Cambridge Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time
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  • Stories of Family Partnership
    • The Importance of Meaningful Connections
    • Talking with Kids About Race
    • Committing to Racial Equity
    • Common Ground
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    • Showing us What they Know
    • Empathizing with Parents
    • Building Dialogue
    • Creating a Welcoming Culture
    • Celebrating Families
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    • Work with us
  • Our Work
    • Cambridge OST Coalition
    • OST Learning Institute
    • Elementary School OST Network
    • Middle School Network
    • Quality Improvement System
  • News & Events
    • OST Expansion Project Updates
    • OST Learning Institute Updates
    • ESON Updates
    • MSN Updates
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Events Calendar
  • Stories of Family Partnership
    • The Importance of Meaningful Connections
    • Talking with Kids About Race
    • Committing to Racial Equity
    • Common Ground
    • Parent Voices
    • Showing Them that They Matter
    • Showing us What they Know
    • Empathizing with Parents
    • Building Dialogue
    • Creating a Welcoming Culture
    • Celebrating Families
  • Resources
    • Publications
    • Blog
    • How to Write a Blog Post for AFCOST
    • Professional Development Reports
    • Find It Cambridge
    • Cambridge STEAM Initiative
    • History of Afterschool Documentary
  • About Us
    • Mission and Beliefs
    • Our Ways of Being
    • History
    • Organizational Structure
    • Who we are
    • Contact Us
    • Work with us

Keeping it Real in Family Partnership

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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 added an addendum to our UPDATED Facilitator's Guide.  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.  

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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."
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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. "
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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 . . . "
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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."
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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."  
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Building Empathy

"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."
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Showing Them that They Matter

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

"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."
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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."
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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."

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

​This guide provides step-by-step instructions to get your training off the ground.
Download Facilitator's Guide
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Read about our work in this article published by the Global Family Research Project, defining and advancing the fields of family, school, and community engagement.


​​New Report Highlights Critical Importance of Family Partnership

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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. ​

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

Cambridge Agenda for Children out-of-school time

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