Beyond Communication to Partnership: Building Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in Afterschool Programs

FREE & Virtual: Tuesdays- November 17th and 24th from 10am-12pm

Trainer: Dr. Willie Williams

This two-part, four-hour workshop helps afterschool professionals move beyond simply communicating with stakeholders to building relationships that foster trust, participation, and shared ownership. Participants will identify the diverse internal and external stakeholders who influence program success—including youth, families, school personnel, community partners, and organizational leaders—and explore communication and engagement strategies tailored to their needs. The workshop will provide practical tools for building trust, responding to concerns and resistance, gathering and using feedback, and creating meaningful opportunities for stakeholders to contribute to program decisions. Participants will also learn how to establish feedback loops and sustain relationships throughout the program year. By the end of the workshop, participants will have strategies and an initial framework for turning stakeholder participation into stronger, ongoing program partnerships.

Learning Objectives
Participants will:

1. Identify internal and external stakeholders who influence program success and assess their roles, needs, interests, and levels of involvement.
2. Distinguish between stakeholder communication, engagement, participation, and shared ownership.
3. Select and apply communication and engagement strategies that are appropriate for different stakeholder groups and program contexts.
4. Develop trust-building strategies that increase stakeholder participation and create meaningful opportunities for collaboration and partnership.
5. Apply strategies for responding to stakeholder concerns, resistance, and disengagement while maintaining productive relationships.
6. Establish feedback loops that demonstrate how stakeholder input informs program decisions, improvements, and outcomes.
7. Create an initial stakeholder engagement plan that supports ongoing participation, partnership, and shared ownership throughout the program year.

Audience: Youth development professionals serving young people, including program staff, managers, coordinators, directors, family engagement personnel, and organizational leaders interested in strengthening stakeholder relationships, increasing participation, and building stronger partnerships in afterschool programs.

FACILITATOR BIO

Willie Williams, Ph.D.

Dr. Willie Williams has over 10 years of experience as a licensed teacher, youth worker, educational advocate, curriculum developer, and 17-time published author. As an educator, he secured a grant that provided 15 teens from Chicago’s South and West Sides with the opportunity to visit the West Wing of the White House and meet President Barack Obama. In 2019, he received the Teach2Give Award honoring Chicago’s Most Remarkable Educators.

Dr. Williams has served as a Network 9 Social Science Professional Development Presenter, CPS Civics Committee Member, and Teacher Facilitator for Chicago Public Schools. He has also designed curriculum in collaboration with the Better Arguments Project, Stanford University, and the University of California, Riverside. He currently serves as Chair of the Rebecca Crown Youth Center Local Advisory Board and as a Community Service Consultant for Chicago Greek Weekend.