Partnering in Communities begins with identification of lead facilitators and a leadership planning team (LPT). These individuals facilitate the three phases of the project and ensure that plans generated by participants are not just discussed, but have specific action steps that are implemented.
Three major activities are planned by the Lead Facilitators and the Leadership Planning Team during the Awareness phase.
- Awareness Session for Potential Participants (90 minutes)
- Awareness Meeting for Organization Administrators (2-3 hours)
- Recruitment Meetings with Individual Organization Administrators
Thresholds help the LPT determine if there is sufficient commitment by community members to have the desired impact from the project.
Session Topics:
Strong Communities Focus on Family Strengths
Changes in community culture over time can affect the quality of life of families and their ability to encourage their children to learn at high levels. Community leaders need to assess from time to time the impact they are having on parents and the learning of children.
Strong Communities…Listen to Families
Family strengths vary among families and provide the basis for a family’s ability to cope with unique challenges. Families who can share their experiences and needs increase support for their own family as well as the quality of life for all families in the community.
Strong Communities…Encourage Healthy Family Environments
Family and culture influences share a child’s development. Good nutrition, physical activity, and sleep affect the learning potential of youth and children.
Strong Communities…Support Family Learning Environments
Parents influence children’s learning through patterns and routines established in the home. Families that establish a learning environment at home help their children establish positive skills, attitudes, and behaviors for learning at school.
Strong Communities…Model and Value Love and Limits
Research reveals effective strategies for parents to guide, nurture, and motivate their children in positive ways. Effective discipline teaches a child self-control and confidence while focusing on helping the child develop responsibility skills.
Strong Communities…Communicate Empowering Messages
Research-based materials are available to help parents raise successful learners. Community members can collectively communicate powerful messages to influence support for children to thrive as learners.
The Implementation Plan leads to measurable results regarding the knowledge and skills of parents to help their children as learners. Action Team members identify:
- Community Need
- Intended Impact
- What They Plan To Do
- What They Want to Happen
Meetings and Data Collection
- Six-Month Review
In addition to meetings planned by Action Team members to complete their activities, each team meets with their Leadership Planning Team contact(s) approximately six months after the end of the Learning phase of the project to review data and discuss next steps.
- One-Year Report & Planning
At the end of a year, all Partnering in Communities: Strong Families/Strong Communities participants reconvene to share what they have accomplished and to discuss strategies for a sustainable community culture that support families in strengthening the learning of all community youth.
Roles During the Implementation Phase
The Implementation Phase of the program is the most important. Each individual involved in the project must make a personal commitment to carry out his/her responsibilities for the project to be successful.
This project is a collaborative effort of Iowa State University Extension to Families and The U. S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, Parent Information Resource Center program, under grant no. 84.310A and Iowa Award no. U310A60012