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Beyond Clients and Boundaries: The Importance of Family and Community Engagement in Service Work Stephany Cuevas, Ed.M. Harvard University @estefa_nee
Today’s Session
Family and Community Engagement 101
Barriers to Engagement
Power of Partnerships and Organizing
Discussion and Q&A
Family and Community Engagement 101
What do we mean by “family engagement”?
Family engagement is any way that a child’s adult caretaker (biological parents, foster parents. siblings, grandparents, etc.) effectively supports learning and healthy development.
Involvement vs. Engagement
The latin root of the word "involvement" is “involvere” which means to wrap around, cover or envelop; roll, cause to roll.
The latin root of the word "engagement" is “engare” which means to make a formal agreement, to contract with; to pledge; an obligation to do something.
(Mapp, 2012)
Families are engaged as:
•Supporters of their children’s learning
•Encouragers of an achievement iden3ty, a posi3ve self image, and a “can do” spirit
•Monitors of their children’s 3me, behavior, boundaries and resources
•Models of lifelong learning and enthusiasm for educa3on
•Advocates for improved learning opportuni3es for their children and at their schools
•Decision-‐makers/choosers of educa3onal op3ons for their child, the school, and community
•Collaborators with school staff and members of the community (Mapp, 2012)
Ecological Model Bronfenbrenner, 1979
Barriers to Family Engagement
Low-income parents, parents of color, and immigrant parents face different barriers in their engagement (Holcomb-McCoy, 2010; Fordham, 1996; Gándara, 1995; Savitz-Romer, 2012; Suarez-Orozco, Suarez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2008; Zarate et al., 2011)
Lack of knowledge of process
Underresourced schools
Distrusting relationships with schools
Language barriers
Unfamiliarity with American society and education system
Redefining Family Engagement: Responses to Barriers
High academic expectations
Encourage students to seek out resources (e.g. college access programs)
Share own personal stories of hardships and immigration
Have explicit conversations dreams and aspirations
Convey the importance of hard work and education (Ceja, 2004; Delgado-‐Gaitan, 1994; Lopez, 2001; Savitz-‐Romer & Bouffard, 2012; Yosso, 2005; Zarate et al., 2011)
Funds of Knowledge
(Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 2001, p.133)
“The historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-being.”
“Service systems require clients and community organizations require citizens. Thats is why service systems are often antithetical to powerful communities. Systems are hierarchical and not democratic. They harness people’s power to execute the plan of a central authority. Community organizations are the vehicles that harness the potential power of the citizens to create and execute their own plan. Citizens make power by coming together and take power by acting together on issues (McKnight, 1991, p. 41).”
Are services are bad for people?
Relationships
Relational trust
Shared power
A Match on Dry Grass
Mark K. Warren, Karen L. Mapp, and the Community Organizing and School Reform Project
Mark Warren, Karen Mapp & 15 doctoral students, Harvard Graduate School of Education
4-year, 6-site qualitative study of CO
efforts in school reform, focusing on processes and strategies
- Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition – NYC
- Southern Echo – Mississippi Delta
- PACT – San Jose (PICO) - One LA-IAF in Los Angeles - LSNA – Chicago - Padres y Jovenes Unidos –
Denver
The Roots
- Strong organizing has deep roots in tradition - Organizing vs. mobilizing - Drawing on collective values and extant ties - Engage values and interests into action
The Trunk
- The core processes of organizing - Build new relationships and expand identities - Relationships for long term change versus silver bullet or top-down reform
The Environment
- Organizers’ sensitivity to local experiences, needs, knowledge - Availability of allies (e.g., alliances with educators)
The Leaves
- The effects of organizing - Transformational change versus transactional change - Transformation at 3 levels: individuals, community, and institutional
It is critical, therefore, that we distinguish between creative conflict and negative dissonance between family and school. The former is inevitable in changing society and adaptive to the development and socialization of children. The latter is dysfunctional to child growth and acculturation and degrading to families, communities, and culture. Educational practitioners, who are daily engaged in trying to shape and clarify their relationship with parents and community, must especially learn to discern the positive and negative faces of conflict.- Sarah Lawrence-Lightfoot
