Oakland, CA
June 24, 2013
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Call-in number is (914)
339-0024 and access
code is 194-101-880.
To submit live questions,
click on the “Questions”
panel, type your question,
and click “Send”
Presentation materials and
audio will be posted at
www.cacollegepathways.org
b2b Learning Community
b2b
learning community is a
college/CBO partnership between Beyond
Emancipation and Laney College, Extended
Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) to
support current and former foster youth to enter,
persist and succeed in post-secondary education.
Currently a cohort of 25, b2b students receive up
to two years social, emotional and academic
support.
b2b Learning Community
Beyond Emancipation
Beyond Emancipation’s (B:E) mission is to support
Alameda County’s current and former foster and
probation youth to make successful transitions to
adulthood and living independently. B:E’s programs
focus on the areas in which current and former
foster youth need the most support and have the
most potential to help them achieve self-sufficiency:
housing, education and career development.
b2b Learning Community
Extended Opportunity Programs and
Services (EOPS)
Laney College’s Extended Opportunity Programs and
Services (EOPS) is a state-funded program whose
primary goal is to encourage the enrollment, retention
and transfer of urban students. EOPS is committed to
the development of the intrinsic agency of students
through the acknowledgement of the challenges they
face, and facilitate the successful completion of their
goals and objectives in college. EOPS offers academic
and support counseling, financial aid and other
support services.
b2b Learning Community
What is purpose of b2b?
• Nurture students’ belief in their ability to be
successful scholars and professionals (academic
identity; hope for the future)
• Achieve better persistence and completion outcomes
within community college
• Create pathways to certificate programs, college
completion and meaningful, livable wage work
b2b Learning Community
Roles of Partners
The collaboration supports students comprehensively
by merging two institutional areas of expertise: Social
Services and Academic Support.
• BE’s coaching/case management approach connects
youth to resources; promotes their self awareness;
and supports them to problem-solve barriers to
educational success, develop skills and build
community
• EOPS offers academic support in the form of
financial assistance, academic counseling, peer
advising, student agency development
b2b Learning Community
Goals and Objectives
• Support foster youth attain their educational goals
• Develop agency and leadership among foster youth at
Laney College
• Ensure participants have financial, practical and
emotional support needed to enter, persist and
complete 2-year degree
• Support students to build skills, experience and
relationships needed to sustain a healthy trajectory
b2b Learning Community
Goals and Objectives, continued
• Facilitate reform that results in greater campus
responsiveness and sensitivity to foster youth
• Develop inter-agency collaboration between
community based organization and community college
• Identify professional development opportunities and
increase institutional responsibility
b2b Learning Community
Transactional and Transformational Design
Elements
• Support to navigate the complicated college entrance
and financing process
• 1 week campus based summer orientation
• 4-semester dynamic cohort; 1 cohort class per
semester
• Paid campus and community based internships
• Academic counseling and tutoring
• Intensive 1:1 coaching/case management
b2b Learning Community
Design Elements, continued
• Social activities during school break
• Assistance with financial aid and school fees
• Food pantry
• Laptop loner program
• Cohort coaching
• Graduation and transfer assistance
b2b Learning Community
Cohort Coaching emphasizes team
building and peer coaching skills
and supports students to:
• develop an increasing sense of
choice and perspective
• consider the impact of their
choices on their future goals
• increase their relational capacity
to support one another and build
community.
b2b Learning Community
Student Outcomes:
• Institutional Connection: how well are b2b
participants connected behaviorally to college?
(i.e. class attendance, preparation etc.)
• Interpersonal connection: how well are b2b
participants connected affectively to college?
(e.g. relationships with staff, instructors, peers;
belonging, etc)
b2b Learning Community
Student Outcomes:
• Academic Identity: does student academic identity
change and how is it related to academic success?
(e.g. importance of college; consider self good
student)
• Academic Persistence/Completion: do b2b
participants persist and complete? (e.g. course
completion, college degree, transfer to 4-year
college, employment, etc)
b2b Learning Community
Program Data
At the end of the 2012-2013 academic year:
• 20 current & former foster & probation
youth were active in b2b (24 started in fall)
• 7 students completed 2 full years in the
program; 2 of the 7 graduated with their AA
degrees
• 4 of the 7 completing students are
continuing at Laney; 2 are transferring to a 4year university and 1 is looking for full time
employment with her AA degree
• The 13 students who completed 1 year of the
program are continuing in b2b during the
2013/2014 school year
b2b Learning Community
Important Features
• B:E serves as a front door into Laney; and Laney
serves as doorway into B:E
• Significant investment of time for cultural exchange:
language and culture of community-based
organizations and academic institutions
• Both partners bring resources
• B:E staff based 2/3 time on campus
• Dedicated classroom space for convening cohort
• Program supports for the whole person: coaching,
mindfulness, community building, etc.
b2b Learning Community
Now What??!!
As the program matures, we are engaged in the
following:
• Address challenges related to sustainability: adequate
allocation of resources to institutionalize b2b within
Laney College
• Address challenges related to scale: balance need for
intensive support with available resources
• Data-driven, evidence-based outcomes and evaluation:
integrating data across institutions
• Broaden collaboration to include foundations, other
CBO’s, CSU’s, UC’s, etc.
b2b Learning Community
Q&A
b2b Learning Community
www.ahomewithin.org
www.fosteringrelationships.org
Relationship-Based Practices™
Trainings to support the emotional well-being of
foster youth and those who care for them
A Home Within www.ahomewithin.org
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A Home Within is a national organization that provides pro bono mental health
services to current and former foster youth.
We achieve this by building networks of volunteer mental health professionals who
provide direct, pro bono services and professional training.
Our work also promotes public awareness and advocates for the emotional needs
of foster youth.
www.ahomewithin.org www.fosteringrelationships.org
The single most
important factor
influencing a positive
outcome for
children and youth is a
lasting
relationship with
a caring,
attuned adult.
A Home Within www.ahomewithin.org
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Relationships
• Many foster youth have learned that
relationships are
 Temporary
 Hurtful
 Frightening
• They incorporate this into their view of
themselves and others.
• Relationships beget relationships.
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Relationships
• Some of these ideas can be confirmed in our
current system:
 High turnover
 Unmanageable caseloads
 Interpretations of behavior
o Disavowal of importance
o Not ready=Resistant
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A Home Within: Theoretical approaches
Over the years we have learned the value of individualizing trainings for specific populations. We
have drawn on and integrated an array of approaches to develop theory-rich and practical
applications.
Relevant Theoretical Approaches
• Attachment Theory
• Psychodynamic Theory
• Trauma Theory
• Theory of Mind
• Developmental Theory
• Transitions Framework
25% will find themselves incarcerated
Relationship-Based Practices
• Relationship-Based Practices focuses on 8 factors,
key to effective intervention with foster youth:
 Engagement
 Environment
 Empathy
 Egocentrism
 Enthusiasm
 Evidence
 Endurance
 Extending
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Engagement
Engagement
• Being completely present
• Accepting the full range of the client’s feelings
• Attending to what is in the client’s mind
Interference with Engagement
• External restrictions on the relationship
• Fear of being overwhelmed by the client’s
feelings or story
• Imposing one’s own feelings or story into the
relationship
Supporting Engagement
• Using empathy to understand the client
• Specifically keeping the client in mind
• Anticipating disengagement
Environment
Environment
• Family, peers, community
• Therapeutic space
• Power-imbalance
Environmental Impediments
• Culture does not support healthy relationships
• Lack of awareness of personal biases
• “Taking it personally”
Environmental Supports
• Consistent time and place to meet
• Caregiver/community approval
• Explicit attention to similarities/differences in
the relationship
Empathy
Empathy
• Understanding the feelings of another
• Meeting of the minds
• Acceptance rather than correction
Empathic Interference
• Preoccupation with one’s own mind and
experiences
• Psychic numbness
• Sympathy
Supports for Empathy
• Open-mindedness
• Listening more than talking
• Capacity to reflect and correct
Egocentrism
Egocentrism
• Honors the individual
• Client-centered relationship
• Self-absorption as a consequence of trauma
Interference with Egocentrism
• Imposition of externally established goals
• Impatience
• Need for validation
Egocentric supports
• Explicit attention to client’s strengths and
challenges
• Client-defined goals
• Steadfast hopefulness
Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm
• Curiosity
• Active listening
• Showing up is half the battle
Dampening Enthusiasm
• Necessary, but mind-deadening, repetitions
• Attacks on competence
• External undermining of relationship
Supports for Enthusiasm
• Breakthroughs—even small ones
• Intellectual rigor
• Professional camaraderie
Evidence
Evidence
• Incorporates professional standards
• Demands attention to what happens in the
relationship in the moment
• Integrates a wide range of information
Concealing Evidence
• Over reliance of the expertise of others
• Loss of attention
• Ignoring information that doesn’t fit
Uncovering Evidence
• Stay current in the field
• Look and listen
• Embrace mistakes
Endurance
Endurance
• Put on your oxygen mask first
• Appreciate small steps
• The journey may be as important as the
destination
Diminishing Endurance
• Going it alone
• Keeping your eye on the prize
• Overlooking injuries
Promoting Endurance
• Find a trainer
• Attend to your thoughts and feelings
• Respect your limits
Extending
Extending
• Internal relationships continue beyond
interpersonal interactions
• Healthy relationships absorb changes
• Forewarned is forearmed
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Hampering Extending
• Intolerance of inconsistency
• Externally imposed changes
• Fear of ending
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Enhancing Extending
• Be creative.
• Let memory serve.
• We build A Home Within to keep others with
us.
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Tailored Training
Trainings can be tailored to meet the needs of a wide range of groups working within different
time constraints.
We can offer half-day, full-day and more extended trainings. To reinforce and extend learning, we
highly recommend that key staff participate in two 1 ½ hour follow up sessions, which can be done
in person or via video conferencing.
Depending on the size of the group and the time available, presentations vary from being largely
didactic with time for Q&A to those that allow significant time for small group discussions.
Elaborated Training Description:
Fostering Transitions
Fostering Transitions
Foster youth experience constant change and chronic loss and yet, are rarely provided the opportunity to process
transition. They are asked to pack their bags, change schools, leave counselors, and make new friends – without looking
back. Fostering Transitions is a free, web-based program that provides staff working with foster youth a framework through
which to process change. Grounded in attachment theory and the Transitions Framework, this program condenses
research- and theory-based principles into easily accessible and usable tools for staff.
Learning Objectives:
• Participants will be able to describe the reason that saying “goodbye” is essential to the process of moving forward.
• Participants will be able to name the four stages of a successful transition.
• Participants will be able to identify a change in their lives and the way it began a transitional process.
Learning Objectives:
• Participants will be able to identify symptoms and risks of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma.
• Participants will be able to name three methods to help prevent burnout and turnover.
• Participants will be able to navigate the Fostering Relationships website to access tools to support them in their work.
Fostering Relationships: Resources
Trainings include an introduction to Fostering Relationships, the knowledgesharing platform that houses curricula designed to support staff and
volunteers working with foster children, youth, and young adults.
• Fostering Transitions
A curriculum that targets the special interests of youth leaving foster care.
• Identity
A curriculum to support identity formation.
• Working Well
A curriculum to help youth transition into and succeed in the workplace.
• Fostering Art
A curriculum that uses photography and writing to promote self-expression
and exploration.
Fostering Relationships: Resources
Trainings continued:
• Nurturing Parents
A curriculum designed for young parents in the foster care system.
• Sense Abilities
A curriculum to support parent-child relationships that focuses on
connecting through the senses during every day, typical parent-child
interactions.
• Vital Touch
A curriculum that captures the essence of infant massage in simple-to-use
activities for parents and caregivers.
Fostering Relationships: Resources
Trainings continued:
• Mindful Body
A curriculum that integrates mindfulness and relaxation techniques.
• Self Care
A curriculum to encourage and support staff in caring for themselves so that
they can care for others.
www.ahomewithin.org
www.fosteringrelationships.org
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