“I wish I had known about this!” 

A new resource developed by FCSN and MASFEC aims to eliminate this expression of regret from families’ vocabularies. 

The new School Finder Project helps families access information about educational opportunities while partnering with schools and organizations to to promote language access.

Our talented team of bilingual professionals speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Haitian Creole, Mandarin Chinese, and Vietnamese - and interpretation is available in 150 more languages. We offer:

• A multi-language phone line for families
• Workshops and trainings for families, in six languages
• Consultation and training to support culturally responsive family engagement 

We strive to be a resource to schools, community organizations and families - complementing local efforts and offering tools and strategies that expand capacity.

Learn more at fcsn.org/schoolfinder, email SchoolFinder@fcsn.org, or give us a call!

1 (800) 208-2242  

• English – Option 1
• Spanish – Option 2
• Haitian-Creole & French – Option 3
• Portuguese – Option 4
• Chinese – Option 5
• Vietnamese – Option 6
• All Other Languages – Option 8

Check out this article from Edutopia by Monisha Bajaj with tips for helping newly arrived English language learners feel welcome. She suggests educators:

1. Understand who your students are.

2. Make students feel welcome.

3. Take a trauma-informed approach.

and our favorite tip...

4. Engage families

On October 28, nearly 500 people gathered to share, learn, and celebrate the impact of Family Engagement on children and youth. The Better Together Family Engagement summit, organized by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, was a huge success

Read our blog post celebrating this inspiring event!

Gender is loosely defined as a spectrum of identities ranging from masculine to feminine. Gender is about how we identify, not what we look like or what the world tells us that we ought to be. Yet, studies show that children internalize gender stereotypes as early as two to three years old.

In her latest blog post, our writer-in-residence Mathangi Subramanian, Ed.D shares some advice on talking about gender.

Offered in partnership with the National Association of Family-School-Community Engagement, Reframing Academy will teach you how to change the way people think about family engagement. This intensive seminar offers research-backed communication strategies that build awareness and support for support for equity-driven and coordinated family engagement.

Contact Rosalie Rippey at rrippey@fcsn.org for more information.

Learn more about Reframing Academy

or

Register for Reframing Today!

Join MASFEC for an in-depth exploration of the Massachusetts statewide framework for family engagement and learn how to bring this training back into your school, district, organization or community.

MAFEC’s three-day Training of Trainers (ToT) will be offered three times in English and one time in Spanish this school year.

December 7th, 8th, & 9th, 1-4pm – in Spanish

February 8th, 9th, & 10th, 1-4pm – in English

March 15th, 16th, & 17th, 1-4pm – in English

Learn more and register for Strengthening Partnerships here

Special Education Surrogate Parents (SESPs) use their knowledge of the IEP process to support students whose parents are unable to do so. If you want to make a difference in the life of a student in your community, consider becoming a SESP today!

Learn more about becoming a SESP here. 

The Family TIES Parent-to-Parent Program brings together families of children with disabilities to offer support and understanding. The program is seeking volunteers with children under the age of ten and those who are bilingual to learn more about the program.

For more details of our Parent-to-Parent Matching Program register for the upcoming Listening and Learning session here.