Tuesday, May 2, 2023

1^st Time Attendee Breakfast Meet-Up   

• Liz Star, ECFC Steering Committee Member & Membership Committee Chair, and April Luong, ECFC Program Associate met up with new and seasoned ECFC members for introductions and network.  Contact ECFC to connect to your Buddy!

Community Panel: Engaging Voices of Lived Experience  

In order for our work to advance, and advance in community, there is expertise we need from parents, families, and community members. This morning’s session shared examples of where engaging lived experience is working well, from community and funder perspectives.

• Family Network Collaborative: Detroit based parent representatives of Nurture Connection’s FNC, a group of 6 parent leaders who each represent a community (across the country) from which there was the most to learn (or voices least heard from).  Joining us: Bryn Fortune, FNC Coordinator; Mia Halthon Jones, Detroit FNC member.  [Bios & Related Links and Resources]
• Detroit Champions for Hope: Network of neighborhood-based advocates, which hires parents in each of Detroit’s 7 districts to engage parents and families through workshops and mindfulness sessions to address community needs, and creation of tools to help parents spark childhood learning. DCH also leads Hope Starts Here Imperative on Parent Engagement. Joining us: Furqan Khaldun, Partnerships Coordinator, Champions of Hope; Monique Taylor, Champion. Related Resources:
  [Bios] [Mission]  [Detroit Champions for HOPE Success]
• Mothering Justice: Grassroots advocacy organization building advocates with mothers of color around intersecting issues that will bring us closer to justice for Mama’s of color: reproductive justice, paid leave, affordable child care, and basic needs security. Joining Us: Danielle Atkinson, National Executive Director, Mothering Justice; Raising Child Care Fund Grantee Partner.

Funder Led Roundtables: Engaging Lived Experience

[Detailed descriptions, graphics and links]

• Raising Child Care Fund: Lifting Voices, Building Power, Expanding Equity. Table leaders: RCCF Grant Committee Co-Chairs - Marie Hocker | Principal, Imaginable Futures; Dani Vilella | Community Organizer
• Pediatrics Supporting Parents: A Governance Structure that Shares Power in Grantmaking Decisions. Table leader: Ira Hillman | Strategy Lead: Bonding, Einhorn Collaborative
• Nurture Connection Family Network Collaborative (for Early Relational Health). Table leaders: Bryn Fortune, FNC Facilitator; Mia Halthon Jones, FNC member
•  WeVision EarlyEd: Making the Ideal Child Care Real. Table Leader: Marica Cox Mitchell | Vice President, Early Childhood, Bainum Family Foundation
• Engaging, Supporting and Compensating Parent Leaders: Opportunities and Challenges. Table Leader: Amilcar Guzmán | Program Officer, Pritzker Children’s Initiative
• Centering Community Voices in Birth Equity. Table Leader: Jessica Nugent | Program Officer, The Burke Foundation
•  Investment Advisory Councils: Reflections from a Community-Driven Grantmaking Pilot. Table Leaders: Robyn Tedder | Project Director, Early Childhood Funder’s Alliance of Southwestern Pennsylvania; and Michelle Figlar | Executive Director, Birmingham Foundation.

Tuesday Afternoon Site Visits  

We visited three sites where Detroit funders, organizations and partners are building trust, and fostering belonging with kids and families, in neighborhoods and communities.   See site visit descriptions here.  Need contact information for site staff or speakers? Contact ECFC and we'll connect you!