Mapping Your School and Community Partnership Ecosystem

It takes a comprehensive, complementary, and well-coordinated range of programs and services to ensure every child has what they need to learn, grow, and thrive. When community organizations, youth, families, schools, and districts partner to provide these supports in a community, we build our collective capacity for systems change at the same time. If a partnership ecosystem is, “the network of interconnected organizations and adults who provide a system of supports for students,” then who are the people and organizations in your school-community partnership ecosystem, how are they connected, and what are you doing to strengthen individual relationships?

In this interactive virtual session, participants will create a map of the relationships within their ecosystem and identify what types of partnership and collaboration they are engaged in (or aiming for). Our guiding tools from YDEKC’s School and Community Partnership Toolkit will provide you with resources to explore during the workshop and to apply after the session in depth.

This workshop is designed for leaders at all levels within schools, school districts, and community-based organizations who are developing or managing partnerships between schools and community-based organizations and is highly recommended for new partners or people who are new to their role.

Additional Resource for King County Best Starts for Kids Grantees: YDEKC is serving as a Capacity Builder for King County Best Starts for Kids Grantees, with a focus on supporting school-community partnerships. Grantees may request free one-on-one coaching and technical assistance in this area by contacting Jorji Knickrehm at jknickrehm@kingcounty.gov and Anne Powell Arias at aarias@ydekc.org. 

At YDEKC we seek to provide events that are accessible and welcoming to all. Here is a list of some of the ways we are making this event accessible: 

• Inviting registrants to share accommodation requests when they register, at least two weeks before the event; 
• Sharing participant expectations in the event description — such as whether there will be breaks, breakout rooms, and types of engagement; 
• Encouraging our presenters to incorporate accessibility into their presentation materials; 

• Providing multiple ways to join virtual events — for example, via computer or phone; 
• Automated closed captioning will be available during the sessions (excluding breakout rooms) via Zoom’s Live Transcription feature; 
• Registrants will receive access to all materials or resources offered by presenters. (Note: This session will not be recorded.)