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Engaging Youth: Working Together With Parents And Families

July 30-August 1
August 2 (graduate students only)

The research is clear - young people thrive when parents and families are included, involved, and invested. A positive youth-family connection is key to raising healthy, competent, and successful young people. Yet, with today’s challenging environments, nearly all who work with teens ask the question, "How do we get parents and families engaged?"

At our 11th annual Summer Institute you will hear answers and insights and learn first-hand from schools, clinics and youth programs that have successfully linked young people with their families. What secrets for success do they share? What qualities and skills did these schools and programs nurture in their staff?

Listening to their stories of success, you will learn new ways to engage all kinds of families - in communities rural and urban, in the workplace, health clinics and all types of schools, in youth organizations, residential centers, and park programs - with all kinds of young people.

Who Should Attend

All who work with young people and their families - teachers, coaches, and administrators; health providers from schools, clinics and public health settings; nurses, physicians, nutritionists, psychologists, social workers, counselors and youth workers; religious leaders, law enforcement officers and policy makers.

Institute Schedule

Each day, the institute will focus on important "How To" themes:

Day 1: How To...Understand Young People within Families

• Understanding the diverse families of today
• Reasons to involve families in youth programming

Day 2: How To...Create Partnerships with Families

• Engaging families: What works and why?
• Meeting families where they’re at

Day 3: How To...Sustain Family Involvement

• Empowering families: Approaches that work
• Encouraging ongoing partnerships with families

Day 4: How To...Support Family Engagement through Policies and Planning (Graduate credit registrants)

• Community and school policies that foster family engagement
• Know where you’re going: Planning for family engagement

Highlights

• Gain new perspectives on changes in family dynamics during adolescence
• Learn why young people thrive best when parents and families are involved
• Explore the diversity of language, norms, and values of adolescents and their families
• Listen to contemporary viewpoints of young people on our institute teaching team
• Get the inside scoop on how successful programs engage and work with families
• Hear parents and local experts share experiences with successful family engagement efforts
• Identify attitudes and skills that make someone effective in working with families
• Learn methods for empowering families so they can be stronger advocates for their children
• Apply to your every-day practice the real life successes in engaging families

Core Faculty

Linda Bearinger, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor and Director, Center for Adolescent Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota

Kathy Brothen, MA, HIV Prevention Education Coordinator, Minnesota Department of Education

Jenny Oliphant, MPH, EdD(c), Community Outreach Coordinator, Healthy Youth Development-Prevention Research Center, Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine, University of Minnesota

Michael Resnick, PhD, Professor and Gisela and E. Paul Konopka Chair in Adolescent Health and Development; Director, Healthy Youth Development-Prevention Research Center, Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine, University of Minnesota

Renee Sieving, PhD, RN, Associate Professor, Center for Adolescent Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota

Paul Snyder, MSW, MDiv, Director of the Minnesota Youth Community Learning Initiative at the Konopka Institute, Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine, University of Minnesota

Guest Faculty

Anne T. Henderson, Senior Consultant, Community Involvement Program, Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Washington, D.C.

Ms. Henderson’s specialty is the relationship between families and schools. Her most recent book, Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships, written with Karen Mapp, Don Davies and Vivian Johnson, was published by The New Press in 2007. Her recent reports include The Case for Parent Leadership (2003) and No Child Left Behind: What’s in it for Parents (2002). Among her many other reader-friendly reports, articles and books is a series reviewing the research on parent involvement and student achievement.
For the past 30 years, Ms. Henderson has worked with organizations that represent or serve parents and community members. Her clients include the Tellin’ Stories Project in Washington, DC; the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence in Lexington, Kentucky; the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri; the Alexandria, Virginia Public Schools; and the Parent Institute for Quality Education in California. She is a co-founder of the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education.

Jerome Stein, Senior Fellow and Director of the newly-created Project on Youth and Community Learning, University of Minnesota School of Social Work.

In 1994, Dr. Stein created the Learning Dreams Program. By using the dreams of parents as motivating factors, neighborhood learning advocates help parents deepen and enhance their participation in learning. Learning Dreams is an original program that uses this new model of parent and community involvement to create a model learning community for youth and families struggling with school success. Learning Dreams Program sites include Minneapolis & Worthington, Minnesota and Belfast, Northern Ireland.

David Valladolid, President & CEO, Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE), San Diego, CA.

Mr. Valladolid leads PIQE, a statewide organization that brings families, schools, community and business together as partners in the education of every child. Prior to his current role with PIQE, Mr. Valladolid served in a range of leadership positions in legislative and policy arenas including Policy Administrator with the United Domestic Workers of America and Legislative Consultant to the Speaker of the California State Assembly. He is co-founder of four organizations, including the Latino/a & Indigenous Unity Coalition and the Latino Policy Institute. He serves as an advisor to local, state and national groups including the California State PTA, and Children’s Defense Fund National Task Force to end the “Cradle to Prison Pipeline” for Latino and African-American youth.

Carrie Adams, Family Advocate and CIRCLE Mentor Program Coordinator, Worthington, Minnesota.

In her role as a Family Advocate, Ms. Adams facilitates better communication between home and school. She conducts home visits, attends meetings with parents, and connects them to resources within the community. As the CIRCLE Coordinator, Carrie pairs trained high school mentors with elementary students at risk for school disengagement. In 2006, Ms. Adams was certified in the Best Practices of Parental Involvement through Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE); since this time, she has been actively involved in implementing the PIQE model in the Worthington area.

Sponsors

Center for Adolescent Nursing
University of Minnesota School of Nursing

Co-Sponsors

Coordinated School Health
Minnesota Department of Education

Healthy Youth Development - Prevention Research Center
and
Konopka Institute
Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine
Department of Pediatrics
University of Minnesota Medical School

Minnesota Organization on Adolescent
Pregnancy, Prevention and Parenting