Keeping it Real in Family Partnership

Keeping it Real in Family Partnership is a storytelling project that hopes to inspire conversations about how Cambridge out-of-school time practitioners and families from diverse cultural backgrounds partner to best support our children. Stories highlight promising practices and explore the experiences of families and OST practitioners. Each story is paired with a set of guiding questions to help you go deeper in reflecting on how families and OST practitioners can create more meaningful partnerships.  

To support you in using these digital videos with your staff, we have organized videos under common themes and updated the Facilitator's Guide for OST Staff Supervisors.  We have also created a Self-Paced Participant Study Guide for individual OST Staff to watch the videos on their own.  If you would like to request credit for watching and reflecting on the essential messages from these videos on your professional development, you can click here to complete a reflection assignment and submit a request.  

Connecting and Building Partnerships

Parents as Allies

Building Dialogue

Building Empathy

When communicating with parents about their children, always begin with something positive before sharing a challenge or problem. And they should always end on a positive note. Jada says it is important to remember that “Parents are our allies and this is a partnership.”

"I don't think there is any single way you can be in touch with a family without really knowing who that youth is... We try to be intentional about making phone calls once a month. To create a space for dialogue."

"I want staff members that are working with my kids to be as real with me as possible. As far as mothers or fathers or both, I just know them. It is so familiar. I have been in their situation so many times."

Creating and Celebrating Inclusive Culture

Creating a Welcoming Culture

"I attended Cambridge Community Center when I was a kid, I hung out here. They are always very welcoming, always a sense of family and, you know, they make you feel like your the neighbor next door.
​I love it here."

Celebrating Families

"One thing we're tryi​ng to push with this age group is parents becoming friends with each other. We do family nights. Just getting to know people as people and not just as parents or caregivers."

Showing us 
What they Know

 "For us, it was just really exciting and fun to be in the garden... mingling with other parents, seeing all the kids working together as teams and showing us what they knew." 

Practicing Cultural Humility

Find Common Ground

"I need to find a common ground for the child from where their culture is coming from and a common ground for what kind of culture we're trying to build in our classroom community. . . I personally really do believe it takes a village to raise a child."

Showing Them that They Matter

"Building trust with families and being culturally proficient, run hand-in-hand."

Talking to Kids About Race

"As far as racism and equality . . . I think the earlier you're able to have these conversations with kids, the better.  If they have all of the information, they are better able to make educated decisions."

​Listening to Parents and Caregivers

Parent Voices on Family Partnership

"The most important things that organizations can do to build relationships with parents would include regular communication and having opportunities for parents to build rapport with staff."  

Parent Voices on Committing to Racial Equity

"Youth of color, in particular, need more support.  At this point it needs to be in every aspect of a child's schooling [including after school] . . . where they have a safe space to be who they are and they are able to express themselves . . . "

The Importance of Meaningful Connections

"What are the long term effects from children having lost the ongoing, meaningful connections with adults from OST for a year?  We don't know yet. "

Interested in using Stories of Family Partnership to support your staff development efforts? ​

​These guides provides activities and reflections to get your training off the ground.

Download Facilitator's Guide

Self-Paced Participant Study Guide

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​​Report Highlights Critical Importance of Family Partnership

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. Learn more in this new report published by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. ​

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Download Report

For questions about the project or to share a story of family partnership, please send an email to: [email protected]