TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

California Tomorrow offers workshops, trainings, customized technical assistance, and consultation to the after school field on issues of diversity, inclusion and equity. Our multiethnic team of trainers and support providers has engaged hundreds of programs, technical assistance providers, and intermediaries in reflection, dialogue, assessment, and organizational change, helping them better understand the diverse constituencies they serve and create experiences that allow young people of all backgrounds and experiences to thrive. Our services include:

Equity Institutes

These interactive 1- or 2-day trainings provide program and T.A. providers an overview of diversity and equity issues in an engaging and collaborative setting. The Equity Institutes create a supportive space to:

reflect on our own backgrounds and the resources, challenges and opportunities they provide to our work
identify individual and community issues shaping the lives and needs of the young people we serve
learn about promising strategies for supporting young people’s social, cultural and cross cultural development and for creating inclusive and responsive programming
assess the strengths and gaps in programs’ equity and diversity efforts

If desired, Equity Institutes can be customized to reflect regionally specific trends, needs and concerns.

Issue-Specific Trainings

In addition to the Equity Institutes, California Tomorrow offers workshops on specific diversity and equity issues, such as:

affirming culture and language in after school programs
working with immigrant children, youth and families
building inclusive programs for all types of families and family structures
supporting relationship-building across groups, and helping young people develop the skills and qualities they need to thrive in a diverse world
providing effective academic support for English Language Learners
understanding gender issues, addressing stereotypes and challenging inequities
working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth and families

Professional Development Series

Our experience suggests that, for many programs and organizations, addressing issues of equity and diversity is a complex process, one which calls for examining a variety of issues and takes place over time. Because of this, California Tomorrow offers training series in addition to our single sessions. A cohort of programs or staff members can go through such a series together. Alternatively, California Tomorrow can offer a series of related trainings, from which programs or staff can pick and choose areas relevant to their work. Sample series include:

Equity, Diversity and Youth Development. This integrated 5-day training series, led by California Tomorrow and the Community Network for Youth Development, helps programs to understand and operationalize both youth development and equity principles.
Diversity Series. Programs or T.A. intermediaries may wish to create a monthly training series to support staff in working with different populations. Such a series might include sessions on culture and language, gender, class and poverty, sexual orientation, immigrant experiences, etc.
Change Network. A change network offers structured, collective support for programs that wish to undertake comprehensive change toward becoming more attentive to diversity and equity in their work. Networks usually involve 4-8 programs, and meet several times over the course of 1 - 2 years for trainings, guided assessment and planning processes, shared exploration of successes and challenges, and peer consultation.

Organizational Support

California Tomorrow can help design and/or facilitate customized staff development and dialogue for individual programs around issues related to diversity, inclusion and equity. Sample topics include:

helping staff clarify goals around equity and diversity and create a shared language to talk about them
developing a process for examining who a program is and isn’t serving and identifying strategies for expanded outreach
facilitating a dialogue where staff members share their own backgrounds and examine how their experiences impact their work with young people and with each other
exploring the meaning of culture, race, language, gender, class, or other diversity dimensions in young people’s lives, and identifying program implications

For longer-term or more comprehensive efforts, California Tomorrow also offers organizational coaching. Our coaches work with staff and/or agency leaders to develop a plan for program enhancement related to diversity and equity.