The Empowerment Project: The Early Childhood Community as Agents of Change Sylvia Kennedy-Godin October 2, 2019

The Empowerment Project is a FREE professional development series designed to help you: STRENGTHEN your voice, EXPAND your leadership skills, ADVOCATE for children and early educators, and BECOME an agent of change. Let’s Grow Kids is excited to bring Lisa Guerrero M.Ed. and Ellen Drolette from Positive Spin to the Upper Valley to present this innovative training. This project aims to infuse the public with revolutionary approaches to overcoming some of early childhood’s biggest challenges. Guided by the work of top leaders in the field of educational and systems change, inspired by the use of appreciative inquiry principles, and shaped by the collective wisdom of the participants involved, we generate a shared vision for our communities and use a social innovations lab model to design creative solutions to addressing the early childhood issues that impact our everyday lives. The Empowerment Project: The Early Childhood Community as Agents of Change supports the development of systems thinking and activates diverse community stakeholders to engage in positive social change for children and families. Over the course of the series, we work with early childhood communities to: Cultivate Hope by highlighting the community’s strengths and contributions, inviting people to identify as leaders and as advocates, and helping individuals and organizations reconnect to their sense of purpose. Build A Stronger Community by promoting and practicing systems thinking, examining biases and assumptions, defining a common ground, and engaging communities in developing a shared vision for the future. Embrace Uncertainty by exploring our relationship to individual and organizational change and reflecting on the common barriers to change, reframing problems as opportunities, and activating an effort for positive social change. Reimagine Power Dynamics by helping people identify their role in the early childhood system, supporting the building of alliances across sectors, providing a platform for participants to pitch action plans to local and state policy and decision makers, and flooding the public with motivated change makers and innovative ideas.