Family, School, Community, & Collaboration

Investigates effective strategies for integrating parent and family engagement into all systems and program services to support family well-being, promote children's learning and development, and respond to families' cultural and ethnic differences in the preschool setting. Presentations in this theme should provide ideas for establishing innovative two-generation approaches that address the prevalent needs of families across their program that may leverage community partnerships or other funding sources. These innovative approaches should include fostering social relationships among peers and promoting multicultural understanding and considerations for parent engagement and communication with diverse populations. A significant component of this theme is conducting a community assessment and identifying areas of need that include a detailed analysis of homeless and underserved populations. This theme also includes organizational leadership concepts (i.e., fiscal management in early learning, governance, recordkeeping, and ongoing monitoring) that assist with program service delivery of all performance standards and ongoing quality improvement and delivering high-quality services.

• Community collaborations- establishing effective Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)/agreements to support Head Start programs
• Benefits of Early Head Start-Childcare Partnerships (EHS-CCP)
• Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership Services Transition
• Effective partnerships with Local Education Agency (LEA)
• Relationship-based competencies for home visitors
• Fatherhood engagement and/or Parent Curriculum
• Recruitment practices to support program culture
• Family support for transition from Head Start to public schools
• Partnership models with the local school districts
• Advocacy and community collaboration
• Implementing program performance standards
• Strategic Planning

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