Deciding where to start when putting family engagement and leadership best practices into action may feel overwhelming at first. However, accessible, user-friendly resources can help move the work along more effectively and efficiently. MomsRising, in collaboration with the North Carolina Partnership for Children, developed a comprehensive set of tools to support agencies as they develop cross-sector coalitions and center family voices. For every step in the process, tools have been created to help agencies think through and address challenges that may arise.
Starting Strong
Starting Strong: Tools for Effective Family Engagement and Leadership
These tools are divided into four stages:
1. Pre-Planning
- Family Engagement and Leadership – This tool reviews why family leadership and engagement are important and what it looks like in practice.
- PrePlanning for Effective Family Leadership – This tool provides guidance to consider in planning family leadership efforts including organizational support, policies, and budgeting.
- Checklist Preplanning for Effective Family Leaders – This tool provides a quick reference checklist of items to consider in pre-planning and budgeting efforts.
- Supporting & Empowering Family Leaders – This tool discusses relational vs transactional engagement, how to have empowering conversations, and the cycle of support.
- Checklist Supporting Empowering Family Leaders – This tool provides a quick reference checklist for staff mentors committed to supporting family leaders.
2. Recruitment
- Barrier Assessment Checklist – This tool offers a comprehensive look at assessing potential barriers that exist for family leaders to meaningfully engage as partners at decision-making tables.
- Recruitment – This tool provides guidance on things to consider before recruiting as well as who, where, and how to recruit family leaders.
- Model Introduction and Invite Emails – This tool provides sample language for introductory emails and invitations.
- The Art of Effective One to Ones – This tool provides guidance on how to have effective individual meetings with family leaders and the role those meetings play in building ongoing relationships.
- Family Engagement Partnership Agreements – This sample agreement models the information that should be shared with family leaders as to what is expected of them at the table and what they can expect in terms of support.
3. Creating a Welcoming Table
- Creating Welcoming Tables – This tool provides information about the hallmarks of welcoming tables and steps before, during, and after meetings to create tables that support family leadership.
- Elevating Voices Protocols – This tool describes a facilitation technique which ensures the people who will experience the most impact from the policy change have full opportunity to share their perspective.
- Group Agreements – This tool provides guidance on why it’s important to establish group agreements or guidelines and tips for co-creating them.
- Dos and Don’ts for Engaging Parent Leaders – This tool lifts up feedback shared directly from family leaders about the best ways to go about engaging them along with tips about how organizations can incorporate this feedback.
- Decision Making with Family Leaders – This tool discusses transparency in decision making, various methods of decision making, and questions to ask to ensure family voices are included in the final decisions made.
4. Helping Family Leaders Feel their Power
- For Staff Mentors: Supporting Family Leaders in Feeling & Flexing Their Power – This tool provides guidance for staff mentors in supporting family leaders in fully engaging at tables.
- For Family Leaders: Family Leaders Feeling and Flexing Our Power – This tool shares tips for family leaders as they seek to fully exercise their power at decision making tables.
- Power of Storytelling – This tool explains the power of storytelling in making change and helps staff mentors and family leaders make the connection between individual experiences and advocating for needed policies.
- Storytelling Worksheet – This tool helps support individuals in telling their own stories.
This publication was made possible by Grant Number 90TP0046-01-00 from the Office of Child Care, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Office of Child Care, the Administration for Children and Families, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Our grant award number is 90TP0046-01-00.
