Child Development and Remote Learning Support

Park Hill Collective Impact engages a wide range of partners and community members. We focus on recognizing the intersectionality between issues that are affecting a child's ability to thrive and organizing partners for engaging in continuous improvement.

In the days of COVID-19 and anti-racism protests, we recently hosted conversations on child development and remote learning support. On Thursday, June 4th, PHCI convened an online video meeting between executives at organizations supporting child development, neighborhood school leaders, and local education policy and child development experts in order to address how we can collectively support the families and children of Park Hill throughout the summer, the very uncertain fall semester, and beyond. As an extension of this discussion, PHCI met digitally with Denver Public School administrators on Wednesday, June 17th.

Here is a synthesis of those conversations:

1. There is a great concern that children in Park Hill are:

   • losing academic progress,

   • not getting the necessary emotional/psychological support during this crisis, and

   • not participating enough in positive race conversations.

2. Many organizations are already supporting families of Park Hill remotely and are working toward in-person support as health and safety restrictions ease. However, the number of services and number of families being serviced have fallen dramatically due to a lack of technological programs and technology capacities. These include some services, such as daycare, that are not compatible with an online mode. Technology help was a common and strong need voiced by the organizations.

3. Many organizations also expressed frustration with the shifting guidelines for health and safety. They voiced that they were experiencing significant challenges in planning and implementing due to unclear or changing guidelines.

4. DPS explained that regardless of the final guidelines and plan for the fall, they expect that there will still be gaps in satisfying the needs of their families and students, specifically in mental health supports, community-based technology repair, and opportunities for community-led conversations.

5. Some organizations shared that some collaborative support could begin immediately in the form of volunteer assistance and promotion of programs.

6. The organizations agreed that collaboration involving community members and other organizations is the best way in creating comprehensive solutions for Park Hill.

Park Hill Collective Impact will continue to invite our partners and community to participate in further conversations and when we hear calls for action, we will meet those calls through collaboration between organizations and individuals, working together to create A Community That is Thriving, Not Just Surviving.

If you would like to join the conversation, please contact Daniel Archuleta at Daniel@dmcimpact.org or 720-580-0198.