Letting Communities Lead: Relationship Building and Listening for Systems Change

How can focusing on listening and relationship building with families strengthen early childhood system of care? In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the Young Child Wellness Council (YCWC) has undertaken the critical work of shifting paradigms and processes to more fully center the voices, experiences, and wisdom of families in shaping efforts that promote the physical, as well as social and emotional, health and well being of infants, young children, and their families. In our second episode, we learn from YCWC about what they are doing to foster authentic relationships with residents of the Crescent East neighborhood, a community that has long experienced many services and research projects come and go. Council members share what they’ve learned through the process and how this has impacted partnerships and the types of counter stories they’d like to create for Tuscaloosa and the state of Alabama.

Guests include:

• Amy Crosby, Child Development Resources at the University of Alabama
• Trendle Samuels, Alabama Department of Public Health
• Stephanie Covarrubia, Community Service Programs of West Alabama, Early Intervention
• Host: Ronda Alexander, Director of Operations, NOW at Vital Village Network

Learn more about YCWC: Council Aims to Maximize Early Childhood Wellbeing

Produced by: Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing
Music By: Morgan Breland