Core to the values and vision of whole family, multi-generational work is the critical importance of elevating parent voice and significant engagement of parents in program and policy design.
Because many policies and programs were designed with good intention but without parent input and oversight, they have unintentionally created challenges for parents and families. And because policies have lacked a racial or gender equity lens and have not included the voices of parents representing their communities, disparities continue to persist. In the past decade, there is a growing consensus that engaging and supporting parents in ways that are culturally and racially sensitive is critical to improving outcomes for families.
There are many ways in which parents can and should be engaged in philanthropy, program, and policy:
These roles can and do exist in both the public sector, in state and local agencies; and in the private sector, within philanthropy and organizations.
This page offers resources to guide philanthropy, programs, and policymakers to engage parents more deeply in their work with the goal of improving outcomes for families because parent voice has helped shape and oversee programs and policies.
Developed by the Greater Rochester Health Foundation, this is a how-to guide for philanthropy offers strategies and practical frameworks to engage parents and community in a range of roles.
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A sample job description used by the Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham for a family expertise council, outlining expectations for participants and the organization.
View / Download Parent engagement is at the heart of two-generation approaches. Parents are the experts in their own lives, and therefore experts on the policies, practice, research, and systems change essential to supporting them. There are several approaches one can take in engaging parents in informing 2Gen efforts, but starting from a set of principles is critical.
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The Annie E. Casey Foundation, as part of its two-generation work, created an assessment tool for programs to assess their engagement with parents and to offer organizations ideas on how to deepen parent involvement.
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This report from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation shows how equity-based family engagement helps parents and caretakers in underserved communities become effective advocates and culture-bearers in schools, which boosts educational quality and relevance.
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This factsheet from the FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) summarizes the principles, benefits, and strategies for parent engagement and leadership.
View / DownloadThe Connecticut Commission on Children, a commission of the Connecticut Legislature, has engaged parents for many years, both through its Parent Leadership Training Institute and with action to bring parent voice to the center of Connecticut policymaking.
This document provides links to the national locations of parent leadership training courses.
View / Download When parents gain civic leadership skills, they can become powerful advocates for greater opportunities for children, and the family becomes a vital constituency for better child/community outcomes.
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Consumer involvement from parents benefits programs and policies for children. Parent interest can improve quality, enhance staff and teacher morale, expand networks, increase public access, and enrich public awareness of children’s issues. The following checklist offers steps to building parents as on-going partners with agencies and schools.
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Parents can partner with community agencies to improve child outcomes. Yet, most parents do not perceive themselves as a constituency and often lack the civic skills necessary for public impact. Similarly, most agencies do not know how to involve parents substantively in child policy or community development.
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There is a critical gap between parental desire to improve conditions for children and capacity. The lack of skills is not from disinterest but from a missing tool kit, a democracy tool kit that might offer the specific skills of how to create change in policy and leadership within a civic context. When the tools of democracy are understood, parents will enter civic life.
View / Download Elaine Zimmerman, Connecticut Commission on Children
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Recognizing the importance of understanding the impact of parent leadership in civic life, this report from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, offers a theory of change for evaluating parent leadership.
View / Download This article from the Journal of Extension discusses the process and results of the Family Leadership Training Institute project in which parents engaged in projects focused on social determinants of health.
View / DownloadWhole family, multi-generational approaches meet the needs of and provide opportunities for children and the adults in their lives together. These approaches are highly contextual, and may be called “whole family,” “two-generation or two-gen,” and “multi-generational” approaches in some organizations, communities, and contexts. Particularly for Indigenous communities, an approach that supports multiple generations within a home or family is important. The goal of a whole family, multigenerational approach is to ensure economic, educational, and health stability and mobility for the whole family, using mechanisms and strategies that give both generations in the family a balloon, and not one a dead weight.
This guide uses “whole family” for consistency and ease of reading; and encompasses the meanings of these other terms.
This guide also uses “parents,” which includes caregivers, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and others who are in the lives of children. Families are defined by the families themselves in our view, rather than by an outside agency, and the guide reflects this as well.