By Danielle M. Perry, PhD
Introduction
This case study on Adventurous Minds Produce Extraordinary Dreams (AMPED) offers a unique insight into the ways community-based centers can serve as a catalyst of social change and family engagement. Data included in this report build on year one findings that demonstrate AMPED is positioned as a community resource that connects families to the tools, knowledge, and networks that helps them make informed decisions about their child’s academic and social learning and development. In this process, families emerged as engaged leaders, advocates and decision-makers.
In year two of the Kentucky Collaborative research study, AMPED continues to create a space where families feel empowered. Findings demonstrate that families’ have essential knowledge that can aid in the capacity building of educators, specifically cultural knowledge that can enrich the classroom experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students. In the following case study is evidence of a community resource that provides enriching out-of-school services to students and families. Each section of the findings illustrates the program-level policies, practices, and conditions that support engaging and empowering families to advocate on behalf of their children and community.
Mission & Values
AMPED is a center for creative opportunity. For the families in West Louisville, where AMPED is located, programming connects academic and socioemotional growth to the arts. AMPED described their center as a “a bright spot, a thriving community center where, as soon as you enter, positivity is palpable. Kids and adults alike are allowed and indeed encouraged to express their creativity through music: writing, performing, and producing.” At AMPED, they believe that “all youth should have equal access to the arts,” and they’ve used this platform to recruit children and families to not only their arts-based services, but also other programming, such as their family learning program, technology workforce development center, and the Russell Tech Business Incubator.
Community & Context
On their website, AMPED paints a clear picture of why their services are essential to the community. They described:
Adventurous Minds Produce Extraordinary Dreams (AMPED) has two campuses situated in West Louisville, a community that in the past few decades has experienced considerable blight. AMPED hosts programs throughout Louisville, at schools and community centers, but the two main centers are in ZIP codes 40211 and 40203, where the poverty rates are 27% and 44%, respectively. AMPED has supported over “1,200 children throughout the Kentuckian area.”
They have collaborated with local school districts, organizations, and performing arts centers to inspire children and families. Their in-house programs primarily service children aged 8-18.
Family Engagement at AMPED
A partnership with KY Collaborative Partner, National Center for Families Learning (NCFL), has supported family engagement and leadership training with parents/ caregivers through education, trainings, and resource support. Activities include:
Family Literacy Programs: The Family Literacy Program was offered to AMPED families in the spring of 2022 through a partnership with NCFL “to provide parents with educational opportunities and strategies to advocate for their children’s learning both at home and school.” Over the course of 6 weeks, families participated in Parent and Child Time (also known as PACT Time), completing activities together such as Reading Round Robin, Yoga and Meditation, STEAM nights and Family Music programming. Parents/caregivers also participated in critical conversations around school decision-making strategies, advocacy practices, institutional and structural challenges like redlining and its impact on schooling choices, and busing, which is very prevalent in JCPS, and the way it creates additional inequities.
Parent University: The Parent University sessions brought together a network of parents/caregivers looking to share their stories and shift educational practices in Jefferson County. The outcome of this workshop was parents developing an Equity in Family Engagement Toolkit designed to “enhance educator capacity in partnering with families,” specifically BIPOC families. (see example here:)
Equity in Family Engagement Toolkit Companion Through Virtual Reality: AMPED was part of an initiative to determine strategies for students to be more successful in the classroom in the local school district. The purpose of the initiative was to determine more effective ways to address learning barriers and improve academic success, including building capacity among both educators and families to better partner with one another. A virtual reality class experience was developed in which families engaged in a weekly workshop to develop curriculum that educators can use to accompany the Equity in Family Engagement Toolkit. Families received a pair of Oculus Virtual Glasses to utilize during the learning sessions and will be able to keep them following the completion. There was one class each week for seven weeks.
