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The Christopher Family Foundation has partnered with Bright Promises Foundation since 2019. We have long admired their focused funding model which helps to build fieldwide knowledge around emerging issues impacting children. From 2016 – 2022, Bright Promises focused on the issue of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) at home–which turned out to be incredibly prescient given what transpired in March 2020.

The culmination of their 6-year focus on SEL at home is an online resource filled with helpful, easy-to-use tools for children and parents to learn and practice social emotional competencies. Read on for a detailed description of this new resource from our colleagues at Bright Promises.

A New Tool to Support Children’s Health and Wellbeing

This spring, with the support of the Christopher Family Foundation, Bright Promises launched Bright Communities, a new website dedicated to providing parents, caregivers, educators, and service providers with high-quality Social Emotional Learning (SEL) resources to support the development of important life skills in children and youth.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) focuses on five core competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

For children and adults alike, SEL offers a powerful means to explore and express our emotions, build relationships, and support each other. Fostering strong relationships and supporting children and adults in building core SEL skills can promote well-being and mitigate negative effects of trauma in both the short and long term. (Yoder, N., Posamentier, J., Godek, D., Seibel, K., & Dusenbury, L. (2020))

We know that strong social-emotional skills are essential for individuals, families, and communities to thrive. That’s why Bright Promises Foundation worked so hard with our community partners to create the Bright Communities website — to make it easy for you to access the resources you need to improve your social-emotional skills and help others do the same.

Everything You Need, All In One Place

The Bright Communities resource website was created through a multi-year collaboration between Bright Promises Foundation and five community-based organizations that are experts in the field of social emotional learning: Illinois Afterschool Network, Changing Children’s Worlds Foundation, Enlace Chicago, VOCEL, and Tuesday’s Child.

Bright Communities is designed to provide parents, caregivers, and service providers with the best social-emotional learning resources available. This website offers a curated collection of high-quality resources that have been carefully selected by experts in the field. We’ve done the research for you, so you can trust that the materials on this site are effective and relevant.

In addition to providing users with a wide range of resources, this website also offers an easy-to-use interface that allows users to quickly find what you need, including a calendar of upcoming events and referrals to local organizations providing SEL programs. Whether you’re a parent looking for activities to do with your child, a teacher seeking lesson plans, or a professional looking for expert advice, you’ll be able to find it on the Bright Communities website.

Visit the Bright Communities website at www.brightpromises.org/bright-communities.

 About Bright Promises Foundation

Bright Promises Foundation’s mission is to empower children and youth adversely impacted by inequity to reach their full potential by identifying, funding, and sharing creative solutions to underrecognized needs. Bright Promises’ current initiatives include increasing access to high-quality early childhood education for low-income children, expanding Social Emotional Learning support for families, and addressing the impact of racial trauma on children and youth.  Learn more at www.brightpromises.org.