Engaging Families: A Relationships-Centered Approach

Families and parenting adults are vital to young people’s learning and development. Yet it can be challenging to engage with families, especially as young people enter middle and high school. Engaging Families: A Relationships-Centered Approach provides a positive youth development perspective and focuses on the developmental relationships that help young people grow and learn.

We use the insights from our research as a springboard to reimagine family engagement to focus on identifying and celebrating the strengths of families through developmental relationships. It presents practical strategies that can work in classes and groups to nurture young people’s resilience and thriving.

Learning Objectives

• Learn how to engage your community’s diverse families as critical allies for advancing education, youth development, and resilience

• Understand the often-hidden obstacles to partnering with families— and learn practical ways to address those challenges

• Learn respectful ways to build trust across differences

• Begin to design relationship-rich, engaging learning experiences for parenting adults and their families

• Take home tools and strategies to guide their next steps in launching or improving relationship-based family engagement efforts

Workshop Structure

• In-Person: Full-day, half-day, or breakout session (up to six hours) at your location

• Virtual: Two 2 hour workshops (up to 4 hours)

Who Should Attend

• Parenting and family life educators

• Family involvement and engagement coordinators

• Educators and school administrators

• Social service providers

• Youth workers

• Staff and leaders from family-serving organizations

• Faith community leaders

• MTSS Specialists

• Members of collective impact partnerships and other community coalitions

Learning Objectives

• An understanding of the Developmental Assets® Framework and the role of individual asset builders

• The ability to recognize and encourage the general characteristics of effective asset builders and their own personal areas of strengths and challenges

• Understand "circles of influence” and identifying the circles that have the greatest potential for impact

• Recognizing barriers to being an individual asset builder and strategies for moving toward action

• Identifying multiple strategies and formats for sharing the Asset message in wider communities

• Prepare to communicate the Asset message to different community sectors

Workshop Structure

• In-Person: two 6 hour days (12 total hours)

Who Should Attend

• Community/prevention coalition members and leaders

• Staff and leadership of youth programs, particularly those involved in training staff

• Volunteers

• Counselors

• Social workers

• School staff: educators and administrators