Children and families benefit the most when early care and education programs work with them to build and sustain authentic and engaging partnerships. To achieve authentic engagement, we must shift the focus from basic family involvement to building and nurturing rich and collaborative partnerships with families. This session will review recent research in family engagement, examine ways to implement family-centered principles in early care and education programs, and focus on how administrators and families can make the shift from involvement to engagement.

Creating custom graphics and content can be intimidating. We’ll walk you through the process on Canva, a user-friendly and free software that allows you to be your own graphic designer! This session will show you the ins and outs of the website, its capabilities, and other resources to help you explore the opportunities of Canva.