Past Events
Past Events
CCWF is awarded a grant by the Pritzker Foundation
We are elated to announce that the Pritzker Early Childhood Foundation has awarded CCWF with a grant that will allow for the initiation of our larges ICDP-USA program to date! ICDP Facilitator Workshop Day 1 was launched ln December 4th as a result of this funding in four new sites across the Chicago area including Engelwood, Carpentersville, Cicero, and Rogers Park. The grant is for the professional development of Early Childhood Workers and Child Care Center and to strengthen their support of the parents of the children they serve. It is a replication grant awarded for 2014 and 2015.
2015 CCWF & Public Awareness Campaign & "Ultimate Children's Playhouse" Raffle Fundraiser
The purpose of this event was to raise awarenes of the importance of empathy-based learning for parents, caregivers and children and to raise funds to support CCWF's work, our primary project being our Summer Parent Learning Groups, including one for families with a child with special needs. CCWF's eight simple empathy-based guidleines for family communications, interactions and realtionships are taught to aid the social and emotional development of our children, helping them become strong learners and leaders!
Project Mobility "Everybody Rides" Event
CCWF supported the Everybody Rides event on August 30th, 2015 in St. Charles.
Tricity Family Services Program
A weekly learning group program, that took place in St. Charles, IL, 2015, that assists in strengthening family relationships. Helps parents learn from other parents and caregivers, share ideas and experiences that assist caregivers give children what they need to flourish. Family members learned the eight guidlines to help develop and sustain quality interactions with their children.
Nigerian Delegation visit
On November 21, 2013 members of the CCWF staff along with special guests Joyce Larnyoh and members of the visiting Nigerian Delegation attended a workshop in which empathy's role in restorative justice and trauma-informed practice was discussed. The workshop focused on how the development of empathy increases resiliency to trauma and even acts as an antidote to violence. The event was held at The Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago.
ICDP Workshop 2014
April 28-30 ICDP Facilitator Training Workshop 1 - SGA / Brighton Park- May-June ICDP Launch at Batavia Partners with Tri-City Family Services -May 5-6 ICDP Presentation &Workshops - Nashville, TN at Archdiocese National Conference on Safety- May 8-9 ICDP Work with New Orleans Partners- May 16-17 ICDP Facilitator Workshop 2 - Geneva- June 20-21, 23 ICDP Facilitator Workshop 1 - Geneva- July-Oct FIRST Military-Connected Family ICDP Program
The ICDP workshop for Tri-Cities Family Services was held on October 25th, 2013
Dr Kimberly Svevo at the John Marshall Law School
On October 24th, 2013 (United Nations Day), The International Law Society of The John Marshall Law School presented Dr. Kimberly Svevo, Chairman of CCWF as its guest speaker. Students learned about the UN Convention on the rights of the Child!
The Changing Children’s Worlds Foundation's FUNdraising Event
Friends, Supporters and Partners had a wonderful time at the October 13th FUNdraising Event and CCWF came very close to reaching its $10,000 financial goal for the event. Thank you participants and good friends/donors who were present and not present.
Activities included putting contests for all-level golfers, driving range and short-game practice with tips from Cantigny Pros, an obstacle miniature golf course, and great Silent Auction and Raffle gifts - which ensured that most guests left with prizes ranging from a full-team autographed Black Hawks Hockey Stick, Weekends in Galena, Golf 4-somes and Lessons, Spa and Food Baskets, and glorious jewelry and designer clothes!Despite some off and on rain - the Cantigny Golf Academy venue provided in-door shelter, out-door access and fantastic views of the autumn day on one of the most beautiful golf courses in America. Our 50+ guests have assured us they will be back next year!!
Dr. Svevo-Cianci presents Keynote Address at Local Summit on School Security.
School districts across the country are examining the effectiveness of school violence prevention and safety programs. Locally, St. Charles Community School District 303, 2013 created Summit 303: Mental Health – A Key to School Security in order to discuss these issues and to create effective intervention strategies. Dr. Svevo-Cianci presented the keynote at the first meeting on March 20, 2013. Click here to view Dr. Svevo-Cianci's powerpoint for the summit. She spoke on the topic of mental health and the role schools, families and community must play.
Fox Valley Presbyterian Church and CCWF Partnered on a important topic
"Family: Parent & Child Development Program"
July 28 - November 10, 2013
There were many who joined us in "Family Development" with the Changing Children's Worlds Foundation located right here in Geneva, Illinois, at 411 Stevens Street just west of Wheeler Park. The FVPC family development training ran from July 28-November 10. It was open to parents and caregivers, and offered an opportunity to improve family relationships, learn and apply empathy based International Child Development Guidelines, and share the experiences with others in a friendly "parenting group."
Facilitator training was also available on the weekend of June 28-30 for teachers, counselors, social workers, and other professionals who were interested in earning professional development hours, connecting to Social Emotional Learning standards, and an opportunity to facilitate future family development training sessions.
CCWF Joined Exchange Club May 16, 2013.
On May 15 CCWF celebrated our 600 facebook followers by raffling off an info packet! The packet included our brochure, newsletter and other information about our organization. We picked a follower at random, and the winner is Marta Es Flores! Marta, please send us an address we can send your packet to.
Also in 2013...
ICDP Introduced to Geneva, Illinois Bi-lingual Parents and Educators in April-June Sessions.
Bi-lingual Parenting Classes Geneva High School - CCWF is holding a series of Care Giver Learning Group classes for bi-lingual parents at the high school. The classes are being led by Drs. Kimberly Svevo and Chantal Dejean.
A Recent Study Gives High Marks to ICDP
An Evaluation of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) as a community-wide parenting programme, published in the European Journal of Developmental Psychology in May 2013, shows “ more positive attitudes towards child management and better child management, improved parental strategies and less impact of child difficulties . . . Caregivers with low initial scores benefited most.”
The study indicated that “the comparison group showed little change with a significant decrease in scores on the care-giver child activity scale. The results suggest that caregivers in the community, who do not show clinical signs or have children with behavior or other disorders, may benefit from participating in ICDP parent training…”The results support the call for community-wide implementation of ICDP and other parenting programmes."
Also, Kimberly Svevo-Cianci reports that Prof Alan Detlaff and PhD student Dennette from the University of Illinois have been working on a narrative review of eleven ICDP evaluation reports and articles with a meta-analysis conducted on a subset of those reports. This will be an important document for ICDP in the USA. A positive result would also be very helpful for all emerging and potential ICDP programmes worldwide.
Kane County Chronicle Newspaper Article
Web of relationships aids success in kids, foundation co-founder says
By BRENDA SCHORY - bschory@shawmedia.com
Created: Friday, October 19, 2012 5:30 a.m. CDT
GENEVA – When school officials want to teach youths about the dangers of drugs, they might do a presentation. International child-youth advocate Derek Peterson dismissed that as ineffective.
“An in-service without bonding is a ‘drive-by,’ ” Peterson said this week during a two-day workshop on how to improve student performance and reduce at-risk behaviors. “The adults come out, do a workshop and say, ‘We did what we could do to stop drugs.’ No, we didn’t.”
Peterson, a co-founder of Changing Children’s Worlds Foundation, a charity based in Geneva that focuses on violence prevention, said the way to help youth succeed is to bond with them first. The workshop was at the group’s headquarters at 411 Stevens St.
Peterson said research shows teenagers who sit through a presentation do not change their behavior. But with bonding, data shows a change toward success.
“This is so controversial because it takes a lot of time,” Peterson told a small group attending the workshop. “But when you take that time … I swear to God, it leads to change.”
Peterson uses the imagery of strings in a web to illustrate how a children’s relationships support and protect them while they are developing. The more strings in the web, the more support and improvement in development. Less support, the more likely youths will engage in dangerous or negative behavior that can affect them all their lives, Peterson said.
Peterson has worked with community groups across Arizona. Through hands-on workshops, Peterson said people saw resources they could offer their youth and collected them in a book, “Helping Kids Succeed Arizona Style.”
Kimberly Svevo-Cianci, president and executive director of Changing Children’s Worlds Foundation, said she wants a similar effort in Kane County.
Nate Micatka, 16, a junior at Geneva High School, said he was glad he came to the workshop.
“I learned that everybody has a web, and they need to be supported by five adult figures,” Micatka said. “Parents, teachers – or just someone who can be there for you.”
“We thought it would be a great opportunity to see what additional tools are out there to assist us in interacting with the youths of the community,” sheriff’s spokesman Pat Gengler said in an email. “[Biddle] is a midnight shift deputy, and they oftentimes come into contact [with] youths in crisis. When you are working at 3 a.m., there are not a lot of agencies to help.”
Two Kane County sheriff’s deputies, Krysta Kaus, school resource officer in Burlington, and patrol officer Andrew Biddle attended.