EARLY LEARNING HUB IMPLEMENTATION RESOURCES:
COMMUNICATIONS & COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP
Oregon Department of Education
Early Learning Division
2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Communications and Community Partnership: Introduction ........................................................ 3
Instructions: Organizational Communications Strategy ................................................................. 6
Organizational Communications Strategy .................................................................................. 8
Instructions: Community Partnership Strategy ............................................................................ 11
Community Partnership Strategy ............................................................................................. 12
10 Principles of Authentic Community Engagement .................................................................... 16
Internal Communications Checklist .............................................................................................. 17
Community Partnership Hexagon ................................................................................................. 19
Equity & Cultural Responsiveness Self-Assessment ..................................................................... 20
Reference: Reducing Disparities: 10 Racial Equity Strategy Areas for Improving Outcomes for
African-American Children in Child Welfare
Reference: A Call for Change: A Preliminary Blueprint to Improve Educational Excellence and
Opportunity for African American Males in Urban Public Schools
Reference: Community Planning Toolkit: Community Engagement
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COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP
Purpose of this chapter
Strong communication is the foundation for trusting relationships, which are vital for achieving our
shared objectives and improving outcomes for our children.
To communicate effectively across your network of partners, families, leaders and communities, we
recommend building an organizational communications strategy using your Hub’s vision statement that
is propelled by your strengths and values. This strategy should promote your work, which depends on
active investment and meaningful involvement of the families and communities you serve. For this
reason, this chapter also provides tools for planning a community partnership strategy that goes
beyond interfacing and informing to building real and meaningful partnership. At the end of this
chapter, you will find equity tools to help ensure that you reach every part of your community.
Together, the tools in this chapter can help your Hub

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Focus your work, ensuring no one is excluded from its benefits;
Establish meaningful and sustainable partnerships with all the communities you serve; and
Stay accountable to the communities you serve and to the participants in your collaboration.
How to approach this chapter
First, review the Organizational Communications Strategy and Community Partnership Strategy
Instructions with relevant partners. If you decide the tools will benefit your overall strategy, you can
complete them as is, or you can customize them to meet your needs. Next, identify what information
and what people you will need to create these strategies. Ensure everyone involved understands the
value of these guiding documents and how your Hub plans to use them.
As you create your strategies, you may want to refer to the supporting documents in this chapter. Some
will directly inform what might go into your strategies, and some will help you stay accountable to
what’s in them once complete. The Community Engagement Toolkit, for example, includes planning
tips, quality standards and suggestions for engaging with communities in meaningful ways. The 10
Principles of Authentic Community Engagement can help your teams focus on making that engagement
truly meaningful, and the Equity and Cultural Responsiveness Self-Assessment will help you make sure
your work is accessible and responsive to the needs of all Oregon’s kids receiving your services and
support.
Tools in this chapter
While the tools in this chapter are usable and valuable on their own, they will most effectively support
your work if used together. In this chapter you will find the following:
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
Organizational Communications Strategy
This is a document you craft with team members and relevant partners to guide the way you
interact with your stakeholders. If you choose to use it, your communications strategy can help
you define messaging, clarify roles, expedite good work, mitigate conflict and unite efforts to
improve outcomes for our kids.

Community Partnership Strategy
The community partnership strategy is a branch of the communications strategy. It is driven by
the understanding that meaningful and sustainable community relationships are vital to your
work. This strategy can help keep you accountable to and focused on achieving and maintaining
those kinds of relationships. A well-designed partnership strategy helps you make sure that your
relationship with the community is a true partnership and that everyone is included.

10 Principles of Authentic Community Engagement
These ten principles, designed by the KnowledgeWorks Foundation (Strive Cincinnati), remind us
that community engagement can no longer be simply a check-the-box focus group or panel
discussion. Engagement with communities must be substantive, mutually beneficial and
sustained. Hang this sheet around the office and share with your network and communities!

Communications Checklist
This checklist will help you test the quality and integrity of your communications strategy. It asks
questions of you and your partners to verify understanding across your collaborative.

Community Partnership Hexagon
This is a tool that you can complete once your communications and community partnership
strategies have been finalized. It functions as a quick-reference sheet to remind you, your
partners and communities of roles, opportunities and responsibilities.

Equity & Cultural Responsiveness Self-Assessment
This tool may be used by partners, service providers and your Hub to raise your awareness of,
and ability to compensate for, the systemic elements that contribute to inequity and injustice
for many of our children. It also helps to ensure that programs and services are giving every kid
the same best chance for success possible. The checklist is a quick way to identify opportunities
for improvement, and it will complement and support more in-depth equity training provided.

Strategies to Improve Racial Disparities
Included in this document are racial equity strategy areas (RESAs) for children and education.
Each strategy area includes context for greater perspective and standards and action steps for
practice and policy inclusion. Through concrete tactics, you will be supported in ensuring
equitable service delivery and measurement.
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
Blueprint for Excellence and Opportunities in Education
In this document, the nation’s leading urban school districts, academics and community activists
outline steps that schools and others should take to increase minority access to rigorous core
instruction, elevate the quality of education, strengthen personal and social supports needed to
bolster students’ achievement, and overturn low expectations. You’ll find guidance for your own
work in ensuring that all children are equally served.

Community Engagement Toolkit
This tool provides guidance for planning and designing community engagement. It focuses on
quality and effectiveness, tailored process planning, level of participation to be achieved, time
frame and range of stakeholders affected. This document will be very useful for developing your
community partnership strategy.
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INSTRUCTIONS: ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY
Your Hub’s communications strategy aligns closely with your organizational charter and is a vital
element to achieving your overarching objectives. Together, they can help your Hub:
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Clarify roles within your organization;
Expedite good work and mitigate conflict;
Maintain focus on your vision and goals in all activities;
Guide all interactions with communities, partners, the public, donors and participants; and
Define messaging.
Ineffective communication is a serious impediment to education collaboratives and can contribute to
their downfall. This tool will help you avoid those challenges and achieve success for your community’s
children and families.
When communicating with your audience, ask yourself:
Who should be involved?
To create an effective strategy that all partners can buy
into, your partners should be involved in its design. Your
Hub’s leaders will bring a unique and valuable perspective
to the table. Don’t forget to include parents and providers
in the design and review of your strategy.
Is my message passionate? Does it really show my
enthusiasm?
Is it accessible? Is it meaningful to all constituents?
Is it optimistic? Is it positive and forward looking?
Is it inspirational? Will it move someone to take action?
Is it credible? Will people believe me?
Is it accountable? Does it demonstrate our honesty and
trustworthiness?
Steps to designing a strong communications strategy
1. Before approaching your communications strategy, first complete your organizational charter.
The content, process and buy-in from partners will then make this task much smoother.
2. Survey the entire form and make sure that you and your partners understand what information
is needed to complete it. This will help focus your discussion. Depending on your partners and
time available, you may find it helpful to send out the form ahead of time so participants are
prepared to contribute.
3. Compile existing documents to help you build the strategy. Review the facilitation tools in this
package – they’re especially valuable for the more subjective pieces of your plan (objectives,
messaging, values, defining target communities, etc.) The Conversation Prep Chart and the
ORID Focused Conversation Facilitator in the Governance & Leadership chapter are useful tools
for enabling productive conversations.
4. Consider deliberately all the groups, people and communities you intend to serve and all of the
people who need to be aware of your activities. Consider their interests, how they best receive
information and how they might interact with and understand your Hub. Consider what your
Hub is capable of and what strategies might require external support.
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5. Conduct a thorough review with people who were not involved in the design. Test its plausibility
and effectiveness. Plan to use the Communications Checklist included in this package after the
strategy has been published and you have had time to assess its effectiveness with outside
stakeholders. Ensure that your strategy is culturally responsive.
6. Plan regular reviews and updates to the strategy with your partners. Write these dates into
action plans.
7. Share your final strategy as widely as appropriate, including with other Hubs across the state. Be
open to learning from one another to improve quality and outcomes.
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ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY
Organization name:
Participants in this strategy’s development:
Hub Description and Objectives:
This communications strategy must support your overall mission, objectives and activities. Describe them
here.
Current Situation and Background:
What has been accomplished so far from a communications point of view? How effective have previous
communications been?
Communications Principles:
What are the values and principles that you observe and promote in your daily communications, in the
office, across your network and with communities?
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Target Audience:
Describe your audience in terms of current behavior, level of awareness, level of knowledge, preferred
methods for receiving information, and potential barriers to accepting information.
Communication Objectives:
What do you hope to achieve as a result of your communications activities? How can communications
activities help you achieve the program/project objectives you’ve listed above? Clear, specific, realistic
and measurable objectives are key to a successful communications strategy.
Key Messaging:
When developing messaging for this audience, ask these questions: What do we want to change? What
do we want them to know/feel/do? Is it culturally responsive? How was the Equity Lens used in its
design?
Channels &
Methods
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Tools & Materials
Needed
Budget Available
Frequency/Deadline
Measurement of
Success
For each additional audience, complete a table below.
Target Audience:
Communication Objectives:
Key Messaging:
Channels &
Tools & Materials
Methods
Needed
Target Audience:
Communication Objectives:
Key Messaging:
Channels &
Tools & Materials
Methods
Needed
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Budget Available
Frequency/Deadline
Measurement of
Success
Budget Available
Frequency/Deadline
Measurement of
Success
INSTRUCTIONS: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY
Your Hub’s community partnership strategy is a branch of your communications strategy. It is driven by
the understanding that meaningful and sustainable community relationships are vital to your work.
Having a partnership strategy is important in keeping us all focused on achieving and maintaining those
kinds of relationships. A well-designed partnership strategy will help you ensure your relationship with
the community is a true partnership that includes everyone.
Who should be involved?
To create an effective strategy that everyone can buy into, your Hub leadership team, partners, and
parents and members of the communities you hope to reach should be involved in its design. This will
help ensure that your strategy aligns with your Hub’s mission and values, and that it will guide all actions
to engage and work cooperatively with communities.
Steps to designing a strong community partnership strategy
1. First complete your charter and communications strategy. Your partnership strategy will be
deeply informed by both of those documents and the collective thought that goes into writing
them. It will be very helpful to reference and distribute among participants the Community
Engagement Guide, the 10 Principles for Authentic Community Engagement included in this
package.
2. Survey the entire form and make sure all partners understand what information is required to
complete it. This will help focus your discussion. Depending on your partners and time available,
you may find it helpful to send out the form ahead of time so participants are prepared to
contribute.
3. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Much of this work will have been completed in your communications
strategy, so take what you can from there. You will be required to investigate your communities
more deeply, so allow time for this, and enable all partners to contribute.
4. Review the facilitation tools (Conversation Prep Chart, ORID Focused Conversation Facilitator,
etc.) in the Governance & Leadership chapter. They may be valuable in identifying the extent to
which different communities should be engaged in different decisions and processes.
5. Consider your capacity for engagement at various levels, and be sure to plan engagement on
equally meaningful levels for all communities you operate amongst and target, particularly
those traditionally underserved.
6. Plan regular reviews and updates and incorporate deadlines into your accountability to each
engagement tactic.
7. Refer to the 10 Principles of Authentic Community Engagement in your review.
8. Share your final strategy as widely as appropriate, including with other Hubs across the state. Be
open to learning from one another to improve quality and outcomes.
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COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY
This should be developed and updated with relevant partners, and aligned with your communications strategy.
Our mission statement and goals:
How have we defined the communities we aim to serve?
Community:
Geography
Consider boundaries and
range via accessible
transportation…
Demographics
Consider ethnic/racial
diversity, employment,
economic status, age,
families…
Access to Services
Consider school, health,
transportation, adult
education…
Values and Priorities
Consider health, economy,
education, recreation…
How have we defined other communities we operate amongst?
Community:
Geography
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Demographics
Access to Services
Values and Priorities
What are the assets and resources within each community for achieving our shared goals?
Based on their priorities and assets, in what decisions do community members need to be involved?
To what extent should the community be involved? (For example, informed, asked, part of the decision-making
process, developing solutions, etc.)
What are some barriers to their participation? (Consider capacity, access, conflict within communities, literacy,
etc.
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For each decision identified, how will we meaningfully and sustainably engage the community?
Decision:
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Whom will we target? (include
rationale)
How will we reach them?
How will we prepare them for
participation?
How will we facilitate the conversation
to come to this decision?
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How will we share results and move
forward with the broader community?
What must we consider for this
engagement to be equitable?
How will we hold ourselves
accountable?
10 Principles of Authentic Community Engagement
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INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS CHECKLIST
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Can staff and partners in our collaborative
network easily answer the following:
What is our Hub?
Who is on our team and what are
their roles?
How do I access and communicate
with the Hub?
What is the Hub’s purpose?
What is my role?
What is the role of my
organization?
If you answered
YES
to all of these, GOOD JOB! Your
communications strategy is working!
If you answered
NO
to any of these, revisit your
communications strategy and pay
particular attention to the audiencespecific objectives, messaging,
methods and measurement.
EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS CHECKLIST
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Do community and business leaders, peer
Hubs across the state, and those who
access our services understand:
Who we are?
Why we are here?
How we are doing our work?
How to access and communicate
with the Hub?
How they can support our work?
If you answered
If you answered
YES
to all of these, GOOD JOB! Your
communications strategy is working!
NO
to any of these, revisit your
communications strategy and pay
particular attention to the audiencespecific objectives, messaging, methods
and measurement.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP HEXAGON
Use this tool as a quick reference and
reminder of the rights and responsibilities
of your communities. You will first need to
complete your community partnership
strategy.
1. Complete your community
partnership strategy.
2. State the goals that your
organization shares with
your communities.
3. Determine the six ways your
community will be engaged in
your work. Use the six here,
or customize them to your
context.
4. Using your strategy,
fill in the rights and
responsibilities for each of the
six ways your communities
will be engaged in your work.
5. Make your chart very
visible in your office,
and share as appropriate
with your partners and
communities.
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Leadership
Rights:
Involvement
Responsibilities:
Rights:
Knowledge and
Information
Rights:
Responsibilities:
Community
Partnership
Responsibilities:
Shared Goals:
Engagement
Stewardship
Rights:
Rights:
Responsibilities:
Civic
Participation
Responsibilities:
Rights:
Responsibilities:
Adapted from the Discovery Initiative’s Honeycomb Community
Engagement Tool, William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund.
EQUITY & CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS SELF-ASSESSMENT
This checklist will help your Hub better understand the importance of cultural diversity, cultural and
linguistic responsiveness. You’ll find concrete examples to help you identify what you’re doing well and
how you can improve. There is no “pass/fail” scoring, but if you frequently respond with "C," you may
need to reassess your perspectives and approaches. It is imperative to provide services equitably, and
these are indicators that you could be excluding key constituents from the benefit of your work and the
work of your partners.
Directions: Select A, B or C for each item listed below.
A = Things we do frequently, or statement applies to me to a great degree
B = Things we do occasionally, or statement applies to me to a moderate degree
C = Things we do rarely or never, or statement applies to me to minimal degree or not at all
Indicate in the corresponding box how you will improve in the given area. Document your plans and
stick to them! As necessary, incorporate these into your broader strategy.
Communications
1. At conferences and events, we learn and use
key words in the languages or dialects of
participants and community members who speak
languages or dialects other than English, so we
are better able to communicate with them.
2. In our programs, conferences and meetings,
we use visual aids, gestures and physical prompts
in interactions with participants who have limited
English proficiency.
3. When interacting with community members
who have limited English proficiency, we always
keep in mind that:
a. Limitation in English proficiency is in no way a
reflection of their level of intellectual
functioning.
b. Their limited ability to speak the language of
the dominant culture has no bearing on their
ability to communicate effectively in their
language of origin.
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A – How will we
maintain this?
B – How will we
make this an A?
C – How will we
improve?
c. They may be neither literate in their language
of origin nor English.
4. We ensure that all notices and communication
to parents and community members are available
in their language of origin.
5. We understand that it may be necessary to use
alternatives to written communications for some
families, as word of mouth may be a preferred
method of receiving information.
6. We encourage and invite parents and
community members to volunteer and assist with
activities regardless of their ability to speak
English.
7. We arrange accommodations for participants
and community members who may require
communication assistance to ensure their full
participation in all aspects of the program,
meeting or event (hearing impairment, physical
disability, visually impairment, low literacy, etc.).
8. We accept and recognize that there are often
differences between language used in early
learning program settings and in the home.
9. Our communications are delivered in both
electronic and paper formats to reach those
without consistent access to email or comfort
with the Internet.
Environment, Materials & Resources
1. In our materials, we display positive
representations that reflect the cultures and
ethnic backgrounds of children and families
served, our team and partners in our early
childhood programs and office settings.
2. We recommend a variety of materials to
expose participants at events and conferences to
experiences of cultures and ethnic groups
represented across our network, in the
community and partners that may not be their
own.
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A – How will we
maintain this?
B – How will we
make this an A?
C – How will we
improve?
3. We encourage and provide opportunities for
children and their families to share experiences
to support the oral tradition common among
many cultures.
4. We plan events and community meetings in
places hosted locally, where children and their
families can learn about their own cultural or
ethnic traditions as well as those of others.
5. We select videos, films or other media
resources positively reflective of diverse cultures
to share with partners, children and families
served in our early childhood settings.
6. At conferences, meetings and events, we
ensure that meals provided include foods that
are unique to the cultural and ethnic
backgrounds of partners, children and families
served in our early childhood settings, and are
provided by local caterers and businesses.
7. If our event consists entirely of partners,
children and families from the same cultural or
ethnic group, we plan an environment and
implement activities that reflect the cultural
diversity within the broader community.
8. We are cognizant of and ensure that the
materials we use include traditional holidays
celebrated by the majority culture, as well as
those holidays unique to partners, children and
families served in our community.
Values & Attitudes
1. Our team, partners and providers are trained
in equity and equitable engagement and service
provision.
2. We apply the same standards of performance
and participation to all service providers and
community participants in our network.
3. We ensure that tenders for services and
contractors are conducted in ways and through
channels that will reach and encourage responses
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A – How will we
maintain this?
B – How will we
make this an A?
C – How will we
improve?
from represented cultures and groups in our
community, particularly those traditionally
underserved.
4. We make every effort to offer support to those
service providers and families within our network
that need the most help, rather than those who
are already in positions to achieve success.
5. We understand that some families may be
reluctant to engage with services because of
anxiety associated with anticipated linguistic and
ethnic prejudice or discrimination. We strive to
compensate for this with special post-launch
orientations for families and focused
relationship-building efforts with communities.
6. We intervene immediately and appropriately
when we observe team members or partners in
our network engaging in behaviors that show
cultural insensitivity, bias or prejudice.
7. We understand and accept that family is
defined differently by different cultures
(extended family members, fictive kin,
godparents, etc.).
8. We recognize that the meaning or value of
early childhood education or early intervention
may vary greatly among cultures.
9. Before visiting or providing services in the
home setting, service providers seek information
on acceptable behaviors, courtesies, customs and
expectations that are unique to families of
specific cultural groups served.
10. We seek information from family members or
other key community informants that will assist
us to respond effectively to the needs and
preferences of culturally and linguistically diverse
children and families served in our early
childhood programs.
Adapted from the Georgetown University National Center for
Cultural Competence’s Cultural & Linguistic Competency SelfAssessment Checklist.
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