The Ready to Learn Movement is a collaboration formed under Alignment Rockford in partnership with Transform Rockford, Rockford Public School District 205, the City of Rockford, and over 50 community stakeholder organizations. The movement seeks to improve early childhood experiences for children ages 0 – 5 in hopes that every child has equitable access and resources for developing to their full potential. We want to see all our children arrive at kindergarten ready to learn.

The Ready to Learn Movement received the Community Parenting Support Saturation Grant from Illinois Actions for Children in November 2020. This grant included Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors (AP/OD), an intervention proven to improve early childhood experiences and development significantly. We are proud to invite you to host/cohost this program with the families of young children that you work with within our community. Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors is an evidence-based training program developed originally by and for Latino parents but now adapted for English-speaking parents, with children ages 0-5. The ten-session program requires one to two trained facilitators. Based on best practice education, each of the ten sessions incorporates culturally familiar activities and data to adapt to the community’s needs. The ten sessions promote school readiness, family well-being, and advocacy by addressing best practices in brain development, critical aspects of early childhood development (cognitive, language, physical, and social/emotional), early literacy, bilingualism, early math, positive use of technology, attendance, civic engagement, parent leadership, goal setting, and planning for family success. Using a training of facilitators’ model, Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors has partnered with approximately 500 organizations to train over 2,000 facilitators in the delivery of the Opening Doors program. To date, about 113,000 families have been served in over 300 cities.

Organizations: We are looking for hosting organizations with established connections to families with children ages 0 to 5 that can provide one or more individuals to attend Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors facilitator training, willing to promote Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors within their community, be responsible for the registration of attendees for cohorts, ready to host/cohost facilitator-led group sessions virtually and/or in-person. These cohorts may be held in Spanish or English. The organization will schedule and enroll at least five parents/caregivers per cohort within two months of facilitator training completion. The organization will seek to serve 15 to 20 families with the Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors program in the first year. The organization will have the capacity to run virtual or in-person meetings depending on health department recommendations for safety. They will establish a cadence for the ten-session scheduled cohort. This will include when and where the sessions will take place. Due to the cost of the training, organizations are asked to commit to 2 to 3 years to Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors. Facilitators: Optimal candidates for facilitator training for Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors are skilled listeners with a commitment to equity, diversity, and respect for all individuals. Facilitator training is over two weeks and is a total of 17 hours. Individuals enrolled in the facilitator training will learn how to facilitate the Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors curriculum directly to parents/caregivers with children 0-5. Due to the cost of the training, facilitators are asked to commit to 2 to 3 years to Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors. Alignment Rockford will cover the $1500 per participant cost for facilitator training with funds provided by the Community Parenting Support Saturation Grant received from Illinois Action for Children. Eligible organizations may apply Alignment Rockford to receive additional funds to offset the costs of paying facilitators to run cohorts.