Envisioning a World Where Families Flourish: Inland Northwest Early Learning Alliance

Author: Brenna Bream

Inland Northwest Early Learning Alliance (INWELA) envisions a world where families flourish. Jill Johnson, INWELA’s Regional Lead, and Katie Maisch, INWELA’s Communications Coordinator, describe their region in terms of its role to center families while building relationships and effective connections. Reflecting their mission “to help young children and families succeed,” the network emphasizes listening to family voices. While facilitating opportunities to hear families, they’ve been asking questions—of themselves and their communities.  

Members of INWELA met with Representative Bob McCaslin, District 4, during Washington Communities for Children’s Advocacy Week, to ask for his support in the coming year.

INWELA’s footprint spans seven counties in northeast Washington, and historically, much of their membership and engagement has been in Spokane County. Recognizing the potential for deeper impact, the region is pursuing the interests of neighboring counties to be involved. Like others in this work, INWELA does not aim to reinvent the wheel, but rather to keep casting their net further. They are noticing who is in their conversations and who is excluded in order to promote dialogue and participation for more partners in their region.  

…the goal of the focus groups was to essentially ask families, “If you could create your own resource, what would it look like and how would you access it?” - Katie Maisch

Believing that local communities can best identify their needs, INWELA partnered with Spokane Regional Health District to host parent focus groups. Jill noted their motivation for this approach was to “pursue the data that felt right to our community.” Local partners were invited to a series of conversations asking families to share their experiences with resource navigation. Questions revolved around specifics—how they hear about resources and where they go to access them, how they experience discrimination and challenges, and what resources are needed to improve family well-being. Katie summarized that the goal of the focus groups was to essentially ask families, “If you could create your own resource, what would it look like and how would you access it?”  Spokane Regional Health District will be sharing the survey responses on April 14. INWELA looks forward to learning the results and co-designing solutions with families, one of their key values. The data will be publicly available to provide visibility in their creation of a coordinated access platform.  

INWELA is asking bigger questions to cultivate growth such as, “What does the table look like? Will they come if you build it? How do you know what to build if you don’t ask? What is success, and who is defining it?” - Jill Johnson

To enhance their effectiveness, INWELA is viewing their work through more of an equity lens. Last summer the region participated in a diversity, equity and inclusion workshop that stretched them to reflect as a region. Jill notes that INWELA is asking bigger questions to cultivate growth such as, “What does the table look like? Will they come if you build it? How do you know what to build if you don’t ask? What is success, and who is defining it?” In beginning to answer these questions, they are strengthening existing relationships and engaging further with partners outside of Spokane. 

These outward-focused questions have led to internal expansion. INWELA has been re-examining itself as an alliance to avoid becoming stagnant in its work. They rewrote their mission statement in the last year to make their purpose top of mind and easy to communicate. Keeping sharp, they remain committed to both coming alongside families and staying open to the ways their work can evolve.  

You can stay connected to INWELA by signing up for their newsletter or checking out their Facebook page or website for events and opportunities to join their work!