Interview: Abigail Padilla, Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko
We spoke recently with Abigail Padilla, Communications Coordinator at Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, about the feedback survey around how the Keeping in Touch newsletter proves useful to staff and coordinators in the B.C. PHAC CAPC, CPNP and AHSUNC programs.
The Keeping in Touch newsletter (subscribe here!) is designed as a tool to facilitate work and learning for those staff in the CPNP, CAPC and AHS programs in B.C. The bi-monthly newsletter spans a range of topics including:
tools to support programming and to provide to families
information and ideas to assist in your fine-tuning of program development and grant-writing to meet the specific needs of parents and children in your local community
interviews with coordinators offering innovative programming options and with experts in a range of topics around early childhood education
summaries of recent early childhood issues, such as brain development, attachment, sleep safety, etc.
outlines of toolkits on a range of topics, including fathering, physical literacy and nature exploration, FASD prevention , child rights, domestic violence intervention, mental health , etc.
updates from federal and provincial governments relating to early childhood and agencies supporting early childhood
program-specific updates and articles for CPNP, CAPC and AHS programs
information and support for breastfeeding
training opportunities, including free and low-cost online courses
articles, infographics, and information for parents on areas such as the value of outdoor play, healthy eating and food security , sleep and activity guidelines, injury prevention, parenting, etc.
a range of videos to support caregivers, families and professionals
access to training webinars
notifications of upcoming training opportunities
The recently completed BC Communications Support Evaluation and Needs Assessment included a readership survey seeking feedback on the Keeping in Touch newsletter. Abigail Padilla shared with us an analysis of the comments received on the survey. The primary limiter to accessing and using the newsletter resources is time; it can be a challenge to find the time outside of programming and essential administration tasks for additional reading and research. A respondent commented: “If I had more hours available to me, this newsletter would be much more valuable. As it is, I don’t have much time for anything other than programming.” And another: “There is valuable information presented but having the time for staff to read it and absorb it is difficult with time schedules.”
95% of the 57 survey respondents confirm that the newsletter is valued as a resource. People indicated that time constraints in their work make it challenging to find the time to do independent research, and that they appreciate that the newsletter does that for them and provides summaries and links to areas of particular interest. Respondents commented:
“I love the program highlights.”
“I appreciate the summary and information, easily readable.”
“I find I learn about initiatives, reports, etc. that I wouldn’t otherwise be familiar with. This is useful to me.”
A few respondents indicated that they were still unaware of the resource. We spoke with Abigail about this issue. There has been quite high turnover of staff in program locations around the province over the past few years. Abigail noted that a priority for her is looking into how to most effectively get information to new staff about the newsletter, “why we do it and how we are trying to help” by providing a resource to improve access to up-to-date and trustworthy information to support staff and parents in the programs. The Coordinators discuss training issues in their regular conference calls, and Abigail makes a point during these meetings of raising awareness of the newsletter and highlighting current articles/research topics of interest relevant to conference call discussions. The newsletter is also referenced in regional training and Abigail is looking into ways of making physical samples/links more readily available during these in-person sessions to promote awareness of the newsletter, particularly for new program staff.
One respondent highlighted the email notification option, noting: “I finally signed up for the email notifications. Again, helpful on various ways to support our families with new and interesting ideas.”