Community engagement is at the heart of all the Federation’s work. We understand that when the adults in a child’s life work together consistently, children thrive. High quality family and community engagement leads to improved social, academic, and health outcomes for children and youth. Furthermore, “engagement strengthens families by connecting them with community resources and new social networks. It helps schools by improving teacher satisfaction, school climate, and school performance. And it strengthens communities by forging stronger connections between families, schools, and communities, and helps to create more engaged citizens” From Caring to Conditions. The research is well established. Family and community engagement benefits everyone! This is why at the Federation, we encourage respectful and inclusive engagement of families, professionals, schools, and community throughout all of our offerings.
The Federation partners with school districts, state agencies, health care providers, and community-based organizations to promote community engagement across the state. We work with SEPACs, ELPACs, and other parent and caregiver groups as well as multiple family engagement coalitions. Through MASFEC, we are supporting communities in bringing together community members to identify needs and plan for systematic community engagement.
We support individuals in developing their abilities to engage with their communities through training , information, individual assistance, and leadership development. We also offer targeted support for individual communities. Our Outreach Specialists provide assistance to the Chinese, Haitian, Latinx, Portuguese speaking, and Black communities in Massachusetts. The outreach specialists are all members of these communities as well as experts in family and community engagement.
If you want to learn more about family and community engagement, check out the state’s framework or reach out to us for more resources.
