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Aug 22, 2022 |
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Only two weeks remain to apply for the next cohort of the Activate! National Early Childhood Advocacy Network, an initiative of NCFL focused on improving equity in areas most affecting families furthest from opportunity. Supported by W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the PNC Foundation in support of its early childhood education initiative, PNC Grow Up Great®, Activate! National brings together parenting adults of young children—specifically Black, Indigenous, and other people of color—and early childhood (EC) practitioners to develop inclusive and equitable EC programs. 

NCFL is recruiting 2–3 parenting adult and EC practitioner pairs from up to 10 different communities across the United States for its second cohort. Each pair will participate in network programming together. This is an opportunity for parenting adults to build leadership skills and for EC organizations to amplify parent voice in their work. 

Click here to check eligibility requirements and to apply.

Now recruiting cohort 2 of the Activate! National Early Childhood Advocacy Network

Program Details

Annual participation includes 10 monthly virtual convenings, two in-person convenings, facilitation and coaching from NCFL staff, and independent work. Throughout the program, parent and EC pairings are equipped with knowledge and skills to train others in their local communities.

NCFL incorporates several practices in our programming that promote equity including participation stipends, simultaneous interpretation, travel coverage, and childcare for in-person convenings.

Have questions?

For more information, watch our promo video here in English or here in Spanish, or contact Patricia Bebe (pbebe@familieslearning.org) to schedule a call. 

The deadline to apply is Friday, September 2, 2022 at 11:59 PM EDT.

Related: At the Heart of Family Learning: Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion through family leadership and NCFL’s Activate! National Network brings families and practitioners together for early childhood advocacy

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NCFL Partners

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Toyota

Toyota, one of the nation's most successful corporations, began a partnership with NCFL in 1991. In addition to a commitment of more than $50 million, Toyota has also contributed a wealth of in-kind support — including advertising, planning and management expertise — to form one of the most progressive corporate/nonprofit partnerships in the nation.

Three major programs have been developed through the Toyota partnership based on the family literacy model of parents and children learning together. These models have influenced federal and state legislation, leveraged local dollars to support family literacy and led to successful programs being replicated across the country.

Read more about Toyota's commitment to communities

William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust

NCFL received its very first donation in 1989 from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust to promote and implement family literacy programming, first in Kentucky and North Carolina and later nationwide. The Kenan Family Literacy Model in part laid the groundwork for 30 years of subsequent family literacy and family learning programming developed by NCFL.

Kenan has continued to support NCFL’s place-based family literacy programs since our inception. Most recently, it has invested in our organization’s Sharon Darling Innovation Fund, which will launch emerging ideas and programmatic evolutions in the multigenerational learning space.

Learn more about the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust

Dollar General Literacy Foundation

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation began partnering with NCFL in 2006. A signature effort of this partnership is the National Literacy Directory, a resource that launched in 2010 and strives to guide potential students and volunteers to literacy services, community education programs, and testing centers in their communities.

The National Literacy Directory contains over 10,000 educational agencies located across the United States and has a dedicated toll-free number to help support those wanting to pursue educational opportunities in their communities.

Dollar General also provides support for development of NCFL’s innovative family learning resources centered on financial literacy and Parent and Child Together (PACT) Time®.

Learn more about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation

PNC Grow Up Great

PNC Grow Up Great believes deeply in the power of high-quality early childhood education and provides innovative opportunities that assist families, educators and community organizations to enhance children's learning and development.

PNC Grow Up Great has partnered with NCFL since 1994, most recently in Louisville, Kentucky, to support Say & Play with Words, our pre-Kindergarten vocabulary-building initiative.

NCFL's work is also featured on the PNC Grow Up Great Lesson Center website. The Lesson Center includes over 100 free, high-quality preschool lesson plans and research-based instructional techniques and strategies. All lesson plans contain Home/School Connections printouts, in English and Spanish, to help families extend and reinforce the learning at home.

Learn more about PNC Grow Up Great

U.S. Department of Education

Initiated through the U.S. Department of Education in 2018, the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) program provides 12 grantees and 13 states with five-year, $5 million grants to promote and implement systemic evidenced-based family engagement strategies. NCFL was selected to lead SFECs in two states, Arizona and Nebraska, and is a primary partner for two other SFECs in Kentucky and Maryland/Pennsylvania. 

The SFECs work to support family engagement through state- and local-level agencies while providing both professional development to school districts and direct services to families related to children’s academic outcomes and overall well-being.

Learn more about the U.S. Department of Education

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

NCFL was named a recipient of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s "Voices for Economic Opportunity Grand Challenge," which seeks to elevate diverse voices in order to broaden the conversation about the issues inhibiting economic mobility and generate deeper awareness along with actionable understanding. NCFL will develop and launch a podcast series that will highlight the remarkable stories of low-income, diverse families across the U.S. who have improved their communities through Family Service Learning.

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