Weaving Stronger Social Fabric: Kaleidoscope Play & Learn .
Weaving Stronger Social Fabric:Kaleidoscope Play & Learnand Community Cafés Together
ECI Learning Community WASHINGTONThe National Alliance ofChildren’s Trust and PreventionFunds (Alliance) holds theunique position of serving as themembership organization for statechildren’s trust and preventionfunds. Children’s trust andprevention funds are the backboneof our nation’s infrastructure tosupport children and their families.The Alliance leads a national EarlyChildhood Initiative (ECI), whichincludes a 30-state LearningCommunity of state children’s trustand prevention funds and theirpartners, including parents andcommunity members. Throughthis national initiative, the Allianceis focusing on strategies thatstrengthen families, build protectivefactors, promote individual growth,help systems be more responsiveto families and children andstrengthen communities’ capacitiesas safe and healthy environments.The Alliance has engaged incollaborative partnerships withmembers of the ECI LearningCommunity and expressesappreciation to the Doris DukeCharitable Foundation (DDCF)for supporting the development ofthe valuable resources resultingfrom these partnerships. TheDDCF improves the quality ofpeople’s lives through grantssupporting the performing arts,wildlife conservation, medicalresearch and the prevention ofchild maltreatment, and throughpreservation of the cultural andenvironmental legacy of DorisDuke’s properties.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1Strengthening Families Washingtonand the Play & Learn and Community Café PartnershipThe Community Café Approach:Conversations that Change the Lives of ChildrenFamily, Friend & Neighbor Initiative: An Emerging FieldKaleidoscope Play & Learn: A Promising ModelPlay & Learn and Community Cafés Together12234Project Harvest:Stories and Lessons from Five Diverse Communities 5What Emerged 5What was Learned 8Continuing Efforts Sparked by This Project 13Policy Implications 14Conclusion 16Thanks and Acknowledgments 17For more Information 18This document is part of a series of resources that were developed as a result of theAlliance’s partnership with states. All are available at no cost. To see the full arrayof resources developed, please visit the Alliance web site at www.ctfalliance.org/collaborativeprojects. You may also contact the Alliance at info@ctfalliance.org.
ECIIntroductionA collaborative project in Washington State explored the potential of linking two populargrassroots strategies to strengthen families: the Kaleidoscope Play & Learn model andthe Community Café approach. Five communities accepted the invitation to participatein the project, expanding their existing work, forging new partnerships, and bringingnew opportunities to parents, caregivers, and children in their communities. Their workwas supported by a small grant from the National Alliance of Children’s Trust andPrevention Funds. This paper tells the story of that process, beginning with an overviewof the Community Café approach, the FFN Initiative, and Kaleidoscope Play &Learn. Itdescribes how the projects unfolded in different communities, what changed as a result ofthe collaboration, what was learned, and how this knowledge can be applied to policy andused in other communities. In essence, the project tests a theory about what is possible whenpartnerships among parents, caregivers and practitioners are intentionally created at local, stateand national levels for the purpose of building knowledge together.Strengthening Families Washingtonand the Play & Learn and Community Café PartnershipIn Washington State, the Strengthening Families framework has been adopted and advancedby a diverse stakeholder group working together as the Strengthening Families WashingtonSteering Committee (SFWA). The Council for Children and Families, the children’s trustfund of Washington State, facilitates and leads this steering committee, comprised ofrepresentatives from a variety of organizations, as well as unaffiliated volunteers interested inpromoting and supporting child and family wellbeing.“This (experience) couldhelp us have learninggoals; help our childrento be ready for school.”During the past five years of collaborative work, two initiatives, Family, Friend & Neighbor(FFN) and the Community Café Collaborative (CCC, see below for more information abouteach initiative), came to know and respect each other’s work. They share social justice goals,core values, community based strategies and desired outcomes, and are both working from theStrengthening Families protective factors framework.Conversations developed about what might emerge if the Community Café approach wasintegrated with the Kaleidoscope Play & Learn model that has been developed to reach andsupport FFN caregivers and parents. Could that integration be a leverage point that increasescommunity capacity to strengthen families?Photos and quotes throughoutthis paper come from partnersinvolved in implementingthese projects and participantsin Community Cafés andKaleidoscope Play & Learngroups throughout the state ofWashington.Weaving Stronger Social Fabric: Kaleidoscope Play & Learn and Community Cafés Together1
ECI Learning Community WASHINGTONThe Community Café Approach:Conversations that Change the Lives of ChildrenCommunity Café GoalsThe Community Café Collaborativeviews strengthening familiesthrough a social justice lens. Itsgoals are to:i Build partnerships betweenparents and systems thatprovide services to children andfamilies at the local, state andnational level;i Invite the voices of marginalized,remote and rural communitiesand families not typicallyrepresented at local, stateand national meetings intoconversations that matter;i Increase opportunities forparents, youth, and communitymembers to contribute to theStrengthening Families work;i Grow a network to communicatewhat is being learned; andi Increase capacity for parentsto advocate for policies thatstrengthen families.NOTE: Throughout this paper,we use the terms “parent” and“caregiver” interchangeably.Parents, grandparents, otherrelatives, and child careproviders all participate inboth Play & Learn groups andCommunity Cafés.2The Community Café approach uses meaningful conversation to spark leadership whichdevelops the relationships necessary to strengthen families. The practice of this approachtypically looks like community gatherings in a variety of neighborhood settings. Dispellingthe predominant provider/recipient mental model, parents, caregivers, staff and communitymembers gather and learn together how they can better provide the protective factors neededfor all children to thrive. These gatherings are planned, hosted and coordinated by parents andother community members. Parents who have been coached in the Community Café practice,which includes the World Café method of hosting (www.theworldcafe.org), design conversationsthat address the issues of the community. They typically leverage small seed grants withassets in the neighborhood and use their networks to ensure diverse participation. Cafédesigns include local traditions and culture, a meal, and meaningful participation for all ages.Relationships that strengthen families develop as parents and community partners participateas equals in a new community system of reciprocity.This volunteer-driven effort was started three years ago in Washington State by a team ofdedicated parents who were invited to join SFWA. Two parents developed this approach as ameans of contributing to the work of SFWA and growing a Strengthening Families movementin their own community. The initial team of two parents quickly grew into a Community CaféCollaborative – a volunteer leadership team of 12 members and their partner organizations.Since then the Community Café approach has become an on-going practice in almost 30locations in Washington State, engaging thousands of participants in multiple languages,with nearly 40 community and agency partners. These efforts are sustained by thousands ofvolunteer hours every year. In Washington, the “harvests,” or what communities are learningfrom these cafés, are shared with community, state and national networks. This collectivelearning is influencing policy and practice in local and state systems. The Community Caféapproach has been supported nationally by the National Alliance of Children’s Trust andPrevention Funds as a component of its commitment to partner with parents. In addition, theAlliance has provided technical assistance and ongoing support to its members and nationalpartners in more than a dozen other states as they implement the Community Café approach.Family, Friend & Neighbor Initiative: An Emerging FieldWhen young children are not with their parents, they are often in the care of grandparents,aunts, uncles, older siblings, and extended family. Across the country family, friends andneighbors (FFN) provide the majority of care for infants and toddlers, and often help care forchildren with special needs. Families from all backgrounds use FFN care; it is prevalent inrural and immigrant communities for whom informal care is often a cultural norm.In Washington State, the FFN Initiative was initially developed as a program by Child CareResources in Seattle, and has been expanded statewide by the WA State Child Care ResourceWeaving Stronger Social Fabric: Kaleidoscope Play & Learn and Community Cafés Together
ECI& Referral Network and its member agencies and their community partners. The goalsand strategies of the statewide FFN Initiative stem from the belief that all children will besuccessful in school and in life when they, and their families and caregivers, have equal accessto culturally relevant early learning opportunities, and to family and community supports,services and programs.WA State’s approach has been to build a system of information and resources for family,friend and neighbor caregivers through coordinated strategies:i Creating partnerships with parents and caregivers, family resource centers, libraryCurrent researchindicates that as many as50% of children underage 5, and 60% of schoolaged children, are caredfor by family, friends &neighbors.systems, elementary schools and school districts, Community Schools Collaboration,immigrant and refugee serving agencies, and others serving children and families;i Increasing community awareness about the prevalence of FFN care and its potential tosupport child development and school readiness;i Development of culturally relevant outreach, programs and materials;i Inclusion of FFN in the development of the State Early Childhood ComprehensiveSystem;i Evaluation of system-building outcomes and Kaleidoscope Play & Learn participantoutcomes; andi Participating in the national learning community that is building this field of service.Kaleidoscope Play & Learn: A Promising ModelKaleidoscope Play & Learn was developed within Child Care Resources’ FFN Program as astrategy to reach out and provide support, information, and resources to FFN caregivers. Inpartnership with the State Resource and Referral Network, Kaleidoscope Play & Learn hasexpanded across Washington, as well as into the states of Iowa, Texas, and Pennsylvania.Key Messages for CaregiversKaleidoscope Play & Learn groups are weekly facilitated play groups for young children andtheir caregivers. The groups are run by a wide range of community partners: family resourcecenters, elementary schools, community centers, public libraries, early intervention programs,and community-based organizations serving immigrants and families with low incomes or intransitional housing.i You play an important role inThe intent of Kaleidoscope Play & Learn is that the caregivers and parents who attend learnwhat they can do at home to support healthy child development. Each Play & Learn grouphas a trained facilitator who plans and sets up activities for the children and their caregivers toengage in together. Through facilitator guidance and modeling, peer learning, and hands-onexperience, caregivers discover how to support children’s early learning at home, and theygain confidence in their ability to prepare children for success in school and life. Participantsdevelop healthy social networks and connections with organizations in their communitythat they can turn to for support and assistance as needed. They experience leadershipopportunities, and some have become group facilitators or assistants.i Children learn through play,children’s development and earlylearning.i Children are learning all the time,in all settings.trying and doing things, andrelationships.i You can provide quality earlylearning experiences througheveryday activities.i You can learn from and supportother parents and caregivers.Weaving Stronger Social Fabric: Kaleidoscope Play & Learn and Community Cafés Together3
ECI Learning Community WASHINGTONPlay & Learn and Community Cafés Together“Community Café gaveme the opportunity to bemore confident, to talkmore to people and getto know more people.My kids can be proud oftheir mom now; they cansee that I’m doing thisfor them.”The FFN Initiative and the Community Café Collaborative have both developed theirpractices based on many stories from families whose children are not in licensed child care orstructured early childhood activities. Many come from cultures in which the extended familytraditionally cares for young children. Many live in rural and remote areas where basic needsand a lack of family and early childhood support are an ongoing challenge. Courage aboundswhere parents make do with a very limited income, may speak or read little or no English, lacktransportation, or are recent war refugees unfamiliar with Western systems of child care andeducation. Even when free community activities are available, they are difficult to access dueto these barriers, which contribute to isolation. These same issues often marginalize familiesfrom the community and from influencing program and policy decisions that affect their lives.The FFN Initiative and the Community Café Collaborative saw commonality in their socialjustice work. Both focus efforts in rural, remote, and marginalized communities. Providingculturally relevant early learning opportunities is a strategy to address disparities in schoolreadiness. Community Cafés convene meaningful conversations among people whose voicesare too rarely heard. Immigrants, refugees, migrant workers, racial minorities, and familiesin poverty are under-represented in community discourse and tend to be over-represented innegative statistics. When community members gather for the sake of the children, they buildrelationships with each other and create community-led, synergistic efforts that improvechildhood outcomes.Finally, the two approaches also share a common outcomes framework, aligned with theStrengthening Families protective factors. Both approaches attend to caregiver resiliency,knowledge of parenting and child development, healthy social connections, concrete supportin times of need, and children’s social/emotional development.Building on strengths and common ground, this project explored two main questions:1Would communities be interested in a learning project integrating the CommunityCafé approach and the Play & Learn model? If so, how would that integration leveragecommunity efforts to build family and community partnerships?2How would these new partnerships impact practice or systems in ways that buildcommunity capacity to reach their intended goals?In addition to maintaining the integrity of both approaches, additional working principals wereinvolved:i Due to the short term of the grant (a few months), the work would take place in placeswhere the Community Cafes or Play & Learn groups were already present.i Each community would have the freedom to design their own project goals, activitiesand outcomes based on community needs and interests.i In integrating these two models each community would work in partnership with theirlocal Child Care Resource and Referral agency and parents and/or caregivers on thedesign, implementation and managing of the project.4Weaving Stronger Social Fabric: Kaleidoscope Play & Learn and Community Cafés Together
ECIProject Harvest:Stories and Lessons from Five Diverse CommunitiesThe five communities that acceptedthe invitation to participate werequite distinct from each other andeach approached the project in adifferent way. Some had active Play& Learn groups, some had activeCommunity Café efforts, and somehad both. All of them agreed toexplore how these two approachescould be woven together.Since the goal of the project wasto learn through the experience ofthose living and working in thedifferent communities, local leaders were encouraged to develop their own project process.Teams were supported by members of the Community Café Collaborative leadership team andthe Child Care Resource & Referral Network, who devoted time to develop new relationships,build upon existing ones, and learn about community strengths, desires, and needs.Exploratory conversations with leaders in each community at the beginning of the projectdetermined the grant amount needed for them to participate without taxing their resources.This collaborative structure influenced project outcomes by modeling shared decision making,leadership and mutual learning.At the end of the project, interviews were conducted in each of the five communities withlocal child care resource and referral staff, community partners, and caregivers. Interviewsfocused on understanding the goals, accomplishments, what was learned, and outcomes ofthis work in each community. While the work was still underway at the time of the interviews(May 2011), partners, parents and caregivers were eager to share what they were doing and theresults they had already seen. The site profiles in this section reflect what was shared in thoseinterviews.What EmergedAcross the sites, there was consensus that Community Café and Play & Learn were welcomeadditions to these communities. Partners reported that the two approaches were working welltogether. Even if both approaches had not yet been implemented, partners learned how theycomplement and reinforce each other, and were looking forward to expanding Cafés, Play& Learn, or both. Through these two approaches, the partners in each community were ableto give parents and caregivers a voice, build community and agency capacity to strengthenfamilies, and set the stage for improving children’s school readiness. Moreover, more familiesWeaving Stronger Social Fabric: Kaleidoscope Play & Learn and Community Cafés Together5
ECI Learning Community WASHINGTONattended or became involved and many of those already involved took onmore active roles.More parent voice in service systems. Parents/caregivers who wereinvolved in planning and some who participated were galvanized intowanting to do more for their children and their community, and saw newpossibilities for action.i In two communities, parents and caregivers had an equal voice indesigning, implementing and evaluating this project which resultedin quick uptake in attendance and community adoption.Port AngelesIn Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula, LutheranCommunity Services Northwest (LCSNW) hasoffered literacy-focused Play & Learn groups ata family center in a public housing developmentfor several years. LCSNW began implementingCommunity Cafés this spring, inviting Play & Learnparticipants to a family evening event that includeddinner, Community Café for par
Weaving Stronger Social Fabric: Kaleidoscope Play & Learn and Community Cafés Together 3 ECI & Referral Network and its member agencies and their community partners. The goals and strategies of the statewide FFN
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