Thursday
Overview: Where is Strengthening Families Now?, Nilofer Ahsan, Jean McIntosh
Brief history of Strengthening Families including an overview of the process of building a national initiative by engaging state, agency, and organizational partners at all levels, and a summary of Strengthening Families National Network’s work.
Implementing Strengthening Families in an Early Childhood Program: Part 1, Kate Stepleton, CSSP, Leslie Janes, Carole Robertson Center for Learning, Mary McCarty, Two Rivers Head Start
Hear how three early education programs have incorporated the Protective Factors and Strengthening Families concepts into their day-to-day work with children and families. Learn about the resources that are available to early childhood professionals to help them enhance their practice to build Protective Factors.
Implementing Strengthening Families in an Early Childhood Program: Part II, Kate Stepleton, CSSP Leslie Janes, Carole Robertson Center for Learning, Anjum Jameel, Two Rivers Head Start
In this continuation of the morning's session, explore the program strategies that build Protective Factors in depth through hands-on experience with the Strengthening Families Self Assessment.
Chicago Metro's Own Community Café, Robin Higa, National Alliance of Children’s Trust Prevention Fund
The National Alliance of Children's Trust and Prevention Funds will present an approach that weaves Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education, leadership and partnership with parents. This workshop will provide you with the basic tools and tips for starting your own Community Café that honors the voice and diversity of Chicago Metro’s Families.
Documenting the Differences Strengthening Families Makes, Katrina Brewsaugh, Kids Hope United, Anne Douglass, Wheelock College
Though modeled originally for early childhood learning settings, SFI is also beneficial in the child welfare and protection settings. KHU is pioneering the use of the initiative in both our child development centers and our foster care programs. This presentation will discuss the measures KHU is using to evaluate the use of the initiative in each of these settings.
In addition, what kind of organizational culture and structure need to be in place within a child care center to support the Strengthening Families approach and practice shift? Anne Douglass will share the latest findings of her study of child care centers in Illinois participating in Strengthening Families that seeks to answer the question.
Strengthening Families by Involving Fathers, Sharifa Townsend, ECHO, Keri Hartwig, Crittenton Centers
In this workshop, participants will learn from programs that are successfully engaging fathers. Come away with information on how they do it, what they are doing and how to use these new strategies in other programs.
Strategies for Using Strengthening Families for Personal and Professional Development, Lori Longueville, Lisa McCuan, John A. Logan College
One of the benefits of participating in Strengthening Families is being able to develop the capacity of early childhood providers to strengthen families and build strong relationships with parents. Learn from experts as they describe how they use these strategies.
Building Protective Factors with Family Child Care Homes and Networks, Amy Foster, Jamilah Jor’dan, Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education
During this session participants will be introduced to key pieces of the Kansas Strengthening Families pilot project involving family child care programs. We will look at how the pilot was developed in Kansas, objectives and goals, recruitment of family childcare programs, statewide participation and four key components used in developing the Strengthening Families approach with families.
Friday
Getting Together: How (and why) Early Childhood Programs are Collaborating with Child Welfare Agencies, Kareen Nunnally, Samella Tayor, Kids Hope United, Trevaughn Cheek, CEDA
This session will explore steps and protocols in establishing an internal collaborative learning network and the processes within the network. Discussions will revolve around how to assist Early Learning and Child Welfare programs to “get together” and develop collaborative agreements.
Love is not Enough Parent Café: Taking Care of Yourself, Letechia Holmes, Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education
Love Is Not Enough Parent Cafes are a vehicle for parents to have their own conversations about keeping their families strong based on a set of Protective Factors that help prevent child abuse and neglect. Participants will learn how they can train parent leaders through Strengthening Families Illinois to provide Love Is Not Enough Parent Cafes in their own communities.
365 Strategies for Building Protective Factors with Families in Early Learning Programs, Penelope Smith, Peoria County Bright Futures, Keri Hartwig, Cirttenton Centers, Ashley Schaff, Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education
Participants will hear from early childhood providers in Illinois that are implementing the Strengthening Families approach across the state and learn some of the innovative strategies they are using to increase parent involvement in their program and strengthen relationships among staff and parents.
Closing the Gap: Implementing SFI in Agencies that Provide both Child Welfare and Early Childhood Services, Beth Lakier, David Fox, Kids Hope United
This session will discuss the steps to take in implementing the Strengthening Families Initiative and review the strategic plan goals, tasks, and documented activities needed to begin closing the gap.
Building Protective Factors with Children who have been Traumatized or Exposed to Violence, Cynthia Stringfellow, Midwest Learning Center for Family Support
Providers can play a major role in helping prevent future trauma and mitigating the current impact it is having on families. This curriculum is designed specifically as a starting point to increase early childhood providers’ knowledge and ability to help them become a strong resource for families struggling with these challenges.
Embedding Strengthening Families into State Early Childhood Quality Rating Systems, Martha Reeder
The National Alliance of Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds has recently launched a project within their Early Childhood Initiative (ECI) Learning Community that seeks to assist ECI states in more effectively embedding the Strengthening Families Protective Factor (SF/PF) Framework into their states’ QRIS. This session will show how this could look.
