EARLY LEARNING HUB IMPLEMENTATION RESOURCES:

COMMUNICATIONS & COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

Oregon Department of EducationEarly Learning Division2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Communications and Community Partnership: Introduction........................................................3

Instructions: Organizational Communications Strategy.................................................................6

Organizational Communications Strategy..................................................................................8

Instructions: Community Partnership Strategy............................................................................11

Community Partnership Strategy.............................................................................................12

10 Principles of Authentic Community Engagement...................................................................16

Internal Communications Checklist.............................................................................................17

Community Partnership Hexagon................................................................................................19

Equity & Cultural Responsiveness Self-Assessment.....................................................................20

Reference: Reducing Disparities: 10 Racial Equity Strategy Areas for Improving Outcomes for African-American Children in Child WelfareReference: A Call for Change: A Preliminary Blueprint to Improve Educational Excellence and Opportunity for African American Males in Urban Public SchoolsReference: Community Planning Toolkit: Community Engagement

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COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

Purpose of this chapter

Strong communication is the foundation for trusting relationships, which are vital for achieving our shared objectives and improving outcomes for our children.

To communicate effectively across your network of partners, families, leaders and communities, we recommend building an organizational communications strategy using your Hub’s vision statement that is propelled by your strengths and values. This strategy should promote your work, which depends on active investment and meaningful involvement of the families and communities you serve. For this reason, this chapter also provides tools for planning a community partnership strategy that goes beyond interfacing and informing to building real and meaningful partnership. At the end of this chapter, you will find equity tools to help ensure that you reach every part of your community.

Together, the tools in this chapter can help your Hub

Focus your work, ensuring no one is excluded from its benefits; Establish meaningful and sustainable partnerships with all the communities you serve; and Stay accountable to the communities you serve and to the participants in your collaboration.

How to approach this chapter

First, review the Organizational Communications Strategy and Community Partnership Strategy Instructions with relevant partners. If you decide the tools will benefit your overall strategy, you can complete them as is, or you can customize them to meet your needs. Next, identify what information and what people you will need to create these strategies. Ensure everyone involved understands the value of these guiding documents and how your Hub plans to use them.

As you create your strategies, you may want to refer to the supporting documents in this chapter. Some will directly inform what might go into your strategies, and some will help you stay accountable to what’s in them once complete. The Community Engagement Toolkit, for example, includes planning tips, quality standards and suggestions for engaging with communities in meaningful ways. The 10 Principles of Authentic Community Engagement can help your teams focus on making that engagement truly meaningful, and the Equity and Cultural Responsiveness Self-Assessment will help you make sure your work is accessible and responsive to the needs of all Oregon’s kids receiving your services and support.

Tools in this chapter

While the tools in this chapter are usable and valuable on their own, they will most effectively support your work if used together. In this chapter you will find the following:

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Organizational Communications StrategyThis is a document you craft with team members and relevant partners to guide the way you interact with your stakeholders. If you choose to use it, your communications strategy can help you define messaging, clarify roles, expedite good work, mitigate conflict and unite efforts to improve outcomes for our kids.

Community Partnership StrategyThe community partnership strategy is a branch of the communications strategy. It is driven by the understanding that meaningful and sustainable community relationships are vital to your work. This strategy can help keep you accountable to and focused on achieving and maintaining those kinds of relationships. A well-designed partnership strategy helps you make sure that your relationship with the community is a true partnership and that everyone is included.

10 Principles of Authentic Community EngagementThese ten principles, designed by the KnowledgeWorks Foundation (Strive Cincinnati), remind us that community engagement can no longer be simply a check-the-box focus group or panel discussion. Engagement with communities must be substantive, mutually beneficial and sustained. Hang this sheet around the office and share with your network and communities!

Communications ChecklistThis checklist will help you test the quality and integrity of your communications strategy. It asks questions of you and your partners to verify understanding across your collaborative.

Community Partnership HexagonThis is a tool that you can complete once your communications and community partnership strategies have been finalized. It functions as a quick-reference sheet to remind you, your partners and communities of roles, opportunities and responsibilities.

Equity & Cultural Responsiveness Self-AssessmentThis tool may be used by partners, service providers and your Hub to raise your awareness of, and ability to compensate for, the systemic elements that contribute to inequity and injustice for many of our children. It also helps to ensure that programs and services are giving every kid the same best chance for success possible. The checklist is a quick way to identify opportunities for improvement, and it will complement and support more in-depth equity training provided.

Strategies to Improve Racial DisparitiesIncluded in this document are racial equity strategy areas (RESAs) for children and education. Each strategy area includes context for greater perspective and standards and action steps for practice and policy inclusion. Through concrete tactics, you will be supported in ensuring equitable service delivery and measurement.

Blueprint for Excellence and Opportunities in Education

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In this document, the nation’s leading urban school districts, academics and community activists outline steps that schools and others should take to increase minority access to rigorous core instruction, elevate the quality of education, strengthen personal and social supports needed to bolster students’ achievement, and overturn low expectations. You’ll find guidance for your own work in ensuring that all children are equally served.

Community Engagement ToolkitThis tool provides guidance for planning and designing community engagement. It focuses on quality and effectiveness, tailored process planning, level of participation to be achieved, time frame and range of stakeholders affected. This document will be very useful for developing your community partnership strategy.

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When communicating with your audience, ask yourself:

Is my message passionate? Does it really show my enthusiasm?Is it accessible? Is it meaningful to all constituents?Is it optimistic? Is it positive and forward looking?Is it inspirational? Will it move someone to take action?Is it credible? Will people believe me?Is it accountable? Does it demonstrate our honesty and trustworthiness?

INSTRUCTIONS: ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY

Your Hub’s communications strategy aligns closely with your organizational charter and is a vital element to achieving your overarching objectives. Together, they can help your Hub:

Clarify roles within your organization; Expedite good work and mitigate conflict; Maintain focus on your vision and goals in all activities; Guide all interactions with communities, partners, the public, donors and participants; and Define messaging.

Ineffective communication is a serious impediment to education collaboratives and can contribute to their downfall. This tool will help you avoid those challenges and achieve success for your community’s children and families.

Who should be involved?

To create an effective strategy that all partners can buy into, your partners should be involved in its design. Your Hub’s leaders will bring a unique and valuable perspective to the table. Don’t forget to include parents and providers in the design and review of your strategy.

Steps to designing a strong communications strategy

1. Before approaching your communications strategy, first complete your organizational charter. The content, process and buy-in from partners will then make this task much smoother.

2. Survey the entire form and make sure that you and your partners understand what information is needed to complete it. This will help focus your discussion. Depending on your partners and time available, you may find it helpful to send out the form ahead of time so participants are prepared to contribute.

3. Compile existing documents to help you build the strategy. Review the facilitation tools in this package – they’re especially valuable for the more subjective pieces of your plan (objectives, messaging, values, defining target communities, etc.) The Conversation Prep Chart and the ORID Focused Conversation Facilitator in the Governance & Leadership chapter are useful tools for enabling productive conversations.

4. Consider deliberately all the groups, people and communities you intend to serve and all of the people who need to be aware of your activities. Consider their interests, how they best receive

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information and how they might interact with and understand your Hub. Consider what your Hub is capable of and what strategies might require external support.

5. Conduct a thorough review with people who were not involved in the design. Test its plausibility and effectiveness. Plan to use the Communications Checklist included in this package after the strategy has been published and you have had time to assess its effectiveness with outside stakeholders. Ensure that your strategy is culturally responsive.

6. Plan regular reviews and updates to the strategy with your partners. Write these dates into action plans.

7. Share your final strategy as widely as appropriate, including with other Hubs across the state. Be open to learning from one another to improve quality and outcomes.

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ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY

Organization name:Participants in this strategy’s development:

Hub Description and Objectives:This communications strategy must support your overall mission, objectives and activities. Describe them here.

Current Situation and Background:What has been accomplished so far from a communications point of view? How effective have previous communications been?

Communications Principles:What are the values and principles that you observe and promote in your daily communications, in the office, across your network and with communities?

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Target Audience:Describe your audience in terms of current behavior, level of awareness, level of knowledge, preferred methods for receiving information, and potential barriers to accepting information.

Communication Objectives:What do you hope to achieve as a result of your communications activities? How can communications activities help you achieve the program/project objectives you’ve listed above? Clear, specific, realistic and measurable objectives are key to a successful communications strategy.

Key Messaging:When developing messaging for this audience, ask these questions: What do we want to change? What do we want them to know/feel/do? Is it culturally responsive? How was the Equity Lens used in its design?

Channels & Methods

Tools & Materials Needed

Budget Available Frequency/Deadline Measurement of Success

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For each additional audience, complete a table below.

Target Audience:Communication Objectives:Key Messaging:

Channels & Methods

Tools & Materials Needed

Budget Available Frequency/Deadline Measurement of Success

Target Audience:Communication Objectives:Key Messaging:

Channels & Methods

Tools & Materials Needed

Budget Available Frequency/Deadline Measurement of Success

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INSTRUCTIONS: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY

Your Hub’s community partnership strategy is a branch of your communications strategy. It is driven by the understanding that meaningful and sustainable community relationships are vital to your work. Having a partnership strategy is important in keeping us all focused on achieving and maintaining those kinds of relationships. A well-designed partnership strategy will help you ensure your relationship with the community is a true partnership that includes everyone.

Who should be involved?

To create an effective strategy that everyone can buy into, your Hub leadership team, partners, and parents and members of the communities you hope to reach should be involved in its design. This will help ensure that your strategy aligns with your Hub’s mission and values, and that it will guide all actions to engage and work cooperatively with communities.

Steps to designing a strong community partnership strategy

1. First complete your charter and communications strategy. Your partnership strategy will be deeply informed by both of those documents and the collective thought that goes into writing them. It will be very helpful to reference and distribute among participants the Community Engagement Guide, the 10 Principles for Authentic Community Engagement included in this package.

2. Survey the entire form and make sure all partners understand what information is required to complete it. This will help focus your discussion. Depending on your partners and time available, you may find it helpful to send out the form ahead of time so participants are prepared to contribute.

3. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Much of this work will have been completed in your communications strategy, so take what you can from there. You will be required to investigate your communities more deeply, so allow time for this, and enable all partners to contribute.

4. Review the facilitation tools (Conversation Prep Chart, ORID Focused Conversation Facilitator, etc.) in the Governance & Leadership chapter. They may be valuable in identifying the extent to which different communities should be engaged in different decisions and processes.

5. Consider your capacity for engagement at various levels, and be sure to plan engagement on equally meaningful levels for all communities you operate amongst and target, particularly those traditionally underserved.

6. Plan regular reviews and updates and incorporate deadlines into your accountability to each engagement tactic.

7. Refer to the 10 Principles of Authentic Community Engagement in your review.8. Share your final strategy as widely as appropriate, including with other Hubs across the state. Be

open to learning from one another to improve quality and outcomes.

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COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY

This should be developed and updated with relevant partners, and aligned with your communications strategy.

Our mission statement and goals:

How have we defined the communities we aim to serve?

Community:Geography Demographics Access to Services Values and Priorities

Consider boundaries and range via accessible transportation…

Consider ethnic/racial diversity, employment, economic status, age, families…

Consider school, health, transportation, adult education…

Consider health, economy, education, recreation…

How have we defined other communities we operate amongst?

Community:Geography Demographics Access to Services Values and Priorities

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What are the assets and resources within each community for achieving our shared goals?

Based on their priorities and assets, in what decisions do community members need to be involved?

To what extent should the community be involved? (For example, informed, asked, part of the decision-making process, developing solutions, etc.)

What are some barriers to their participation? (Consider capacity, access, conflict within communities, literacy, etc.

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For each decision identified, how will we meaningfully and sustainably engage the community?

Decision: Whom will we target? (include rationale)

How will we reach them? How will we prepare them for participation?

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How will we facilitate the conversation to come to this decision?

How will we share results and move forward with the broader community?

What must we consider for this engagement to be equitable?

How will we hold ourselves accountable?

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10 Principles of Authentic Community Engagement

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INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS CHECKLIST

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If you answered

NOto any of these, revisit your

communications strategy and pay particular attention to the audience-

specific objectives, messaging, methods and measurement.

What is our Hub?

Who is on our team and what are their roles?

How do I access and communicate with the Hub?

What is the Hub’s purpose?

What is my role?

What is the role of my organization?

Can staff and partners in our collaborative network easily answer the following:

If you answered

YESto all of these, GOOD JOB! Your

communications strategy is working!

EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS CHECKLIST

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Who we are?

Why we are here?

How to access and communicate with the Hub?

How they can support our work?

Do community and business leaders, peer Hubs across the state, and those who

access our services understand:

How we are doing our work?

If you answered

YESto all of these, GOOD JOB! Your

communications strategy is working!

If you answered

NOto any of these, revisit your

communications strategy and pay particular attention to the audience-

specific objectives, messaging, methods and measurement.

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP HEXAGON

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Community PartnershipShared Goals:

StewardshipRights:

Responsibilities:CivicParticipation

Rights:

Responsibilities:

EngagementRights:

Responsibilities:

InvolvementRights:

Responsibilities:

Knowledge and Information

Rights:

Responsibilities:

LeadershipRights:

Responsibilities:

Use this tool as a quick reference and reminder of the rights and responsibilities of your communities. You will first need to complete your community partnership strategy.

1. Complete your community partnership strategy.

2. State the goals that yourorganization shares withyour communities.

3. Determine the six ways yourcommunity will be engaged in your work. Use the six here, or customize them to your context.

4. Using your strategy, fill in the rights and responsibilities for each of the six ways your communities will be engaged in your work.

5. Make your chart very visible in your office, and share as appropriate with your partners and communities.

Adapted from the Discovery Initiative’s Honeycomb Community Engagement Tool, William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund.

EQUITY & CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS SELF-ASSESSMENT

This checklist will help your Hub better understand the importance of cultural diversity, cultural and linguistic responsiveness. You’ll find concrete examples to help you identify what you’re doing well and how you can improve. There is no “pass/fail” scoring, but if you frequently respond with "C," you may need to reassess your perspectives and approaches. It is imperative to provide services equitably, and these are indicators that you could be excluding key constituents from the benefit of your work and the work of your partners.

Directions: Select A, B or C for each item listed below.

A = Things we do frequently, or statement applies to me to a great degree

B = Things we do occasionally, or statement applies to me to a moderate degree

C = Things we do rarely or never, or statement applies to me to minimal degree or not at all

Indicate in the corresponding box how you will improve in the given area. Document your plans and stick to them! As necessary, incorporate these into your broader strategy.

Communications A – How will we maintain this?

B – How will we make this an A?

C – How will we improve?

1. At conferences and events, we learn and use key words in the languages or dialects of participants and community members who speak languages or dialects other than English, so we are better able to communicate with them.2. In our programs, conferences and meetings, we use visual aids, gestures and physical prompts in interactions with participants who have limited English proficiency.3. When interacting with community members who have limited English proficiency, we always keep in mind that:

a. Limitation in English proficiency is in no way a reflection of their level of intellectual functioning.b. Their limited ability to speak the language of the dominant culture has no bearing on their ability to communicate effectively in their language of origin.

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c. They may be neither literate in their language of origin nor English.

4. We ensure that all notices and communication to parents and community members are available in their language of origin.5. We understand that it may be necessary to use alternatives to written communications for some families, as word of mouth may be a preferred method of receiving information.6. We encourage and invite parents and community members to volunteer and assist with activities regardless of their ability to speak English.7. We arrange accommodations for participants and community members who may require communication assistance to ensure their full participation in all aspects of the program, meeting or event (hearing impairment, physical disability, visually impairment, low literacy, etc.).8. We accept and recognize that there are often differences between language used in early learning program settings and in the home.9. Our communications are delivered in both electronic and paper formats to reach those without consistent access to email or comfort with the Internet.

Environment, Materials & Resources A – How will we maintain this?

B – How will we make this an A?

C – How will we improve?

1. In our materials, we display positive representations that reflect the cultures and ethnic backgrounds of children and families served, our team and partners in our early childhood programs and office settings.2. We recommend a variety of materials to expose participants at events and conferences to experiences of cultures and ethnic groups represented across our network, in the community and partners that may not be their own.

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3. We encourage and provide opportunities for children and their families to share experiences to support the oral tradition common among many cultures.4. We plan events and community meetings in places hosted locally, where children and their families can learn about their own cultural or ethnic traditions as well as those of others.5. We select videos, films or other media resources positively reflective of diverse cultures to share with partners, children and families served in our early childhood settings.6. At conferences, meetings and events, we ensure that meals provided include foods that are unique to the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of partners, children and families served in our early childhood settings, and are provided by local caterers and businesses.7. If our event consists entirely of partners, children and families from the same cultural or ethnic group, we plan an environment and implement activities that reflect the cultural diversity within the broader community.8. We are cognizant of and ensure that the materials we use include traditional holidays celebrated by the majority culture, as well as those holidays unique to partners, children and families served in our community.

Values & Attitudes A – How will we maintain this?

B – How will we make this an A?

C – How will we improve?

1. Our team, partners and providers are trained in equity and equitable engagement and service provision.2. We apply the same standards of performance and participation to all service providers and community participants in our network.3. We ensure that tenders for services and contractors are conducted in ways and through channels that will reach and encourage responses

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from represented cultures and groups in our community, particularly those traditionally underserved.4. We make every effort to offer support to those service providers and families within our network that need the most help, rather than those who are already in positions to achieve success.5. We understand that some families may be reluctant to engage with services because of anxiety associated with anticipated linguistic and ethnic prejudice or discrimination. We strive to compensate for this with special post-launch orientations for families and focused relationship-building efforts with communities.6. We intervene immediately and appropriately when we observe team members or partners in our network engaging in behaviors that show cultural insensitivity, bias or prejudice.7. We understand and accept that family is defined differently by different cultures (extended family members, fictive kin, godparents, etc.).8. We recognize that the meaning or value of early childhood education or early intervention may vary greatly among cultures.9. Before visiting or providing services in the home setting, service providers seek information on acceptable behaviors, courtesies, customs and expectations that are unique to families of specific cultural groups served.10. We seek information from family members or other key community informants that will assist us to respond effectively to the needs and preferences of culturally and linguistically diverse children and families served in our early childhood programs.

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Adapted from the Georgetown University National Center for Cultural Competence’s Cultural & Linguistic Competency Self-Assessment Checklist.