“I raise up my voice - not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard…We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.” 

— Malala Yousafzai

Welcome to the April 2022 edition of the NOW Innovation Forum Newsletter. We are excited to share and announce new opportunities, tools, and resources with you this month. Thank you for your commitment to children, families, and communities and for joining us as we journey through another year together.

Bienvenido a la edición de julio de 2022 del boletín informativo del Foro de innovación NOW.

Nos complace compartir y anunciar nuevas oportunidades, herramientas y recursos este mes. Gracias por su compromiso para promover el bienestar de los niños, las familias y las comunidades  mientras viajamos a través de otro año juntos.

Special Invitation

The recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Ruling of the United State Supreme Court will have an immense impact on individuals, families, and communities.  Reproductive justice and access to community resources and services are key to advancing health equity and supporting the wellbeing of children, families, and communities.  Our work as a network is rooted in centering, honoring, and respecting the dignity of all children and families. As we continue to take ownership of defining what thriving looks like in our communities, we invite you to join us and other network leaders in a conversation about what these decisions mean for you, the families you partner with, uplift, and support, as well as share resources to support collective actions underway.

Please share via blog or other social media how your community is activating to protect and uplift the dignity of children and families.  We would love to highlight your stories of collective action across the network. What does your work look like on the ground?  What actions are you taking? How are local leaders in your community uniting for their own needs?

We’ve begun to compile some tools, resources, and statements from our partners that may support you on your journey in this work to protect birthing people.  We welcome additional tools and resources to share across Vital Village Networks.

Network Highlights and Updates

News, Opportunities, and Resources Across the Village

• Congratulations to NOW Learning Community Member Diane Haulcy on beginning a new role as the President and CEO of The Family Partnership this month! 

• Get ready for CHILD’s (Centre for Holistic Initiatives for Learning and Development) second webinar!  The second webinar of the 2022 series will feature a panel discussion on ‘No time to waste: Testing, trailing and evaluating in Early Childhood Settings’ and is happening on 12 August, 10 – 11am SGT/12 – 1pm AEST.  We are delighted to have on the panel Ms. Samantha Page, Chief Executive Officer, Early Childhood Australia and Associate Professor Kenneth Poon, Co-Director, Centre for Research in Child Development. This session will be hosted by NUS Visiting Associate Professor, Robyn Mildon.

  • You can register for the webinar here: https://bit.ly/RegisterHere-12Aug-CHILD 

  • Speaker profiles and webinar program are found here: https://bit.ly/BioandProgramme-12Aug 

• The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and the National Infant-Toddler Court Program (ITCP) at ZERO TO THREE released a new resource Grounding Family and Child Well-Being Policies and Systems in Anti-Racist Principles and Strategies. This brief highlights principles and strategies that if implemented with an intentional focus on advancing equity and responding to communities, can support infant and toddler well-being and strengthen families with young children, consequently, preventing involvement in child welfare and other deep-end systems.

• University of South Florida M3 Center on Inclusive and Ethical Leadership:  Free course features 40 TEDx style sessions (10-30 mins) from 50+ experts from all corners of the world covering cutting-edge research and best practices under 8 sections. This is a self-paced, free course in which the participants can start any time and finish by December 31, 2022. 

  • Please watch a short tutorial that shows you how to register and enroll in this free course: https://app.knowmia.com/sppK . If you have any questions, please email us at certificate@academiacentralmooc.org 

#VillageinMind

The NOW community hopes to stay connected and lift up the work and stories of all of our members. Follow and tag us on Twitter, @NOW_WellChild & @Vital_Village, so that we can virtually highlight the community led transformation you are leading.