The Grantmakers for Children, Youth, and Families (GCYF) 2011 Annual Conference, What Counts and What Works: People, Practice, and Policy, will provide a forum for CYF grantmakers to explore not only the most pressing and emerging social, economic and environmental trends impacting children, youth and families, but the role that private philanthropy plays in lifting up the people in our communities to survive and thrive.
What Counts
Grantmakers in the children, youth, and family (CYF) sector are focused on what counts in improving the lives of communities – the people themselves:
- young children who grow up reflecting back to us the skills, resources, and opportunities we give them;
- youth wrestling with the pull of independence and becoming the thinkers and leaders of our future;
- parents and families struggling to give their children what they need to grow and thrive while striving for their own success and happiness; and,
- service providers and policymakers devoting their lives to expanding family strengths and enhancing systems of care.
What Works
CYF grantmakers are also engaged in learning what works, exploring:
- the role of research and data in building a continuum of practices and policies that empower families to engage in their communities and encourage communities to build strong networks of cross-sector supports for families;
- the continuum of practice improvement – the importance of each phase from emerging and promising practices to best practice –and going to scale with demonstrated effective practices;
- the flow of research and practice to inform policy – from organizational policies that impact practice to state and national legislature and mandates – and the opportunities for grantmakers to participate in that process; and
- the opportunity for, and importance of, networking and collaboration across funders, programs, agencies, and sectors to build an evidence base for what works for children, youth and families.
People, Practice and Policy
Through all of this, CYF grantmakers share a common understanding that the challenges many of our families face are an intricate web of related issues that cannot be addressed in silos. As such, grantmakers must lead with strategies that holistically reflect the people and communities we serve. This requires realistic and timely responses to changing demographics in our communities, taking hard looks at what works and what doesn’t for families, distilling lessons learned, examining the “whys” of successful programs and policies, and thoughtfully applying those successes to evolving populations and venues. This also requires assessing the systems and entities that serve communities - from private philanthropy and public services to the business and non-profit communities – and asking how we can work better together and across sectors to create seamless systems of family friendly services and programs.
The GCYF 2011 Annual Conference finds us at a crossroads between major opportunities of the recent past and the need to take a hard look at the future to determine what works for our diverse and rapidly changing communities. The 2010 Census will reveal important information on the characteristics of the people in our nation. Ongoing implementation of national efforts - such as health care reform, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – will continue to reveal important lessons learned about practice and policy. At the same time, mega-trends which will change the way people live in the future are building momentum: reforms being demanded and explored in immigration, and education; rapid changes in technology; demand for corporate and business accountability and responsibility for their communities; and environmental conditions necessitating exploration of “green” ways of doing business and “alternate” energy sources. Moreover, and most troubling, the divide between rich and poor in this country has reached an unprecedented level, with the gap between the wealthiest Americans and middle- and working-class Americans more than tripling in the past three decades.
The 2011 GCYF Annual Conference theme recognizes the supports that families and communities need to need to lift themselves up and thrive are becoming greater and more complex. Grantmakers in the children, youth, and family (CYF) sector are at the forefront of research, practice and policy initiatives to address the complex needs of young children, youth and parents, and improve their lives in the context of the communities in which they live and the systems that serve them.
A dynamic conference program will explore a wide range of strategies that can improve the lives of children, youth and families, such as research and data initiatives that inform a continuum of practice and policy, and collaboration among private grantmakers and public and private sectors to create seamless systems of family-friendly services and programs that level the playing field for vulnerable families and communities.
Conference sessions will explore key intersections between population, and place, such as: why place matters for vulnerable populations; how changing and increasing diversity in our communities will or should inform practice and policy; and what lessons can be learned from family and community strengthening initiatives such as the Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods. Conference sessions will also explore critical cross-cutting trends and strategies, such as the impact that shifts in political leadership and public will can have on grantmakers, grantees, and their communities; and how families and communities can be engaged to build momentum for making the well-being of children and families a local, state, and national priority.
Grantmakers attending the conference will be challenged to consider: the critical role they play in identifying and validating what counts and what works in their programs and communities and communicating that to diverse audiences; and the importance of sharing and applying lessons learned to be shape responsive and responsible philanthropic strategies to more effectively meet the changing needs of communities.