosting Light Lab Live webinars that use AI‑assisted research to transform publicly available datasets into practitioner‑ready insights. These lunch-and-learn sessions are free to attend and encourage collaboration across sectors.
This article explores how the Institute for Family uses AI responsibly to help leaders, educators, policymakers, and practitioners work more efficiently and with greater compassion. It also offers guidance on using data to make informed decisions about budgets, programs, and interventions that better support families. The article concludes with links to past webinar reports and an upcoming schedule of topics.
Analyzing Large Reports
Many reports and surveys provide statistics on the community and the challenges many households in North Carolina face. However, some of these reports range from 50 to 100 pages, making it challenging for busy helping professionals to find time to read and analyze the information.
“I don’t know anyone who is more strapped for time and resources than those who are charged with supporting families and keeping their support systems up and running,” says Claudia Perry, Director of the Institute for Family. “That’s why it’s important to take advantage of every kind of technology and tool available to help them.”
Here are two examples of the reports discussed in the Light Lab Live webinars:
- The Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) report shows how many households are struggling financially, even though they may be working and may not be officially classified as poor.
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey (ATUS) measures how Americans allocate their time across work, childcare, household responsibilities, commuting, leisure, sleep, and other daily activities, providing insight into how working adults actually spend their hours and balance competing demands.
Working with AI Technology
Some practitioners may mistrust AI tools, viewing them as potentially risky or misleading. Others may see their use as cheating because they can streamline aspects of data processing.
“When used correctly, AI can help synthesize large amounts of data and identify patterns that make it easier to understand conditions in the field,” says Perry. “It doesn’t do the work for you, but it can help you work more effectively while still requiring human evaluation of the output.”
Perry compares AI to the difference between a paper road map and a navigation app. “A paper map can get you where you’re going, but it can’t alert you to traffic, accidents, or construction,” she explains. “AI offers a more dynamic way to access deeper, more current information than a static resource.”
A Need for Human Perspective
To make data real and meaningful, a human perspective is essential. Only people can confirm whether the data reflects their lived experience.
For example, AI can’t fully capture the unique circumstances that shape a family’s daily life. Factors such as caring for a child with special needs, lacking reliable transportation, or living far from healthcare services add important context that data alone can’t provide.
Recognizing these limitations is central to the Institute for Family’s approach.
“AI is a new tool for most of us, making this effort somewhat experimental,” Perry notes. “The Light Lab Live webinars were not only an opportunity to explore the conditions that may emerge at the intersection of these datasets but also a chance for us to gather cross-sector feedback on the usefulness and effectiveness of this method of inquiry.”
So far, participants have agreed that the approach has been valuable. Their feedback has been essential as the Institute for Family continues to refine the process for future sessions.
Verifying Accuracy
The Institute for Family team went through a tedious process to verify the accuracy of the AI reports. First, they reviewed data stores to ensure the datasets were valid. Second, they reviewed the key assertions to confirm they aligned with the data stores and cross-checked the conclusions against multiple online sources. Third, they reran the reports through a second AI system to tighten up the language and enhance accuracy.
Building Bridges Across Sectors
Beyond sharing data, the webinars create opportunities for helping professionals across sectors to connect. By encouraging conversations around shared challenges, they build small but meaningful bridges between organizations and disciplines. They also create a common language for discussing the complex issues families face.
According to Perry, collaboration is central to the Institute for Family’s mission.
“Families don’t live their lives in one sector — they live in a system that converges to tell a story,” she says. “When we connect data across education, income, time, and other factors, we gain a fuller understanding of their experiences and can respond to their needs with greater compassion.”
The Institute for Family is focused on helping every family-serving sector work better together for families.
How Light Lab Live Webinars Work
After identifying a timely topic, the Institute for Family team analyzes relevant datasets and uncovers emerging patterns. During the webinar, they invite participants to consider whether those findings align with what they’re seeing in their own communities.
Each webinar is designed to:
- Unpack the data in plain language
- Explore what the data means for children, families, and communities
- Connect findings to real‑world practice across systems
- Provide a PDF summary of the research
“Our goal is to spark curiosity,” says Tori Brasher-Weathers, Programs and Partnerships Manager for the Institute for Family. “We then like to ask, ‘How does this connect to your experience, and how can these insights improve your work?’”
Practitioners are often so immersed in their day-to-day work that it’s difficult to see the bigger picture. “That’s why we pair every dataset with a family story; it helps bring the numbers to life and connects the data to real experiences,” Brasher-Weathers says.
Here are the topics explored so far:
- Living on the Edge: What the Data Reveals About North Carolina Families. This session explored how nearly half of households in North Carolina are one unexpected crisis away from financial hardship. The data reveals that 42% of households fall below the state’s real cost of survival, yet many earn too much to qualify for social services because the federal poverty line does not reflect the true cost of living.
- Time Poverty: The Hidden Cost of Low Wages Isn’t Just Money — It’s the Hours North Carolina Families Never Get Back. This session examined the hidden cost of time poverty, including how long commutes, childcare deserts, and second jobs leave little time for parent-child interactions or self-care.
- The Helper’s Dilemma: The Professionals Hired to Stabilize Families Are Often Financially Unstable Themselves. This session revealed how the professionals hired to stabilize families are often financially unstable themselves. These essential workers often have to seek additional work or leave the profession to support their families, leaving large gaps in social services.
“Healthcare, childcare, employment, and education — these systems are all connected,” says Brasher-Weathers. “Looking at just one of them doesn’t tell the whole story. When you look at them together, you begin to see how these challenges compound for families.”
Translating Research into Real-World Practice
At the end of each webinar, the Institute for Family team led a “Be the Change” segment, offering five low-threshold actions participants can take to inspire change within their organization. For example, at the end of The Helper’s Dilemma, participants were encouraged to look for signs of workforce financial distress in their own organization, identify and document instances of simultaneous helper turnover and family instability, and support wage advocacy as family policy, not just workforce policy.
Beyond cultivating empathy for families, Perry hopes the webinars will inform the work of leaders involved in strategic planning and decision-making. By examining cross-sector data that paints a more complete picture of families’ experiences, organizations can develop more effective programs and interventions. These insights can support more informed decisions about resource allocation, social services, and the policies that determine who receives support.
What Participants Are Saying
“We weren’t sure if others would be as excited about these conversations as we were, but they were!” says Brasher-Weathers. “Participants have been eager to learn, engage, and bring these ideas back to their communities.”
For example, Derek Uejo, Community Alignment Specialist with Family Connects Durham, Center for Child & Family Health, attended the Time Poverty webinar, recognizing that most helping professionals don’t have the time to pull together all this research themselves.
“The Institute for Family is providing a tremendous service by synthesizing the data, giving us a way to connect what we’re seeing on the ground with the bigger picture,” notes Uejo. “It helps us name emerging challenges, learn from others’ experiences, and better understand the many ways these issues affect families across the state.”
Uejo also found it helpful to visualize the many stressors families face in their daily lives. One example discussed during the session was the challenge of finding time for medical appointments. Parents juggling multiple jobs often have little flexibility to take time off, so caregivers frequently prioritize their children’s health while postponing or skipping their own care.
Since the Time Poverty webinar, two organizations have asked the Institute for Family to present a similar program to their teams.
Improved Understanding of Families and Their Needs
According to Brasher-Weathers, the Institute for Family aims to help practitioners shift their perspective and move beyond data points to better understand the circumstances affecting families.
“We need to break down stereotypes and understand why families are experiencing certain challenges,” says Brasher-Weathers. “From eastern North Carolina to the Triad and western North Carolina, every community has a different ecosystem with unique needs. This understanding should shape how we approach our work and how we connect systems to better support families.”
By helping practitioners zoom in on individual experiences and zoom out to see statewide trends, Light Lab Live webinars encourage a more thoughtful, data-informed approach, one that recognizes there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for supporting families.