"COEs report positive SEL implementation with partnerships"

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨? 🔍 The YPAR Network just released a new video series on Youth Participatory Action Research – an equity-focused approach where youth and adults partner to conduct systematic research and drive real change. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻: - Youth gain leadership, research, and advocacy skills - Adults experience professional growth and job satisfaction - Policies and programs are created or adapted to meet young people's needs Young people have investigated everything from mental health promotion to school lunch improvement, using surveys, interviews, and art to gather data and advocate for change. 📊 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝟮𝟬-𝟯𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀: 1️⃣ What is YPAR 2️⃣ Why it matters 3️⃣ How to plan for it Six more videos coming soon. ✨ Perfect for educators, youth workers, community organizers and anyone wanting to collaborate with young people for meaningful change. By Heather Kennedy, PhD, MPH, Colorado School of Public Health, and Elia Delphi, School of Social Welfare University of California, Berkeley Read the Full Story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gHKeDSZy #YPAR #YouthVoice #YouthDevelopment #ActionResearch #YouthEngagement #CommunityChange #EquityInEducation

Day 6 of the 7 Day Youth Residency for Local Climate Action was about polishing ideas, practicing delivery, and building confidence for impact. 🔄 The day opened with a recap, giving participants a chance to revisit their social action plans and refine their goals with mentor support. 🎨 Creativity flowed as youth built their presentations — choosing posters, skits, or storyboards to bring their climate initiatives to life. 🎤 Practice sessions followed, where groups rehearsed their delivery and learned to communicate with clarity, teamwork, and confidence. 🤝 Peer feedback added the final layer, with participants applauding strengths and suggesting improvements to make each presentation stronger. ✨ By the close of Day 6, the youth were ready to step forward and showcase their climate action projects with passion and purpose. An initiative by Teachers’ Resource Centre (TRC) in collaboration with Imkaan Welfare Organization. #TRC #ImkaanWelfareOrganization #SDGs #ClimateChangeEducation #CANDLE

Sixto Cancel, Founder & CEO of Think of Us and an Ascend at the Aspen Institute Fellow, is a nationally recognized leader reshaping child welfare. From technology and service delivery to research, data, and policy, he works across sectors to improve outcomes for youth and families. Drawing on both lived experience and a proven record of cross-sector collaboration, Sixto helps drive meaningful change at local, state, and federal levels to solve both entrenched and emergent challenges. In this episode of Leading Voices, we caught up with him at the inaugural Trust in Practice Summit in Chicago, hosted by the Aspen Institute's Alliance for Social Trust, to hear his insights on what it takes for leaders to earn and sustain the trust of the communities they serve. Leading Voices is an ongoing series from the Aspen Institute where you’ll hear directly from leaders about what it takes to lead and how they got to where they are.

Children in care: deprivation of liberty The Department for Education (DfE) has published new research exploring outcomes and support for children in care at risk of or subject to a Deprivation of liberty order in England. The research involved an evidence review; an analysis of social work case files for 21 children across four local authorities; and interviews and focus groups with professionals at three case study residential homes. Key findings include: an escalating use of Deprivation of liberty orders with over 2,500 children deprived of their liberty in response to mental health, safeguarding and welfare concerns in 2023-24; a lack of appropriate placement options and specialist provision across residential children’s homes; and insufficient early help.

Great to see the work or the National Worklod Action Group published by DfE which includes practical ideas and resources for tackling unnecessarily high workloads amongst children and family social workers. It was a privilege to be involved in this work alongside leaders and practitioners who co-developed and tested ideas for change Mairi-Anne Macdonald, Dez Holmes susannah bowyer Importantly ⬇️ The NWAG emphasised that workload issues cannot be solved in isolation. Broader systemic pressures – such as rising child and family poverty, mental health needs, and underfunded early help services – continue to drive demand.

What if the different professionals around a child—teachers, social workers, youth workers, health staff—saw themselves as one connected workforce rather than separate services? What if local people with deep knowledge of their community were able to train and progress without leaving the places where they are most needed and have the deepest relationships? What if professional development was designed to build not just individual careers, but shared understanding and collective capacity across local systems? What if the child, not the service, was the organising principle of the system—and every adult in their life worked from that same starting point? The huge potential in those questions is the reason we’re launching the Centre for the Children’s Workforce, a new national initiative to build the workforce children deserve: connected, skilled, diverse, rooted in community and, in doing so, bring renewed dignity and respect to the people doing this work. Read more in Ned Younger's piece introducing the project: https://lnkd.in/e2dnQR-m 🐘

The measure of leadership is how we act for children — with coherence across systems, courage in decision-making, and respect for cultural authority. Real leadership is not about words on a page. It is about how we design, connect, and reform the systems that shape children's lives. For Queensland, that means: Coherence: aligning laws, policies, budgets, and services so that children’s rights are advanced consistently across education, health, justice, and child protection. Fragmentation and silos have failed our children. Courage: being prepared to face hard truths about systemic racism and inequity, and making reforms that may be politically difficult but are essential to children’s healthy development. Cultural authority: recognising that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership is central, not optional, in designing systems that keep children connected to family, community, and culture. The OATSICC Blueprint – A Children’s Plan for Queensland is an invitation to measure our leadership by these standards. It sets out a rights-based, whole-of-government framework that brings intention, accountability, and purpose to how Queensland leads for its children. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gF-XjW7Q

Excited to share our recent publication "The challenge of social work-led case management: A qualitative study of community-based home care for older adults" in The British Journal of Social Work (BJSW). The research identified important challenges, such as differing and conflicting perceptions of case management, as well as biases and disagreements regarding the roles and differential status of the different professions. Implications are identified for promoting the development of effective case management, especially regarding enhancing interprofessional collaboration and empowering social workers to take leadership of the case management process. Many thanks to my co-authors Prof. Wong Yu Cheung and Prof. Lou Vivian for the great collaboration! Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gixXpQyz

Sector leaders have been responding to changes put forward by the cross-party Education Select Committee in its latest report on reforming the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system.

This week, UC Berkeley’s Institute of Human Development hosted a powerful conversation on Advocating and Implementing Equity-Based Systems-Change in Early Childhood, featuring leaders from across campus and the state. Panelists Rebecca Cheung (UC Berkeley School of Education), Ted Lempert (Children Now), and Dean Susan Stone (UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare) explored how leadership development, policy advocacy, and social work can drive more equitable early childhood systems. Together, they emphasized the importance of collaboration, family engagement, and reimagining fragmented systems to ensure all children and families thrive.