Building Connections with INTENT

“Parents are not accidentally involved, but intentionally involved.”

-Dr. Siddle Walker, Emory College

Families are essential stakeholders to the success of a school. Deep and meaningful family engagement can be transformative to building a school community that feels inclusive and relevant.  Some essential elements needed to build strong family relationships include open communication, trust and welcoming spaces. Once those essential elements are in place you can build upon creating spaces for families to meaningfully take part in their child's learning and building bonds with one another. This resource is intended to provide one of many forms of programming that can be helpful in deepening family connection and relationships.  

The INTENT Framework was developed in order to help families to come together, share perspectives and engage in community building activities that allow for them to connect to their child’s experience in school and develop deep relationships with one another. If your school or community currently hosts family art making, game nights, book talks or similar events this framework is a helpful tool that can support depth of relationships and engagement. It is a new way to think about engaging families that dismantles power dynamics and prioritizes human connection. 

INTENT programming can be added to the menu of opportunities available for families. To learn more about the INTENT framework in practice and building deep family engagement sign up for our workshop, Engaging Families in Schools: Innovative Approaches to Community Building here.