“Healing is the capacity to restore our humanity and care for ourselves and others even in the midst of our fear.”
– Dr. Shawn Ginwright
CS3 Updates
2025 Partner Plan Act Conference – Thank You!
We’re thrilled to share that the 2025 Partner Plan Act Conference, Equity from the Start: Interdependent Self & Community Care, was a success! Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to powerful conversations, learning, and community building.
Thanks to generous funding from the Illinois State Board of Education, this conference and all supports offered to early childhood community collaborations are provided free of charge.
If you missed a session or would like to revisit any part of the conference, recordings and materials will be available soon—stay tuned!
Partner Plan Act Collaboration Institute – Now Accepting Applications!
The Community Systems Statewide Supports (CS3) team is excited to announce Cohort 8 of the Partner Plan Act Collaboration Institute (PPACI).
The Institute is a year–long project for local early childhood collaborations in Illinois. Support includes monthly coaching designed to meet collaborations’ specific needs, whether they’re completely new to the cohort or returning alumni. The result is an intensive experience where each participating collaboration can thrive. Participation is completely free and funded by the Illinois State Board of Education. Whether you are brand new or long-established, we encourage all local early childhood collaborations seeking to increase their reach and impact to participate!
Please Note: All applicants must complete a consultation call with Ruby Flores, CS3 Training and Coaching Manager at flores@actforchildren.org, before submitting a Request for Supports. This ensures a shared understanding of the institute’s benefits and expectations.
You can find important information about the application process here.
The deadline to apply is Friday, June 13, 2025.
Last Chance to Complete CS3’s Annual Training Needs Assessment
To help us prepare for future training and technical assistance plans and provide you with the best opportunities, please complete this Training Needs Assessment survey. It should only take about two to three minutes. The results will inform future content of our trainings, On-Demand Learning courses, and the Partner Plan Act Conference. As always, your responses are completely anonymous; however, you now have the option of providing your contact information if you would like to share more detailed feedback.
We’d love to hear from as many of you as possible! Please complete the survey by Friday, April 25.
Upcoming CS3 Trainings and Events
From Partnership to Leadership: Strengthening Family Engagement for Lasting Impact
Join us in-person for this exciting and interactive session to learn how strong family engagement leads to a lasting impact for early childhood community collaborations! The session will provide a structured approach to strengthening family engagement and participants will walk away with strategies and tools for meaningful and inclusive family involvement.
Training Objectives:
- Mapping Stakeholders and Strengthening Community Connections – Identify key community partners, clarify roles, and build inclusive collaborations that reflect diverse family voices.
- Choosing and Implementing Family Engagement Roles – Assess and expand meaningful opportunities for family involvement that align with engagement goals.
- Sharing Decision-Making Power with Families – Explore strategies and tools to foster equitable power-sharing, ensuring families are active partners in shaping early childhood initiatives.
- Leadership Development for Families – Empower families with the knowledge, skills, and pathways needed to take on leadership roles and drive sustainable change.
This training will be facilitated by Janet Vargas and Dra. Alexandra Escobar.
Location: In Person, Naperville, Illinois
Date: Friday, June 13
Time: 10 a.m. –1 p.m.
This training is eligible for Gateways credits and certificates issued in collaboration with The Center: Early Childhood Professional Learning.
Please note, this training will not be recorded.
Collaboration highlight: lunch & learn — Dekalb basics
Discover the successes of community collaboration partners making a significant impact, take away fresh ideas and strategies to implement in your own organization, and connect with a network of professionals dedicated to advancing community collaboration.
Stay tuned for more information!
Date: Tuesday, June 3
Time: 12 – 1 p.m.
Mini cohort: the power of storytelling
Addressing the popular demand, this cohort dives deep into how storytelling can be used as a tool for trust-building, collective action, funding, and systemic change. Whether you’re strengthening partnerships, advocating for policies, or writing your next grant proposal, these sessions will equip you with the skills to center authentic community narratives and shift how stories are heard and used.
Cohort Overview:
Session 1: Storytelling for Connection & Collaboration
We’ll explore how storytelling builds trust and shared purpose in community work. Learn to challenge deficit narratives, apply asset framing, and practice ethical storytelling that centers and honors lived experiences.
Session 2: Techniques for Collecting Community Stories
This session offers hands-on tools for capturing stories through oral histories, digital storytelling, and collaborative story mapping. Learn how to plan and launch storytelling efforts rooted in healing and advocacy.
Session 3: Interviewing with Integrity & Intention
Learn how to design and lead interviews that center trust, voice, and inclusion. You’ll practice writing strong questions, holding space, and using interviews to strengthen partnerships and deepen community understanding.
Session 4: Storytelling for Funding, Advocacy & Policy Change
Apply storytelling to grant writing, advocacy, and systems change. Practice reframing deficit-based narratives and aligning stories with funder and policy priorities—while staying grounded in authenticity and community voice.
Space is limited and this high-demand series fills quickly—save the date and secure your spot early!
This series will be led by Jaclyn Vasquez and Rebecca Halperin.
Part 1: Thursday, July 10
Part 2: Thursday, July 17
Part 3: Thursday, July 31
Part 4: Friday, August 08
Time: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
This cohort requires you to attend all four sessions as a representative of your collaboration.
This series is eligible for Gateways credits and certificates issued in collaboration with The Center: Early Childhood Professional Learning.
Please note, this event will not be recorded.
Partner Events
Family Engagement Webinar Series
A powerful webinar series that brings to life the many ways we engage, empower, and elevate families across Illinois. Led by the IAFC’s teams doing the work, each session highlights a unique approach to family engagement—from early learning and advocacy to systems change and community partnerships.
This series is designed for organizations looking to deepen their family engagement work and those who support this work through advocacy, policymaking, and philanthropy. Each session will provide actionable takeaways on best practices and innovative strategies for engaging families at all levels of early childhood decision-making.
June 6 – Elevating Family Leadership in Early Childhood Policy
For over a decade, grassroots parent advocates have been pushing for meaningful family leadership in Illinois’ early childhood systems. Now, they’re helping shape the future of family engagement within the new Illinois Department of Early Childhood with a NEW report with recommendations. Join IAFC and our partners at COFI (Community Organizing and Family Issues) on Friday, June 6, and 10 a.m. to learn how you can apply these lessons to strengthen family engagement in your work.
We’ll discuss:
- The importance of parent leadership in decision-making in early learning policymaking
- The role of parent leaders in creating and sustaining a statewide parent-led decision-making body for early learning work in Illinois
- The role of continuous quality improvement in creating and refining parent engagement practices
- Hear directly from parents about what works—on the ground and at the systems level
June 26- Empowering Families through Innovative Programs
Learn about how IAFC is redefining family engagement. Discover how IAFC engages families in bold, creative ways—centering their voices to shape programs with them, not for them.
Thursday, June 26
10-11:30 a.m.
July 25 – Engaging Parents in Local Collaborations
Explore best practices for engaging parents in early childhood collaborations and strengthening family leadership across Illinois.
This session will spotlight IAFC’s hands-on work with local collaborations through the Community Systems Statewide Supports and Community Parenting Saturation Supports initiatives—highlighting proven strategies for building authentic parent partnerships that drive change.
Friday, July 25
10-11:30 a.m.
WeConnect/On-Demand Learning
WeConnect brings together members dedicated to advancing Community Systems Development in the early childhood education and care world.
This online platform gives you access to:
- Online Communities: Connect with your collaboration, get early childhood and community systems development news, and meet other collaborations members online.
- Discussions: Ask questions and share your knowledge and ideas.
- Resource Libraries: Share and find the resources you need.
- Member Directory: Get in touch with other collaboration members.
WeConnect also offers CS3’s Gateway-accredited, on-demand online courses—free and accessible at any time! You and your collaboration members can explore courses on governance, community systems development, coordinated intake and more.
Be sure to check out our newest online module, Fiscal Sustainability101.
Remember to check your spam folder if you have not received a confirmation email.
Resources
Access Printing Support
The CS3 team is continuing to offer support in partnership with American Color Labs for printing services. If your local early childhood collaboration has marketing materials that you’d like to print, please complete this Request for Support form.
Printing support can include flyers, annual reports, marketing collateral, stickers, banners, posters, and more. Please reach out to the CS3 team if you have questions about this support.
PLEASE NOTE: This is a service provided specifically to early childhood education and care (ECEC) collaborations. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate requests for individual programs.