Equity-Focused Family Engagement: A Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools (SOUCS®) Family Engagement Toolkit

• In Event: Family-School Engagement in Diverse Environments

Abstract

The goal of the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools Family Engagement Toolkit is to center the lived experiences of families in under resourced communities in engagement activities, with a focus on equity, inclusion, and belonging. The frameworks underpinning the research project are cultural reciprocity and liberatory design. We conducted a literature review and used a semi-structured interview approach for data collection to identify needs and gaps to design the toolkit. The Toolkit will provide state and school-based staff with resources and strategies to increase and improve engagement with diverse families of children with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Authors

• Dahlia M. Shaewitz, Third Sight, LLC

• Jennifer R. Crandall, Collegium Insights

• Holly Jacobs, Special Olympics

• Deitra Smith, Special Olympics North America