Connecting with Partners Planning Worksheet
Working with local partners is a key strategy for identifying and reaching out to families experiencing homelessness.
Family well-being occurs when all family members are safe, healthy, and have chances for educational advancement and economic mobility. Support services such as early care and education, housing and food assistance, and physical and mental health care positively contribute to the well-being of families and their children. When families face challenges that cause stress, including poverty and homelessness, their health and wellness can be negatively impacted. Engaging families as active participants in problem-solving and goal-setting can help them identify and use their own strengths to address the challenges they face. When families are healthy, safe, and economically stable, their children's health and well-being can thrive.
Working with local partners is a key strategy for identifying and reaching out to families experiencing homelessness.
Use this tool to determine a child and family's situation or status using the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act’s definition of “homeless children and youth.”
Use this tool to reflect on your program’s relationship-building practices and plan for next steps in supporting families experiencing homelessness.
Consider how you might enhance what you already do to partner with families experiencing homelessness. Use this tool to reflect on your program’s relationship-building practices and plan for the next steps in supporting families experiencing homelessness.
Explore these professional development sessions for Head Start staff. They are designed to increase ability to lead parent, family, and community engagement in your program.
Watch these sessions to increase your knowledge about the elements of economic mobility. Learn about strategies for finding and engaging effective community partners.
Choose this track if you are new to your role, or you have been in your current role for less than five years.
Choose this track if you have been in your family engagement services role for five years or more.
The video explores parent and family engagement in Head Start programs and the efforts of family services professionals working with families as they move towards their own version of the “American Dream.”
Learn more about the concept of family well-being, the role of family services professionals and home visitors in supporting family well-being, and the systemic barriers to well-being that families face.
HeadStart.gov
official website of the Administration for Children and Families