How We Work
At Empower Together we partner with youth and families to implement a Wraparound model of supports that provide a comprehensive, individualized, and holistic approach to helping ALL students realize their potential. A professional Learning Partner from Empower Together will work with the youth and family to build a Family School Team (FST). The team can include family members, friends, school personnel and individuals from the community. In addition, service providers and other professionals can be a part of the team and serve as supports.
With the help of the FST, the family takes the lead in identifying the family values, creating a family vision and establishing goals, while also identifying areas of need and support. Through this process, the FST creates a Learning Plan that identifies strategies to remove barriers that may be impeding a student’s progress towards reaching their full potential. Team members work together to put the plan into action, monitor how well it’s working, and change it as needed.
The process uses a collaborative, team-based approach that integrates services with support planning. Family School Teams are assembled to focus on integrating publicly available resources with natural (unpaid) supports that can be available in a student’s life. The process combines natural supports (friends/relatives providing childcare, transportation, mentor, parent to parent support) with traditional interventions (positive behavior interventions, teaching social skills, reading instruction, therapy).
A key element is to have clear expectations of the student’s academic performance and healthy learning habits along with other life skills based on each individual family’s priorities.
Core Values of Empower together, Inc.
Commitment
An unwavering belief that each child has a unique set of talents that can be developed to lead a productive and satisfying life.
Teamwork
Working together as a Family School team to support the child in achieving their goals. The targeted students often face inter-related challenges that cannot be overcome without a coordinated and integrated approach.
Responsibility
Each team member is responsible for their contributions to the intervention plan, developed by the Family School team, and must provide feedback on overall progress and identify new challenges.
About Us
It's Not "About Us"!
Empower Together Inc is dedicated to using a Wraparound model to reduce the opportunity gap in the Montclair Public Schools. The Wraparound model is an evidence-based approach developed in the 1980s. Wraparound programs have spread to all fifty states and Canada, as well as in other countries.
The Wraparound philosophy is one of care, with a defined planning process used to build constructive relationships and support networks among students and their families, the school, and the community. It is community based, culturally relevant, individualized, strength based, and family centered. Wraparound plans are comprehensive and address multiple life domains across home, school, and community, including living environment; basic needs; safety; and social, emotional, educational, spiritual, and cultural needs.
Another defining feature of wraparound is that it is unconditional; if interventions are not achieving the outcomes desired by the team, the team regroups to rethink the configuration of supports, services, and interventions to ensure success in natural home, school, and community settings. In other words, students do not fail, but plans can fail. Rather than forcing a student to fit into existing program structures, wraparound is based on the belief that services and supports should be flexibly arranged to meet the unique needs of the students and their families.
Wraparound distinguishes itself from traditional service delivery with its focus on connecting families, schools, and community partners in effective problem-solving relationships. Unique implementation features include: a) the voices of the family and youth guide the design and actions of the team; b) team composition and strategies reflect the unique strengths of youth and family; c) the team establishes the commitment and capacity to design and implement a comprehensive plan over time; and d) the plan addresses outcomes across home, school, and community through one synchronized plan.
Wraparound goes much further than traditional interventions as it dedicates considerable effort on building constructive relationships and support networks among the youth and his or her family and community. This is accomplished by establishing a unique team with each student and the student's family that is invested in achieving agreed-upon quality-of-life indicators. Following a response to students in need of educational support, these more intensive techniques for engagement and team development are needed to ensure that a cohesive wraparound team and plan are formed.
A Wraparound program is not a service, but a system of addressing and overcoming barriers to a student's potential. The process is voluntary and includes using community resources along with natural (unpaid) supports that can be available in a student’s life. The process combines natural supports (friends/relatives providing childcare, transportation, mentor, parent to parent support) with traditional interventions (positive behavior interventions, teaching social skills, reading instruction, therapy). Together, the Wraparound Team executes toward a vision and goals for the child that is based on the individual family’s aspirations and values. These goals are based on a strength and needs assessment that the Team uses to create a plan that prioritizes areas for potential intervention as well as reinforcement.
Our Team
Susan Mack - Executive Director
Susan has almost 30 years experience working in large institutions in the NY/NJ area, including, most recently, six years as a Care Manager at Partnership for Children of Essex (PCE), the Care Management Organization of Essex County. There she implemented the Wraparound Model of Care to address Mental Health and Developmental/Intellectual Disabilities in Youth among a large client base of youth with high needs. In addition, Susan was a Wraparound Coach to PCE's care managers to ensure a high fidelity of the Wraparound approach to the work they do.
James Mills - Board Member
Jim has worked in the field of education technology for over twenty years, specializing in developing classroom tools for students with learning challenges and English language learners.
Jean Cowan – Board Member
Jean has worked as a teacher at the pre-school and elementary levels since 2006, including the Montclair Community Pre-K, the Nutley Community School, Edison Township Public Schools, Montclair Child Development Center, and the Passaic County School District. She has worked with diverse groups of students from the academically gifted to students that require supplemental services to succeed in the classroom.
Crystal Reynolds - Board Member
Crystal was formerly a Board Member of Partnership for Children of Essex. Crystal has been with Partnership for Children of Essex for over 14 years and now serves as there Family Engagement Specialist. She is also a certified graduate of New Jersey Partners in Policymaking (PIP) with Rutgers at The Boggs Center for Developmental Disabilities.
The Guiding Principles of Wraparound
1. Family voice and choice. Family and child perspectives are intentionally elicited and prioritized during all phases of the wraparound process. Planning is grounded in family members’ perspectives, and the Family School Team strives to provide options and choices such that the Learning plan reflects family values and preferences.
2. Team based. The Family School Team consists of individuals agreed upon by the family and committed to them through informal, formal, and community support and service relationships.
3. Natural supports. The Family School Team actively seeks out and encourages the full participation of team members drawn from family members’ networks of interpersonal and community relationships. The Learning plan reflects activities and interventions that draw on sources of natural support.
4. Collaboration. Team members work cooperatively and share responsibility for developing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating a single Learning plan. The Learning plan reflects a blending of team members’ perspectives, mandates, and resources. The plan guides and coordinates each team member’s work towards meeting the team’s goals.
5. Community-based. The Family School Team implements service and support strategies that take place in the most inclusive, most responsive, most accessible, and least restrictive settings possible; and that safely promote child and family integration into home and community life.
6. Culturally competent. The wraparound process demonstrates respect for and builds on the values, preferences, beliefs, culture, and identity of the child and family, and their community.
7. Individualized. To achieve the goals laid out in the Learning plan, the Family School Team develops and implements a customized set of strategies, supports, and services.
8. Strengths based. The wraparound process and the Learning plan identify, build on, and enhance the capabilities, knowledge, skills, and assets of the child and family, their community, and other team members.
9. Persistence. Despite challenges, the Family School team persists in working toward the goals included in the Learning plan until the team reaches agreement that a formal wraparound process is no longer required.
10. Outcome based. The team ties the goals and strategies of the Learning plan to observable or measurable indicators of success, monitors progress in terms of these indicators, and revises the plan accordingly.
Recent News
Empower Together is launching our pilot program in late 2019, with a full operating roll-out planned for the Fall of 2020.
FAQs
Who is eligible for the program?
Any student who is not meeting his/her educational potential.
Is the program confidential?
Yes. The family decides what information can be shared with other community partners and the school.
How much does the program cost?
There is no cost for participants. It is a community sponsored program and does not cost the family anything, other than the time and effort in working together on the behalf of the child.
How do I enroll in the program?
Please contact Susan Mack at 973-874-2389
How does our agency get connected to Empower Together Inc?
Please contact Susan Mack at 973-874-2389
What can I expect from working with Empower Together?
The Wraparound process includes specific steps to establish ownership, and therefore investment, of people who spend the most time with the student (i.e., family, teacher). These steps create an environment in which a range of interventions, including behavioral supports, are more likely to be executed with integrity. For example, a Family School team may solicit involvement from the community to assist a family with accessing stable housing and other basic living supports, as parents may be better able to focus on a home-based behavior change plan for their child if stress about being evicted from an apartment is alleviated. Other examples include teams facilitating transportation, recreation opportunities, and social supports.
Teams can also tailor supports for teachers who may be challenged with meeting the unique needs of a student. For example, a plan to change problem behavior at school may be more likely to succeed if the teacher has a trusted colleague of choice who models the instruction of the replacement behavior or how to naturally deliver the reinforcement in the context of the classroom.
The wraparound process delineates specific roles for team members, including natural support persons, and detailed conditions for interventions, including specifying roles each person will play in specific circumstances. The role of a designated Learning Partner is critical to ensure the process is adhered to and that the principles of the strength-based person/family-centered approach are held fast. The Learning Partner (from Empower Together) partners with the family in guiding the team through the phases of wraparound, ensuring a commitment to "remain at the table," despite challenges and setbacks, until the needs of the child and family are met and can be sustained without the Family School team.
Phase I: Engagement and Team Preparation
During Phase I, the Learning Partner works closely with the family, student, and teacher to build trust and ownership of the process.
The first step is to reach out to the family and arrange a time and place to have an "initial conversation" with them to hear their story and begin the process of building a relationship and a team.
The family is encouraged to tell "their story" by articulating their perception of the strengths, needs, and experiences of their child and family. This initial contact should be a low-key conversational discourse with the goals of:
(a) developing a trusting relationship,
(b) establishing an understanding of the process and what they can expect,
(c) seeking information about potential team members, strengths, and big needs, and
(d) identifying the family's values.
The next step is a Strengths and Needs Assessment completed as a team with the assigned Learning Partner. This is a rich and deep strength profile that identifies very explicit strengths across settings (e.g., home, school, community) and life domains (i.e., social, cultural, basic living skills, academics, etc.). Big needs in wraparound can be defined as follows:
- The needs are big enough that it will take a while to achieve, such as "James needs to feel respected at school."
- There is more than one way to meet it; for example, "Hector needs to feel competent/able about learning" instead of "Hector will complete his assignments."
- The need will motivate the family to want to participate on the team. For instance, Maria's mother needs to feel confident that Maria will get treated fairly at school.
- If met, the need will improve quality of life for the youth or those engaged with the youth on a regular basis (e.g., the family, the teacher).
Phase II: Initial Plan Development
During Phase II, the Learning Partner moves from engagement and assessing strengths and needs with the family and other potential team members to guiding the team through the initial wraparound meetings. This shift into team meetings needs to occur as quickly as possible, typically within 2 weeks from the initial Phase I conversations. Baseline data reflecting youth, family, and teacher perception of strengths and needs are shared and used to guide team consensus on and commitment to quality-of-life indicators (the big needs). During Phase II, Learning Partners share the strengths and needs data with the team. Needs are prioritized, and action planning begins as the Learning Partner guides team members to brainstorm strategies to increase strengths and meet needs. As strategies are developed, tasks and roles for all team members are clarified. A safety plan for school or home is developed if team members feel this to be an imminent need.
Phase III: Ongoing Plan Implementation and Refinement
During Phase III, data-based progress monitoring is used to review initial plans and revise interventions in response to ongoing efforts. The Learning Partner ensures a regular meeting schedule for the team and continuous data collection and review of results so that data informs the team when things are or are not working, thus sustaining objectivity among team members.
Phase IV: Transition from Wraparound
The final phase of the wraparound process marks the formal point of transition when frequent/regular meetings are not needed. During this phase, accomplishments are reviewed and celebrated, and a transition plan is developed. The family may elect at this stage to share their experience with other families who are currently participating in the wraparound process.
Links to Other Web Resources
Support Empower Together, Inc.
To make a tax-deductible donation to the Empower Together, Inc. 501(c)(3) or to support us in other ways, please call Susan Mack at 973-874-2389.