Ready News: February 19, 2021

February Making the Invisible Visible Discussion

Webinar in Partnership with The Science of Learning and Development (SoLD) Alliance
Wednesday, February 24
4:00-5:30 PM ET

The Readiness Projects partners are pleased to re-launch our Making the Invisible Visible discussion series, with our first session offered in partnership with the SoLD Alliance Who Gets to Thrive webinar series. Join us on 2/24 as Karen Pittman facilitates Part 5 in the series – Who Gets to Thrive? Accelerating Equity for All Learners in All Settings.

A panel discussion with Aleah Rosario, California Afterschool Network; Sean Miller, Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond; and Eshauna Smith, Urban Alliance, will explore how organizations and systems equip youth workers to create emotion-safe and identity-safe environments for BIPOC young people across a community’s learning and development ecosystem.

The Who Gets to Thrive? session will be followed by breakout discussions to allow you time to consider application in your own setting with an eye toward how we can use this summer as a starting point for longer-term change for BIPOC children and youth.

Register now.

 


 

Leveraging Summer: A Down Payment on Long-term Change

Blog by Karen Pittman, Senior Fellow, The Forum for Youth Investment

Almost a full year into the COVID-19 pandemic, we once again find ourselves at a critical juncture. As we head into the spring, schedules are still uncertain. But there is growing confidence schools will reopen in the fall.

With this anticipation of reopening, there is broad commitment to build back better. There is increased recognition of the role that community partners and families can play and that the impact of the last year on teens and young adults will have lasting ramifications. COVID and the racial reckonings have exposed inefficiencies and inequities.

This means we are now face to face with a tangible opportunity to challenge and support school districts and community partners in creating equitable learning and development ecosystems that unleash the potential of all learners, recognize the power of all committed adults, and optimize all learning settings and approaches.

If we are truly intent on not going back to normal, we must recognize the interdependence of systems and center on young people and their families. To do so, school and community leaders must work collaboratively to reflect and take stock to:

  • identify innovations and understand roadblocks,
  • look at the ways school, family, and community leaders worked or did not work together, and
  • hear the lessons learned from students, families, and front-line staff.

Read more.

 


 

Game Changers: Celebrating & Learning from Black Youth Leadership

America’s Promise Alliance Webinar
Friday, February 26
1:00-2:30 PM ET

What can we learn from Black history about centering youth leadership? How can adults and youth partner together to make meaningful change? What are Black youth telling adults in power, and are they listening?

As we reflect on our country’s history and the progress Black people have led, there is a strong legacy of youth leadership. Many of the major accomplishments in the fight for equality have been the result of youth activism, youth-led policy change, and the relentless action of new generations unsatisfied with the status quo. While the energy of youth leadership is valuable in its own right, it can have even more impact when combined with support from adults who hold power.

This Black History Month, America’s Promise Alliance invites you to join a conversation with Black youth and adult leaders to explore how we can share power and work across generations to write the next chapter of progress for the United States.

Register now.

 


 

2021 National Family and Community Engagement Conference

Hybrid Conference
June 1-4, 2021

The National Family and Community Engagement Conference is an annual convening presented by the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) where state leaders, school and district leaders, administrators, educators, non-profits, community-based organizations, researchers, and families come together to focus on solutions that enhance and expand engagement through family-school-community partnerships. With pre-conference sessions, site visits, plenaries, workshops, deep dive sessions and more, it is an opportunity to highlight innovation and high-impact strategies taking place across the country.

The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) recognizes the importance of family and community engagement as an essential element in efforts to improve outcomes for children cradle to career. Successfully engaging families, strengthening family-school partnerships, and aligning efforts requires building the capacity of everyone involved. The ramifications of multiple crises – public health, racial justice, and economic – have magnified and exacerbated challenges in our most vulnerable communities. As the pandemic unfolded through various stages, schools and districts with good engagement practices and deep community partnerships were in a better position to respond to the crisis, innovate and build on promising approaches.

Learn more.

 


 

When Theory Gets Practical with Developmental Relationships

Blog by Gene Rohlkepartain, Search Institute

Launched in 2018, the Relationships for Outcomes Initiative (ROI) project sought to shed light on this central question: can youth organizations become more intentional and inclusive in nurturing developmental relationships, particularly with and among young people in marginalized communities?

In the first of five blogs that will reflect on the ROI experience, Gene Roehlkepartain with Search Institute makes connections between the project and popular quotes by Kurt Lewin (1890 – 1947), a pioneer in social psychology, “action research,” and organizational development: “there is nothing so practical as a good theory,” and “if you want truly to understand something, try to change it.”

Read more.