Summer Institute on Early Childhood Development

Engaging Families and Community in Early Years Programs

Thursday, June 4, 2009
OISE [New location]
252 Bloor St. West [map]
Toronto, ON M5S 1V6

Morning Workshops

1. Supporting Aboriginal Families with Young Children:

   This workshop will provide an overview of Aboriginal Families and how research and practice can be more inclusive of this perspective.
   
   Kim Kirkley, Manager Early Learning Programs, Native Child & Family Services

2. Listening to Families
   
   

   This workshop presents findings from a research project that demonstrates service providers' effective strategies to more fully understand the values and priorities of Ontario's diverse families.
   
   Mehrunissa Ali, Professor, School of Early Childhood, Ryerson University

3. Queer Families in Early Years Programs
   
   This workshop highlights the growing number of LGBTTQ-led families with young children and their particular interests. It will also provide an overview of the Gay/Bi/Queer Fathers Research Cluster of the pan-Canadian Father Involvement Research Alliance (FIRA) coordinated through the University of Guelph.  We will discuss implications for educators and researchers.
   
   Chris Veldhoven, Queer Parenting Programs Coordinator, 519 Community Centre
   
   
4. Partnerships With Families
   
   Using a variety of resources, this workshop will explore how educators can move beyond the occasional pot-luck event to creating a respectful and meaningful partnership with families and the benefits and challenges of these partnerships.
   
   Lynn Wilson, Professor, School of Early Childhood, George Brown College
   
   
5. Peel Best Start –Research and Evaluation Project
   
   

   This session highlights the partners’ commitment, collaboration and movement toward early years integration in Peel. The research and evaluation presentation for Peel’s Best Start initiative will include an overview of the evaluation methodology and the preliminary results of impact on children, parents and early learning staff teams.
   
   
   Rose Asta, Academic Consultant, Early Years/ELL, Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board
   Caron Bell, Ph.D. Candidate, Developmental Psychology and Education, OISE/UT, Researcher-Best Start Peel Research
   Lisa Pecarski – Program Research Specialist, Early Years Integration, Region of Peel
   Janette Pelletier, Ph.D., Institute of Child Study, OISE/UT, Principal Investigator Best Start Peel – Research

Afternoon Workshops:

6. Sewing the Integration Quilt
   
   This workshop will analyze how the Toronto Vision for Children builds on the Best Start Strategy by strengthening, enhancing and building on and integrating existing programs and services. This vision provides a framework for how to best organize and integrate services with the goal of improved outcomes for children.
   
   Pat Evans, Manager, Children's Programs, LAMP Community Health, Centre/OEYC Etobicoke-Lakeshore
   Karen Guthrie, Best Start Coordinator, Toronto Children’s Services
   Saba Mir, Ph.D. Candidate, OISE/UT
   Pam Musson, Program Manager, Toronto Children's Services
   Marilyn Rodrigues-Wright, Senior Manager of Child Care, ARC and Nutrition, Toronto Catholic District School Board
   Fidelia Torres, Early Years Manager, Toronto District School Board
   
   
7. How Families and Early Childhood Educators Promote Early Learning and Development at George Brown Child Care Centres
   
   This workshop continues the story begun at last year’s Summer Institute on how Early Learning for Every Child Today is applied at George Brown College Child Care Centres.  This year we will describe how families and early childhood educators work together to document learning and development and plan curriculum.
   
   Marie Goulet, Professor, School of Early Childhood, George Brown College
   
   
8. Initiatives that support children and families
   
   This session will highlight the development and evaluation of effective parent engagement strategies in programs for children and families.  It will also provide an opportunity to discuss how we move from coordination to integration with an eye to establishing a more comprehensive early years framework for programs that serve parents.
   
   
   Dolores Cascone, Early Years Lead Teacher, Toronto Catholic District School Board
   Diane Daley, Director of Development and Programs, Family Day Care Services
   Catherine Moher, Manager, Gerrard Resource Centre
   
   
9. Coordinated Access to Multi-Sectoral Services – Making It Work for Children and their Families
   
   This workshop will provide a critical review of the multi-level developmental process and evaluation results of CITYKIDS and the strengths and challenges of an evolving network of 30 partner agencies across Toronto, working together to provide single-point coordinated access and service delivery system that works for children with special needs and their families and their families.
   
   Lisa Hong, Researcher, Early Child Development Programs, Mothercraft
   Maureen MacDonald, Director of Early Child Development Programs, Mothercraft
   
   
10. Father Involvement Research and Practice
    
    This session analyzes FIRA’s recent Community University Research Alliance project and research clusters including qualitative studies with seven distinct sub-populations with fathers: fathers of children with special needs, gay fathers, immigrant fathers, indigenous fathers, new fathers, separated and divorced fathers and young fathers.  The session will also link research development to government and employment policies affecting father involvement.
    
    John Hoffman, Communications Coordinator,  Father Involvement Research Alliance (FIRA)

Return to: Summer Institute 2009 Overview

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Revised: May 17, 2007