Educare Atlanta’s Socially Distant Family Engagement Events
October 05, 2020
When Educare Atlanta reopened their doors on July 13 after being closed due to the pandemic, they thought creatively on how to host family engagement events in accordance with the new safety and distance protocols. During the building closure, Sheltering Arms and Educare Atlanta distributed supplies such as diapers and food to families using stations set up in open spaces surrounding the building. This process worked so well, they decided to adapt the outside spaces once again to host upcoming socially distant family engagement events and curbside celebrations. Face masks, hand sanitizer, keeping social distance and health screening questions have been the key to keeping these events running safely.
Educare Atlanta had success at their recent Grandparent’s Day event an opportunity for grandparents to enjoy grab-and-go breakfast, browse vendor tables and take photos with their grandchildren. Rodney Lawrence, family support supervisor at Educare Atlanta, leveraged existing outdoor building signage and the Educare schoolhouse icon as backdrops for taking photos. The school also successfully hosted the Empowering Fathers monthly meeting outside in September. The first hour of the meeting covered conversations related to fatherhood and then the group was invited to attend the first Georgia State football game of the season at their outdoor stadium. Educare Atlanta continues to set up booths outdoors to catch families during pick-up and drop-off to help promote upcoming events, such as Census Day, promoting the importance of families being counted by distributing materials, resources and answering questions.
Rodney reflects on the importance of continuing to host socially distant family engagement events, “As long as we are doing what we are doing safely, the events might not be as big as we usually have in the past, but the families really appreciate it”. The events provide them hope of returning back to normal once the pandemic ends.
