June 2023

St. Louis Region 13 Community Leader Approach

Helping area families ensure their children are safe, healthy, and ready to learn!

Ready Communities

Are you a professional in the St. Louis area who supports children and families?

The Office of Childhood Early Connections website has resources designed for improving your practice.

One of the strategies identified is to follow a strengths-based approach to supporting children. Being strengths-based means we focus on a child's strengths to help build their skills and support well-being.

A few key ways to start using this approach are-

• Identify what a child naturally focuses on
• Identify what a child does well
• Identify what a child works hard at doing

Being strengths-based allows us to focus on the progress happening and help children build upon that progress to reach goals. The progress is what is noticed and celebrated in a strengths-based approach!

Ready Families

Strengthening Families is a nationally recognized approach to ensuring families have what they need to be successful. One of the keys to family success is having access to resources in times of need.

Have you heard that the St. Louis County Library is adding social workers who are ready to support families for success?

This innovative approach aligns well with recommendations provided by families in St. Louis!

In our listening sessions across the region families identified the library as a local space they feel comfortable and confident going to and asking for resources!

Way to go St. Louis County library for listening to family need and supporting success! Learn more about St. Louis Community Resources program HERE.



Ready Schools

The MO definition of school readiness shares that schools must be ready to support "scaffolding of the learning to support all children".

Scaffolding is a component of a strengths based learning approach where teachers 1) show children something new, 2) teachers help children with the new skill, and 3) the children show what they learned.

This approach allows teachers to support individual children's knowledge and development and make the activity or topic relatable to what the children know and do well.

Understanding and navigating the school system can seem daunting but there are supports to help us all understand the importance of school and how we support our children in school.

One local St. Louis resource that helps ensure families and caregivers understand and can navigate the school system is U and I Rise created by Bolanle Ambonisye. Learn from U and I Rise about their Healthy School and Home Connection series.

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