Download a two-page summary of the seven Keep Connected workshops, including a description, learning objectives, and at-home activities for each session.

The core of Keep Connected is a series of six family workshops plus a graduation celebration for families. Each session includes:

• A shared family meal. Feedback from families consistently shows that a shared family meal is not only a practical need (to make it possible to participate), but it is also a valued time to connect as a family and with other families.

• Separate parent and youth sessions. Parents meet with other parents while youth meet with other youth for the first half of each session. They explore family relationships with their peers, building a sense of camaraderie and giving them a sense that they are not alone in some of the challenges they face.

• A family session. Parents and youth come together to explore the session’s topic, working together on a plan for what they want to try at home and  put into practice what they learn during the session.

Alternate parent-only session. Sometimes it doesn’t work to include youth in the session. So we’ve provided an alternate to the family session that’s just for parents. It covers much of the same material, and encourages parents to share what they’re learning at home.

The food: Each organization has different available resources for a shared meal. During the prototype project, groups did the following:

• Invited families to prepare the meal together.
• Served families in the school cafeteria, which catered the meal.
• Asked families what kind of carryout they wanted, then picked it up for the next session.
• Offered a cooking class to youth as part of after-school activities, then served the results of each class for the family meal.

In planning the meals, be aware of any food sensitivities or restrictions due to dietary concerns, cultural or religious practices, and health. Part of making the series welcoming for all is for them to be able to enjoy the meal together.

Other ways to enhance the meal: A good meal may not need to be enhanced for it to be enjoyable and meaningful for families. However, consider the following:

• Provide comfortable seating so families can enjoy talking with each other.
• Play quiet music that helps create a relaxing atmosphere.

Place discussion-starter questions on the tables. You can use commercially available discussion starters. You might use the questions provided in the at-home packet for each session. Or, you can find more discussion starters in the “Talk about It” sections of the online family resources on strengthening relationships.

“Family Pledge to Keep Connected” builds across the Keep Connected workshops, culminating in a display during the graduation celebration. In each workshop, youth and their families add to the pledge based on the workshop’s topic.

Goals: This activity is designed to help families . . .

• Enjoy co-creating a memory of the shared workshop experience.
• Focus on commitments they make for sustaining positive relationships through the teenage years.
• Have a visual reminder to follow through on their commitments.
• Create continuity between sessions.

How It Works: During each workshop, youth decorate the selected craft to represent the session’s theme for their family. Then families discuss their shared priorities as they complete the activity.

The facilitator’s guide describes three “craft” options for implementing the family pledge:

• Family Pledge Box: Each family decorates a cardboard box and keeps artifacts from the series (that reflect family commitments) inside the box. Plain white boxes are available in office, storage, and gift stores. An example is from the Container Store.
• Family Pledge Collage: Each family creates a collage that represents their family and their shared commitments.
• Family Pledge Crest: Youth draw or color representations of their family’s commitments on a family crest.

Decide which of these approaches you will use for your workshop series. Then select that option in the facilitator’s guide throughout the series. (Other creative options would also be appropriate, including digital creations or more culturally specific approaches, depending on the community.)

Each session’s facilitator’s guide outlines each session’s activity, including needed supplies. The final creation is included in the graduation celebration (session #7).

Purpose: The graduation celebration has at least four strategic purposes:

1. It provides positive affirmation to the participating families, recognizing their commitment to each other and to strengthening relationships.
2. It provides an opportunity for families to state publicly their commitments, which increases the likelihood that they will follow through and that they will seek and receive support from other families in the sessions.
3. It provides an opportunity for families to reinforce their time together and to be more intentional in building connections to continue past the workshop series.
4. It highlights the positive experience with Keep Connected to others in the community, including other families who may participate in the future.

Get creative. The facilitator’s guide provides a basic outline for hosting the graduation celebration. However, you may augment it with these or other ideas:

• Family pictures: I. J. Holton Intermediate School brought in a photographer to take portraits of each family. The youth painted picture frames about their family, then gave the frames (with the family portraits) to their parents at the graduation celebration.
• Family potluck: Some families combined the graduation with a family potluck in which families shared foods that reflected their own cultural traditions. In some cases, the youth were the advocates for this approach, since they wanted to show off a parent’s cooking!

However, many parents are not used to going online to find resources to strengthen family life. Here are some strategies to encourage families who are participating in Keep Connected to use this online resource (both during and following the workshop series):

• Check in and share experiences: Each Keep Connected session includes opportunities to check in about use of the site as well as reminders at the end to try the site. If parents start talking about their own experiences with the tool, others are more likely to visit.
• Show and tell: Have a computer and a tablet or smartphone at each session with the website pulled up. Show it to families, and give them a chance to look around. This could include having it available during the shared meal, if it doesn’t distract from families spending time together.
• Orientation: f you have access to a computer lab, invite the parenting adults to come early or stay late to try out KeepConnected.info.
• Scavenger hunt: Nudge families to try KeepConnected.info by setting up a site scavenger hunt. Have them look for specific elements or ideas on the site, and provide a reward (such as a gift card) for those who do it.
• At-home activities: Each session’s “Post It” take-home summary encourages families to go to KeepConnected.info to follow up on the session. Highlight this opportunity when discussing the at-home activities.

• Ensure that your efforts are responsive to the priorities, interests, and realities of the families you hope to engage through Keep Connected.
• Expand the network of people who can invite families to participate in the workshop series.
• Develop a broader base of parent and youth who are leaders and contributors.

When inviting families to collaborate in planning and organizing, consider these guidelines (which you may adjust based on your specific context and goals):

• Include people with a deep understanding of the cultures and realities of the families you hope will participate. The logistics of partnering with and engaging middle-class white families are quite different from those of immigrant families who are part of the working poor.
• Be intentional in including both fathers and mothers in leadership, as “parent” and “mother” are too often equated in people’s mental models of families and parenting.
• Match those interested in leadership or volunteer roles with opportunities that fit them. Some parents may be much happier helping with organizing meals for Keep Connected sessions than serving on a planning group. Others may be key leaders whose contributions to a leadership group also build credibility.

Some schools and organizations start by inviting a group of potential family leaders to participate in a “pilot” of Keep Connected. They can provide supportive feedback as you get comfortable in facilitating sessions, and they can form strong bonds through the experience. Then based on their participation, families can decide if they’d like to be part of an ongoing leadership team to guide family engagement efforts.

8 to 12 weeks before the workshop series:

1. Build broader organizational understanding, buy-in, and support (if they don’t have it already). This can happen quickly, or it may require several months.
2. Bring together a planning team, which ideally includes youth and parents. Establish or clarify goals and purpose for offering Keep Connected.
3. Set a schedule, secure facilities, and finalize other basics of organizing workshops.

3 to 6 weeks before the workshop series:

1. Invite families to participate (which will take longer if you don’t have existing relationships or connections). For guidance, see the section on inviting families.
2. Organize logistics, gather supplies, and begin preparing to facilitate sessions.

Launch the workshop series, which takes seven weeks, if offered weekly.

1. Length of each session: Each session lasts about two hours, including the shared family meal and the workshop. Families need to commit to this length of time in order to take full advantage of the interactive workshops.
2. How often? Different sites have tried weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly sessions. Some have considered retreat formats. Having them together increases the intensity of the experience but is more logistically challenging. Spreading them out can reduce continuity and lessen retention. So these choices are best made based on local realities.
3. When during the day? To date, users have tended to offer sessions during weekday evenings. Other times and options may make more sense in other settings. Some communities vary when they offer sessions from series to series so that parents who work different shifts can have opportunities to participate.
4. When during the year? There is never a great time, particularly if you’re competing with school and athletic schedules (much less families’ schedules.) However, many schools and organizations can typically find a seven-week period in the spring or fall that will work adequately among other scheduling priorities for schools and families.

Here are some practical issues to consider:

• Location. Where will you host Keep Connected that will be welcoming and conducive to family learning? Although it may be most convenient for you to offer it in your own building, be sure that it’s a place where families feel welcomed and that the space is conducive to small-group learning. If not, you might consider finding another location in the community that is a better fit, is more accessible, or is a place where families already gather.
• Food. Shared family meals are an integral part of Keep Connected. Offering a meal also reduces a barrier to participation for many families.
• Interpreters. If you intend to include families who speak different languages in the home in the Keep Connected workshops, consider options for translation or interpretation services. Some organizations have an interpreter present to translate during each session. Others hold separate sessions in different languages so the conversation can flow more freely.
• Child Care. Many families with middle school children likely also have younger children as well. Some may be able to participate in some activities, but it’s important to offer child care or recreation for younger siblings so that families can fully participate. (Some youth who participate in Keep Connected say that one of the few times they have their parents’ undivided attention is during the sessions.)
• Transportation. What will families (parents and youth) need? What options are available in your community? In some settings, it may be appropriate to encourage families to carpool; however, you’ll want to align your approach with your organization’s policies and procedures.

The U.S. Department of Education’s dual-capacity framework for family-school partnerships identifies three conditions for strengthening both family and organizational capacities to work together for young people’s education and development. Though focused on educational systems, these conditions also apply to other contexts that implement Keep Connected:

• Systemic. Family engagement is intentionally aligned with the organization’s central goals and priority initiatives. Otherwise, it is likely to be undervalued and even set aside when making choices about priorities and investments.
• Integrated. Family engagement is embedded in the core organizational systems and initiatives (such as strategic plans and improvement strategies). Systems may include training and professional development for staff and/or volunteers, core programming, decision-making structures, partnerships, and assessment systems.
• Sustained. Family engagement requires adequate resources and support, rather than being dependent on short-term funding (though that may be part of getting started).

Here are some questions to answer as you build your organization’s commitment to engaging families and utilizing Keep Connected to advance that strategy:

• How is engaging families part of your organization’s core vision, values, and priorities? If it’s not currently, how do you see it aligning?
• What organizational challenges or barriers do you see to a deep, sustained commitment to partnering with or engaging families? How might they be addressed?
• Who are stakeholders or gatekeepers in your organization who can make or break your success? What could you do to deepen their investment and support?
• How will you keep key groups informed of what’s happening through Keep Connected and how it’s helping advance organizational goals and priorities?

It’s also noteworthy that many types of organizations may struggle with doing so effectively. Working together can enhance everyone’s connections and capacity to be partners with and resources for families. Building a shared commitment can, in the long term, benefit families by enhancing a wide variety of supports and opportunities across the community.

Who might be potential partners?

Many different types of organizations in communities seek to engage, support, and partner with families. Some may already have strong family engagement efforts you could learn from or partner with. Others may value a collaboration in which you both enhance your capacity to engage and support families. Some potential organizational partners include:

• Schools and community education systems
• Cultural groups and nonprofit organizations serving specific cultural communities
• Faith-based organizations, including churches, mosques, synagogues, parachurch organizations, and interfaith or ecumenical networks
• Child and family services organizations, agencies, and community centers

How might you begin building partnerships?

If you’re interested in partnering with others to engage families and, more specifically, to offer Keep Connected, consider these options:

• Start with organizations and people you know (and that others in your leadership group know). Listen to their interests, goals, and capabilities. Are they a good fit for what your organization offers and needs?
• Identify other people or organizations who are already known and trusted by families you would hope to engage. How will you build a relationship and trust with these organizations? How might there be mutual benefit in a collaboration?
• Invite others in your organization to work with you to connect with potential partners. (This may also increase their buy-in to your family engagement efforts.)

Don’t wait until the end of your workshop series to think about getting feedback and monitoring the quality of the experience. It’s important to plan that in advance, based on your goals and the kind of information you need.

Search Institute offers several tools for feedback and evaluation—including for feedback to Search Institute. Explore which options might work best for you. If your organization has ongoing monitoring systems and tools, be sure to explore how these efforts might also be integrated into these systems.

In addition to collecting data, determine how the coordinators, facilitators, and other leaders will intentionally reflect on the Keep Connected experience as you go. Some facilitator teams plan a working meeting between each session in which they debrief the previous session and plan the next session together.