A Few Spots Remain in the Empowering Families Retreat, October 18-19

Limited registration is still available for the Empowering Families Retreat, created by families for families and sponsored by ECCS and the SD Family Engagement Center. A 100 parenting adults will gather for the 1.5 day leadership retreat at Bar S Lodge in Keystone, SD. The event is for adults only, but a $100 child care voucher will be provided post-event. For more details and to register, see https://sdcpcm.com/events/empowering-families-retreat/.

Annie Neimand Presenting on the Power of Storytelling

ECCS is sponsoring a visit to South Dakota by Annie Neimand, PhD, an expert in storytelling and social change. Annie will provide a keynote address and workshop titled “Why Stories Are Powerful” at the Empowering Families Retreat. For this presentation and workshop, participants will learn the art and science of storytelling through an interactive session to prepare them to tell their own stories to advocate for policies and programs that support comprehensive child and family well-being.

Annie Neimand, Ph. D., Science of Social Change Consulting, works with organizations and leaders to apply systems thinking, human-centered design, and the science of how people think and act to social change strategies. She is most passionate about building an anti-racist, equitable, and sustainable world where all people can live with dignity, joy, and belonging. She designs and leads projects that contribute to systems, culture, and narrative change toward racial, economic, and social justice.

Annie’s work is regularly featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review, including two of the publication’s most-read articles, the Science of What Makes People Care and Stop Raising Awareness.

Annie has a Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Florida. She studied social movements, strategic communications, and intersectionality—an area of research that looks at how racism, classism, and sexism are built into our social policy and programs and shape people’s lived experiences. She taught undergraduate and graduate-level courses, including Race, Class and Gender, Sociology of Gender, Social Problems, and Public Interest Communications Strategy.

Annie Neimand’s presence at the Empowering Families Retreat was made possible through funding to USD the HRSA’s Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems program.

Child Health Outcomes and Social Determinants of Health

This month, with support from the U.S. Department Agriculture’s WIC Community Innovation and Outreach grant, the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment (CPCM) at the University of South Dakota will host, Jennifer Weber, MPH, RD, a national expert on child health, nutrition and wellbeing.

Weber has extensive experience working in state and national leadership roles. Her previous roles include Children’s Executive Portfolio Lead at the American Heart Association (AHA), Pediatric Systems Lead at Nemours, one of the nation’s leading pediatric health systems, and at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics national policy office.

Ms. Weber will be speaking at various events throughout the state, and at the annual Community Response to Child Abuse Conference:

• September 30 from 1pm to 3pm at USD Sioux Falls’ Avera Hall, presentation is open to the public.
• October 1 from 12pm to 1pm at Kneip Building in Pierre, roundtable is by invitation.
• October 2 from 5pm to 6:30pm at Sanford USD Campus in Sioux Falls, lecture for students and residents.
• October 3 from 2:30pm to 3:30pm at USD’s Center for Health Education in Vermillion, lecture for undergrad and graduate students.
• October 4 from 9:30am to 10:45am at Sioux Falls Convention Center for Community Response to Child Abuse Conference registrants.

Details of Weber’s speaking appearances can be found at SDCPCM.com/Calendar.

WIC-CIAO Project

The WIC-CIAO Project is implementing several of the strategies found in the ECCS Strategic Plan, including cross-training professionals serving families and young children. Upcoming learning opportunities include:

The Process and Practice of Cultural Humility

This online training helps participants recognize the differences between cultural competence and cultural humility and identify tools to support increasing self-awareness in order to increase capacity for cultural humility.

• October 16

Maintaining Cultural Sensitivity When Working with Families

This online training will help participants learn how to be cultural sensitive in your care delivery, recognize cultural differences and address any barriers to care, and identify tools and ways to deliver care in a culturally sensitive manner.

• October 23

Cultural Competency Series In-Person

Service providers working with families with young children in the Sioux Falls-area are invited by CPCM and LSS to a free in-person training series. This training series will be held at The Coliseum, 515 N Main Ave in Sioux Falls on Thursdays from 11:30am to 1:00pm. Attendees are invited to bring their own lunch or lunch will be available onsite for purchase.

• September 12: Working with Interpreters
• September 26: Culturally Competent Outreach and Engagement

Cultural Competency Series Online

The Cultural Competency Series will also be held online on Tuesdays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm through October.

• September 17: Working with Interpreters
• October 1: Culturally Competent Outreach and Engagement

Empathy and Person First Training

Using empathy and person-first language when working directly with families of young children. Participants will learn to define what empathy is and is not; identify the factors that influence empathetic behavior; and explore techniques that enhance empathy skills.

• October 17,12:00pm to 1:00pm on Zoom

Community Resiliency Model

Come learn about the Community Resiliency Model (CRM) to help strengthen your wellness with quick, simple skills. CRM is a biological model that teaches us how our mind and body are connected. CRM helps us understand how stress and trauma affect us, our nervous systems, and our emotions and behaviors. It gives us wellness skills to build resilience.

• September 20, 9:00am to 12:00pm at USD Sioux Falls

Community Response to Child Abuse Conference

Know. Respond. Prevent. Our entire community is vital in our state’s effort to end child maltreatment in South Dakota. Be a part of the solution by attending the Community Response to Child Abuse Conference on October 3-4 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center.

Thanks to the Unified Judicial System’s Court Improvement Program, Child’s Voice at Sanford Health, and the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment, this educational opportunity is expecting to reach over 600 individuals.  The conference schedule, details, and registration information can be found at SDCPCM.com/Conference.

Together, our professionals and community members can learn a multidisciplinary approach to be the change our children need.

EXTERNAL RESOURCES AND LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Tribal Prenatal to 3 Policy Agenda

The National Indian Health Board (NIHB) is hosting a virtual listening session on the draft Tribal Prenatal to 3 Policy Agenda: Charting a Path to Good Health and Wellbeing for American Indians and Alaska Natives, Prenatal to Age 3. The listening session will take place Tuesday, September 24 from 2-3:30pm ET over Zoom.

NIHB developed the draft Tribal Prenatal to 3 Policy Agenda through interviews, roundtables, and open engagement with Tribal leaders, members, and practitioners. Now, NIHB wishes to hear back from Tribal leaders, Tribal advocates, child welfare and health policy experts, and practitioners on the draft Policy Agenda to further revise, refine, and prioritize policy priorities related to holistically improving the health and wellbeing of Native kids up to age three and their families. They welcome feedback from diverse perspectives and areas of expertise, including those with experience in Tribal WIC, home visiting, parenting programs, birth workers, community health representatives, social services, child welfare services, public health, and others.

You can review the draft Policy Agenda before the Listening Session. Feedback may be provided during the Listening Session or by electronic feedback form through September 30, 2024.

Let’s Connect!

If you would like to learn more about the SD ECCS efforts, provide feedback, or share more about your efforts to ensure a strong start for South Dakota’s youngest children, please email [email protected]. Are you working on some of these goals and strategies–or could they be included in your plans and activities? We’d love to learn more, collaborate, and celebrate your work.