New Toolkit Offers Tips on Designing a 2Gen Convening
October 25, 2019 | Convenings, Publication
Two-generation (2Gen) convenings have the potential to create change for whole systems and the lives of the families they serve. This planning guide is the first step. Having planned and supported more than 100 2Gen convenings, Ascend has cultivated a depth of knowledge for the practical elements and nuanced factors that result in successful convenings.
This new toolkit considers concrete examples from many 2Gen convenings, and illuminates the lessons learned and best practices developed with the aim to at once maximize the impact and minimize any inefficiency in developing and hosting convenings. Our hope is that the toolkit will support 2Gen practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and philanthropists across the country in more effective convening outreach, partnership, and impact.
From ensuring parent voice is at the center to choosing whether to include plenaries and panels, a convening requires thoughtful planning and months of preparation. The Toolkit is divided into three sections: The Why, The What, and The Impact. Ascend offers six criteria to assess the conditions that communities seek to develop in order to implement a 2Gen approach:
- Explicit outcomes rooted in family strengths;
- Racial equity lens;
- Parent participation;
- Anchor partner;
- Cross-sector engagement; and
- Evaluation and assessment strategy and tool.
Find out more about each key component, what materials to distribute to participants, and how to drive long term change after hosting a convening in the toolkit. Hosting a successful convening is a great way to continue building this collaborative 2Gen movement.
Related Posts
We are delighted to share a new research report in partnership with Child Trends: Data on Families with Low Incomes Across America Can Inform Two-Generation Approaches. In this new analysis, research experts Elizabeth Wildsmith and Marta Alvira-Hammond paint a detailed picture of how families in households with low incomes in the United States have changed …
Data on Families With Low Incomes Across America Read More »
My heart is filled with love and gratitude for the courageous community of leaders our Ascend at the Aspen Institute team works with everyday. And I am simply delighted to share our Ascend at the Aspen Institute Impact & Inspiration Report. In this magazine-style 2022 Impact & Inspiration Report, you will meet just a few of those inspiring …
Through careful and rigorous research, we know that there is a better way to approach child support policy to build strong families and communities.
I started off the 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival at Aspen Words Book Ball, a passion project of Isa Catto and Daniel Shaw.
This year, the Aspen Idea Festival returns to in-person programming at our campus in the Rocky Mountains June 25 - July 1, 2022.
We have an abundance of talent that is ready to reimagine early childhood and well-being in America for our youngest children and families, but we do not have an abundance of leadership experiences that nurture, propel, and position them as the dynamic leaders our country urgently needs. Leadership that reflects the full diversity and genius …
Charting a New Future for Early Childhood Leadership in America Read More »
As we reimagine public systems and services to work better for families, we have an opportunity to do so in a way that honors the full diversity of family structures, as families themselves define them, and builds upon families’ inherent resilience. This requires an intentional and explicit commitment to applying a gender lens inclusive of …
Bringing Fathers Into Focus for Child & Family Well-Being Read More »
A new report released today by Ascend at the Aspen Institute (Ascend) takes stock of the two-generation (2Gen) field. It analyzes what has been accomplished, the lessons learned, and the opportunities ahead with unprecedented federal expenditures in social policy. The report comes at a time when Americans are more fully recognizing that a system that tolerates social, racial, gender, and economic inequities is on unstable ground — and we are reckoning anew with the history of racism, sexism, and economic exploitation that built them into the foundation of our nation.
On Tuesday, June 1st, 2021, Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s Family Prosperity Innovation Community hosted a panel discussion about the recently proposed federal legislation on paid leave. This webinar presented how and why this proposed legislation matters and shared opportunities to advance paid leave locally and nationally. Watch Now https://vimeo.com/557745729 Presenters and Panelists Vicki Shabo …
Ascend at the Aspen Institute and The Jed Foundation Release a New Mental Health Framework with Recommendations for Supporting the Mental Health of Students Who Are Parents Washington, DC – A new study released today by Ascend at the Aspen Institute (Ascend) and The Jed Foundation (JED) finds that more than two in five (43 percent) …
This blog is part of Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s 2Gen Level Up series. Ascend challenged organizations that work with and/or on behalf of children and families to apply one of six resources listed below and level up their two-generational efforts. Of the many organizations from across the country that put these resources to use, Ascend …
PelotonU: Principles for Engaging and Centering Parent Voice Read More »
Infant and parent brains and bodies undergo rapid growth and transformation during the transition to parenting, presenting a unique opportunity to positively impact two generations. In the 2015 report Two Open Windows: Infant and Parent Biologic Change, Drs. Pilyoung Kim and Sarah Watamura (also an Ascend Fellow) of the University of Denver highlighted research supporting …
New Research Shows Parenting Brain Changes in All Caregivers Read More »
Governors, mayors, and families are on the front lines of communities coping with changes in the pandemic world. As the school year begins, the Aspen Institute turns to representatives of these three groups to ask: How can we support students and families in this unprecedented school year? On August 26, Ascend and the Aspen Education …
Virtual Discussion: How Communities and Political Leaders Can Support Schools This Year Read More »
Physical and mental health and well-being are core components of the two-generation approach that builds family well-being by intentionally and simultaneously working with children and the adults in their lives to move whole families toward educational success, economic security, and health and well-being. Childhood trauma, for instance, has lasting health and social consequences. Similarly, economic …
Transforming Child and Family Mental Health in Washington, DC Read More »
Parents are a sizable but often overlooked student population in postsecondary systems. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed new demands on all parents with young children and shed new light on the multiple barriers that student parents face. The Aspen Postsecondary Success for Parents Initiative engaged a diverse group of leaders including parents, researchers, workforce development experts, college presidents, philanthropists, and …
NEW BRIEFS: Strategies and Innovations that Support Student Parents Read More »