Scale & Sustain
Promotores model & Providers Collective
Outcome Area: Kindergarten Readiness
Strategy Origin:
In 2017-2018, Eastside Pathways did extensive research based on disaggregated data from WaKIDS by conducting in depth focus groups with POC communities. The WaKids results on Kindergarten Readiness for children of color (especially Latine/Hispanic) drove the need for further root cause analysis on the experiences of the community and whether they felt supported as their children enter Kindergarten. Parental stress due to lack of sense of belonging, knowledge about services and confidence to navigate systems were each uplifted as key factors through extensive community dialogue. In 2018, Eastside Pathways sponsored and supported the Promotores training for Community leaders in East King County. Promotores is a long-standing program formalizing the authority of community members to become liaisons between their community and service providers. One of our Latine community leaders and advocates led this effort through their organization called NISO Programs focused on empowering families and caregivers through family visits from Promotores. In addition to offering personalized support to families by the Promotores, Eastside Pathways convened Early Learning Providers on an ongoing basis to share accountability on listening to the feedback from the community, and reviewing current systems with a commitment to modify systems to be equitable to the focus population.
Learn more:
https://eastsidepathways.org/can-early-learning/
https://eastsidepathways.org/niso-eastside-pathways-training-community-members-become-agents-change/
https://eastsidepathways.org/eelfbsk-project-update/
What is the Strategy?
An active collaboration and shared accountability between Early Learning Providers (system leaders) and Community leaders (Promotores) to better support families and children preparing to enter Kindergarten, ensuring families have the power and resources to navigate systems to best support the thrival of their children.
This strategy has two aspects:
- Promotores Model where community leaders (who share lived experience with families) support families through family visits- trust building, deepening sense of belonging and confidence by sharing information about current services and supports with families through family visits and gathering feedback on the current state of services.
- Providers Collective: forum of cross-sectoral Providers- sharing best practices, building strong relationships with Community & Community leaders (Promotores), modifying individual systems based on feedback to better serve and support our families and children entering Kindergarten.
What does this Strategy aim to improve?
As a result of this strategy, families and children have an increased sense of belonging and confidence in navigating systems to better support their children entering Kindergarten. Ultimately, the aim is to improve Kindergarten Readiness for all black and brown children entering Kindergarten supporting their thrival to and through Elementary school in East King County.
Audience for Adoption
- Community leaders of color looking to support families from your community using the Promotores model.
Next steps for Providers Collective:
- Early Learning Providers looking to join the Providers Collective, please contact Sandy Nathan.
- Collective meets bi-monthly (once every two months) meetings share best practices with cross-sectoral partners.
