Stone Soup Conference 2005
Program
7:45 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.Breakfast with Elected Officials
8:30 a.m. – 9:20 a.m.Registration
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.Welcome
Keynote Speaker: Margaret Blood,
Founder and President, Strategies for Children
Margaret Blood is the Founder and President of Strategies for Children, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Stride Rite Foundation. She is spearheading the Early Education for All Campaign in Massachusetts, an initiative of Strategies for Children.
Margaret previously led the United Way of Massachusetts Bay's award winning Success By 6 initiative. Under her leadership, key business and civic leaders became advocates for children, and several public policy initiatives were enacted to improve the well being of young children in Massachusetts. These included making health insurance universally available to children and enacting the Invest in Children license plate to fund improvements in child care programs.
Prior to Success By 6, Margaret served as the Director of Community Programs for the Department of Pediatrics at BostonCityHospital and Boston University School of Medicine. She also directed a groundbreaking national study, State Legislative Leaders: Keys to Effective Legislation for Children and Families, which examined the attitudes and opinions of state legislative leaders regarding children and families. Among the findings of this highly acclaimed study was the need to involve business leaders as legislative advocates for children and families in their states.
Fluent in Spanish, Margaret began her career as a community organizer in inner city Boston where she created an after school program and founded the Mission Possible summer day camp. She went on to work in the Massachusetts legislature for 10 years where she co-founded the Massachusetts Legislative Children's Caucus. Margaret holds a Master in Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at HarvardUniversity and has a Bachelor's degree in Spanish and business from SkidmoreCollege.
10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.Workshops
The Secret of CommunityBuilding (Part I)
The focus of this two-part workshop is for participants to learn and practice skills that will help them build community and organize/mobilize their community around issues. In Part I, participants will learn the importance of relationships for community building and how to build public relationships. This is an interactive workshop that provides opportunities for skill building. Participants should commit to attending Part I and II of the session.
Lessons from the Kitchen: What Preparing Minestrone Soup Can Teach Us About Community Change
This workshop will identify the ingredients and processes that Mansfield Discovery used to mobilize the community to implement full-day kindergarten. Participants will learn how the community assessed its strengths and needs, the role of parents and formal and informal community leaders, how the Discovery initiative contributed to the process, and how dissenting voices were incorporated into the final outcome. During the session participants will assist in preparing minestrone soup as a metaphor for community building. Note: Limited to the first 20 participants.
Child FIRST: From Community Collaboration to an Early Childhood System of Care
What is an “early childhood system of care?” What does it do? How did such a system evolve from a collaboration of providers to a community system or “hub” that partners with both providers and parents to provide access to comprehensive, integrated, family focused services and supports to young children and families? Learn about the evolution of Child FIRST in Bridgeport, benefit from our trials and successes, learn about possible mechanisms for reimbursement, and share our assessment measures and data systems. If we can do it, so can you!
Parent Engagement: You Can Do It!
Learn about the range of parent engagement activities being used in Danbury and how you can take the next steps to meaningful parent involvement in your own community. This panel will highlight a variety of specific strategies and results from the perspectives of the Superintendent of Schools and parents who have been involved with Danbury Children First and the Discovery work.
One Town, Two Communities: Bridging the Economic Divide
Some towns have a railroad track that divides people and some have a river. Regardless of the metaphor, in Connecticut the disparities in income can get in the way of making progress that will benefit all children. Family economic security is a new frame that is being used to address issues across class. When families can meet their basic needs and are supported in building assets, it’s not just good for them, it’s good for business and good for Connecticut. The language of the family economic success movement resonates with both extremes of the income scale. Learn how to use the American Dream conversation to build bridges, build community and build family self-sufficiency.
10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.Workshops (cont'd)
Born Learning: Ideas for Using the United Way Information Campaign as Part of Your Discovery Work
The United Way of America has developed an information campaign called “Born Learning” that highlights ways parents and caregivers of young children can support young children’s growth and development. Hear about plans to unveil these materials in Connecticut and how several local communities are using the Born Learning materials as part of their Discovery work, including using the information to reach out to and engage the business community, a strength of many United Ways.
Using the Internet to Support your Discovery Work
Be the first to see the redesigned Discovery website and see how you can use this resource to support the work in your local community. Also hear from one local Discovery community how to create an interactive website -- and use other Internet tools – to support your Discovery work.
The Impact of Policy and Budget Changes on Local Communities
How will recent federal and state policy changes – and budget changes – affect your local community and the work you are doing with young children and their families? This session will explain both the good and bad news and highlight other likely changes that are on the horizon and what actions you can take to influence them.
Promising Practices: Home-Based Care
Learn about promising practices for working with home-based providers from other Discovery communities and how you can apply these strategies in your community. This workshop will be most useful to those who have not participated in previous networking sessions on working with home-based providers.
Transformational Leadership
What does it mean to be a leader? What leadership qualities are needed to build a sense of community and create community change? Learn how we can each tap into these qualities within ourselves to transform our personal situations, our community, and the world around us.
Starting a Story Search
Good stories are found not made and the search starts in recalling the experiences of your own life. Join storyteller Catherine Conant for some practical tips and get started in finding and building stories for your own personal and professional use.
12:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.Lunch
Storytelling: Catherine Conant
Enjoy some “community-building” time with fellow conference participants over lunch. Then – back by popular demand – prepare to laugh as storyteller Catherine Conant shares another wonderful story from her experience.
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.Workshops
The Secret of CommunityBuilding (Part II)
The focus of this two-part workshop is for participants to learn and practice skills that will help them build community and organize/mobilize their community around issues. In Part II, participants will learn what motivates individuals to be involved and how to tap into those drivers of involvement. This is an interactive workshop that provides opportunities for skill building; participants should commit to attending both Parts I and II.
Promoting Economic and Racial Equity Through Discovery
This workshop will be a follow-up to the economic and racial equity regional learning circle conducted for the Discovery communities. Participants will have an opportunity to learn more about the different resources and training approaches that a community could use to advance an inclusive community change agenda that acknowledges racial and economic inequities.
Opportunity Knocks for Middletown Preschool Children . . . Shaping Our Children’s School Success
Learn how to infuse a health agenda into early childhood programs from Middletown’s experience with the Early Health and Learning initiative. Participants will learn how Middletown expanded their collaborative to include the health community and parents, incorporated lessons learned from their planning year into implementation, and acquired matching funds. Presenters will also share strategies to impact children’s nutritional, oral, and social and emotional health.
The Nuts and Bolts of Effective Lobbying
You want to convince your Mayor, or Board of Education, or legislators to take a particular action on behalf of young children and their families, but you’re just not sure how to do it. Learn about the do’s and don’ts of advocacy, the specific rules governing lobbying by non-profit organizations, and tips about how to make your case persuasively to elected leaders.
What’s All the “Buzz” About Parent Engagement?
Learn about the “honeycomb” of parent opportunities and community responsibilities that include parent engagement, leadership, involvement, civic participation and stewardship. Participants will explore how sustained change cannot happen without the active engagement of parents in each of these areas. Be the first to see the new parent engagement “tool kit” that has been developed as a follow-up to the parent engagement regional learning circle.
Strategic Communications: The Discovery Toolkit
Learn about the three key steps for successful communications to support your Discovery work: how to state your case, build your group’s identity, and frame your messages to reach your different audiences.
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.Workshops (cont'd)
Promising Practices: Kindergarten Transition
Learn about the promising practices for kindergarten transition – both from national research and the work of other Discovery communities – and how you can apply these strategies in your community. This workshop will be most useful to those who have not participated in previous networking sessions on kindergarten transition.
Promoting Parental Involvement and School-Family Partnerships
Parent involvement is a key component of the Discovery initiative. This workshop will provide real-life examples from a Danbury elementary school of successful strategies to get parents involved as partners in their child’s education and in the school community.
Introducing the Community Conversation on School Readiness
Take part in a model conversation piloting the new School Readiness video and participant guide created for Discovery by Public Agenda. Experience the dialogue process first hand and learn how to use a community conversation for action planning. The new video and guide are designed to stimulate constructive discussion on School Readiness issues in today’s context. Since 2002, Community Conversations on a variety of topics have been held in 38 Discovery communities. Participants who have experience with Community Conversations as well as those with no prior experience will find this workshop informative.
3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.Closing Session