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Family Engagement & Leadership

Category

Family Support

Child's Age

Prenatal, 0-1 years, 1-2 years, 2-3 years, 3-4 years, 4-5 years

Participant

Parents/Guardian

Languages

English

Brief Description

Activities to engage families as leaders and to increase parent and caregiver engagement in early childhood systems, services, and resources.

Expected Impact

  • Increased parent and family engagement  
  • Improved relationships between community partners and families

Core Components for Model Fidelity

Smart Start Local Partnerships must engage in activities in each of the following areas. Examples are provided below. Activities will be tailored to meet specific community goals and needs and must be approved by the Program Officer.

  • Capacity Building: Local Partnerships must implement a comprehensive system of family engagement and leadership by developing best practices.
    • Resources may include Starting Strong: Tools for Effective Family Engagement and Leadership, the Head Start Act, Center for the Study of Social Policy, National Family Support Network, and others.
    • Establishing family and community advisory committees to involve families in decision-making tables such as advisory boards and committees.
    • Building relationships with community partners to increase community understanding of the power of family voice in decision making
    • Engaging family leaders who meaningfully represent the community (recruiting families who are closest to the issues being discussed, hiring culturally and linguistically representative staff, using positive images of diverse families, etc.)
    • Providing families with resources needed to advocate for early childhood systems that are aligned with their culture, values, and lived experiences
  • Communication: Open, clear communication with families and community partners is necessary to support public awareness of early childhood systems, resources, and services.
    • Meeting families where they are present in the community (parks, schools, doctor’s offices, community events, places of worship, etc.)
    • Being physically and reliably present in the community (involves budgeting for extensive travel)
    • Using a variety of communication channels, including social media, websites, texting services, printed materials, radio announcements, brochures, phone calls, conferences, open house events, and more according to what families identify as most effective in each community.
    • Creating strengths-based, easy to read communication in languages families can understand (using translators/interpreters as needed)
  • Family Leader Training, Education, & Leadership Opportunities: Providing learning opportunities to families to enhance their capacity in advocacy and leadership development is essential in increasing public awareness and family engagement around early childhood systems, services, and resources.
    • Providing opportunities for families to take active leadership roles in the organization and community at large
    • Dedicating and training staff to be family liaisons/parent ambassadors, or hiring/engaging with family members who may be interested in this role
    • Using a multi-generational approach to engage with families
  • Identify Barriers & Logistics: Smart Start Local Partnerships must consider ways to reduce barriers to engagement.
    • Providing adequate compensation to family leaders for their time and expertise.
    • Providing access to staff members who make themselves available outside of regular office hours by offering supplemental pay/benefits to participating professionals
    • Ensuring families can attend meetings without fear of complications with work, school, or other obligations
    • Providing transportation, child care, alternative meeting dates/times/locations, translation/interpretation, etc.
  • Process Evaluation: Collecting and analyzing data to identify strengths and areas of growth and to determine what families value and what service features are important.
    • Establishing performance indicators by setting attainable, measurable goals with families
    • Creating a data-informed outreach plan with families
    • Exploring data-sharing agreements with community partners
    • Incorporating family voice in evaluation and data systems
    • Using quantitative and qualitative data to inform and guide plans and policies

Languages Materials are Available in

English

Delivery Mode

In-person and virtual methods of connecting with families and the community via meetings, websites, social media, text messaging, brochures, fliers, handouts, etc. 

Dosage

As needed on an ongoing basis.

Infrastructure for Implementation

Materials: Messaging materials, visual content, printed materials, digital content, social media

Space: Adequate meeting space for in-person events, such as formal conferences, listening sessions, decision-making conversations, and other in-person gatherings.

Staffing Requirements

NCPC recommends training in one or more of these areas: family engagement and leadership, project management, communications, social media, outreach, data analysis, and evaluation. Qualified professionals should be representative of the communities they serve.

Training for Model Fidelity

At minimum, staff must receive training in the following:

Contact Information

For more information, please contact your Program Officer or Daphne Alsiyao, NCPC's Family Support Manager, at daphne@smartstart.org.

Cost Estimates

Varies depending on several factors, including selected components, dosage, delivery mode, staffing needs, and more.

Purpose Service Code (PSC)

5517 - Systems Building

Program Identifier (PID)

Family Engagement and Leadership

Minimal Outputs for NCPC Reporting

FY 24-25:

  • Number of parents/guardians participating† 
  • Number of community partner individuals participating (optional) 
  • Number of community partner organizations participating (optional) 
  • Number of childcare staff participating (optional) 
  • Number of childcare facilities participating * with FA (optional) 
  • Number of trainings held for parents/guardians  
  • Number of trainings held for Community Partners (optional)  
  • Number of trainings held for childcare providers (optional)

Minimal Outcomes for NCPC Reporting

FY 24-25:

  • Increase in parent knowledge

Minimal Measures for NCPC Reporting

FY 24-25:

  • Smart Start FEL Measure
  • NCPC Family Engagement Measure

NCPC Evidence Categorization

Evidence Informed- Industry Standard

Research Summary

Best practices in raising public awareness of early childhood services and resources are documented in 8 federal and state resources.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 These publications provide guidance on building capacity and community relationships; supporting strong communication skills; providing opportunities for parent training, education, and leadership; incorporating family voice into decision making; including policy, advocacy, and systems-building efforts in outreach plans; identifying barriers to participation; and conducting ongoing evaluations. Specific strategies include but are not limited to: surveying families to identify interests, needs, and barriers to receiving services; hiring staff that represent the diverse community being served; inviting families to share their knowledge and skills and actively participate in various roles; establishing parent/community advisory committees; coordinating services and data collection efforts with other community agencies; and equipping partner agencies with information or materials about the services available. Public awareness and outreach strategies should draw upon laws, policies, and widely accepted recommendations for best practices. These strategies should be data-driven with a clear intended audience and attainable, measurable goals.

Additionally, NCPC encourages Smart Start Local Partnerships to explore the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits website for webinars, virtual forums, and guides on topics such as getting the most out of your website, search engine optimization, fundraising with email marketing, deciphering website/social media metrics, and more. Contact Wren Davisson, Shared Services Director, at wdavisson@smartstart.org for more information about accessing resources through the Center.

  1. ^ See California Department of Education (2014). This framework for California school districts details action areas and associated public policies/laws that support effective family engagement and public awareness efforts. Action areas include building capacity, demonstrating leadership, providing resources, monitoring progress, and ensuring access and equity. Specific recommendations for outreach strategies include providing trainings and supports to families and the professionals that serve them, informing families of what resources are available to them, coordinating outreach efforts with community partners, surveying families to plan activities that meet their needs, establishing parent and community advisory committees, involving families in advisory bodies and meetings on relevant matters, evaluating the effectiveness of outreach methods, and sharing information with families in the languages and formats they understand.
  2. ^ See Hanover Research (2014). This report describes the best practices in family and community engagement. Recommended strategies include providing opportunities for families to take active roles, surveying families to identify obstacles to participation, offering transportation as needed, providing supplemental benefits/pay to professionals who make themselves available outside of regular hours, establishing family liaisons, communicate in ways that are accessible to families, and establishing measures for success.
  3. ^ See U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Education (2016). This policy statement details family engagement practices from early childhood to the early grades. It frequently refers to policies and frameworks related to Head Start as examples of high-quality strategies for engaging families. Specific recommendations include establishing specific, measurable, and evidence-based family engagement strategies attuned to the needs and interests of community members; creating regular opportunities for school staff and families to mutually share about a child’s learning and development; using a multi-generational approach to connecting with families; providing education opportunities to families on topics such as best practices in parent and family engagement; providing services, resources, and activities in languages and formats that are accessible to families; offering activities at times that fit in families’ schedules; hiring staff members that reflect the diverse community; and providing opportunities for families to connect with each other.
  4. ^ See National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (n.d.). This publication describes state policies related to family engagement frameworks. Guidelines include ensuring compliance with federal requirements for family engagement; articulating a vision for family engagement as a shared responsibility; writing, releasing, reviewing, and monitoring applications for grants; providing parent education and family engagement opportunities; requiring family engagement as a competency in training programs for educators; and channeling resources toward high-impact, data-informed family engagement practices.
  5. ^  See National Association for the Education of Young Children (n.d.). This resource describes the principles of effective family engagement. The principles include inviting families to participate in decision making and goal setting, engaging in two-way, reciprocal communication, providing learning activities for families to apply at home and in the broader community, inviting families to participate in program-level decisions and advocacy efforts, and implementing a comprehensive system of family engagement.
  6. ^ See National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement (2019). This publication emphasizes the need for data-informed, culturally and linguistically responsive outreach efforts to connect with families and partner agencies. Overall recommendations include meeting families where they are, collaborating with staff and partner agencies to build a shared understanding, dedicating and training staff or hiring family members to serve as parent ambassadors and family liaisons, collecting and analyzing data to identify what families value, and using a variety of communication channels, such as social media, texting services, radio announcements, and more.
  7. ^ See National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement (2020). This publication provides recommendations for outreach efforts to families in rural communities. Building upon their 2019 publication, the need for data-informed, culturally and linguistically responsive communications is emphasized with the added intention of identifying families who are not being reached. Recommendations include compiling data to inform and guide plans and policies, exploring data-sharing agreements with community partners, identifying the outlets families use to receive information, using a multi-generational approach to engage the full family, partnering with local community leaders, being prepared to travel extensive distances, considering ways to increase participation (such as providing transportation), and crafting specialized messages for family, friend, and neighbor care and family child care homes.
  8. ^ See State Support Network (2018). This resource describes family engagement strategies primarily designed for schools and staff. Specific recommendations include a clear commitment to equitable family engagement in communications and activities and encouraging staff and families to build and strengthen communication and engagement systems.

Researched Population

  • California Department of Education
  • School districts located in Federal Way, WA; Charlotte, NC; and Tampa, FL 
  • Families living in rural or remote areas
  • Best practices recommended by accrediting and governing bodies, such as National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement (NCPFCE), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. Department of Education

California Department of Education. Family Engagement Framework: A Tool for California School Districts (2014). https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/pf/pf/documents/famengageframeenglish.pdf

Hanover Research. Best Practices in Family and Community Engagement (2014). https://www.wasa-oly.org/WASA/images/WASA/1.0%20Who%20We%20Are/1.4.1.6%20SIRS/Download_Files/LI%202018/Best%20Practices%20in%20Family%20and%20Community%20Engagement%202-1-18.pdf 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Education. Policy Statement on Family Engagement: From the Early Years to the Early Grades (2016). https://oese.ed.gov/files/2020/07/policy-statement-on-family-engagement.pdf 

National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement. State Policy (n.d.). https://nafsce.org/page/StatePolicy 

National Association for the Education of Young Children. Principles of Effective Family Engagement (n.d.). https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/family-engagement/principles

National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement. Strategies for Outreach to All Families: Overview (2019). https://childcareta.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/strategies-for-outreach-overview_final_508.pdf

National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement. Strategies for Outreach to Families Living in Rural or Remote Areas (2020). https://childcareta.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/strategies-for-outreach-to-families-living-in-rural-remote-areas-eng_1.pdf

North Carolina Center for Nonprofits. (n.d.). The North Carolina Center for Nonprofits and Smart Start. https://www.ncnonprofits.org/ncpc 

State Support Network. Strategies for Equitable Family Engagement (2018). https://oese.ed.gov/files/2020/10/equitable_family_engag_508.pdf



Local Partnerships Currently Implementing

Local Partnerships in purple have adopted Family Engagement & Leadership. Local Partnership contact information can be found here.