We Stories

Our unique Family Learning Program uses children's literature as a basis for stimulating discussion, community building, and action. We serve families of children from birth to age ten with diverse children's books, resources for parents, and access to a supportive community committed to anti-racism and decreasing inequality. We equip parents to talk about race with their children and pursue meaningful change within the institutions they most regularly influrence: schools, m=neighborhoods, workplaces and places of worship. In 2020-2021, three full 12-week sessions of the Family Learning Program (FLP) served 345 families and more than 641 children. All families received access to resources and guided curriculum for parents, a community of engaged families, and on-ramps for advocacy and actin, a launch event, a closing event, and facilitated workshops in between. Families receive guided book lists that can be purchased, watched online, or checked out from a library or library app. We deepened our partnership with both an evaluation strategy consultant and three national researchers who study racial identity development, racial bias formation, and cognitive psychology. Our Advocacy Builders Program continues to support the community of families who have already completed the Family Learning Program. In the 2020-2021 year, over 100 parents engaged with this program that utilizes a social determinants of health framework with four main domains: Healthcare, Education, Neighborhood & Built Environment, and Economic Stability. We conducted listening and feedback sessions as well as talked with community partners. We supported the leadership of several school equity groups in St. Louis area districts who are seeking to advance equity policy and practice in their school communities. We also sharpened our theory of change and evaluation strategy focused on ongoing behavior change for our families. We supported the growing advocacy efforts of our community members who were organizing to support regional change initiatives and strengthened our own facilitation materials and training to deepen the skill and capacity of our ongoing family facilitators.