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EQUIPO Leadership Training

EQUIPO is a front-line practice strategy. The EQUIPO curriculum is designed to strengthen the partnership between natural helpers in the community and formal service providers.

The EQUIPO (team) Project provides training to natural helpers and formal local service providers to support neighborhood families through collaboration to access services and improve the lives of children and families. Training is divided into three specific curriculum based training sessions with a focus on collaboration, community building, and team work.

The EQUIPO model was developed by CFS for the Abriendo Puertas Family Resource Center in Miami's East Little Havana as part of the Annie E. Casey Mental Health Initiative for Urban Children. The program provided services to families in partnership with a team of community residents (informal supports) and professionals (formal supports) who were trained together to provide a range of neighborhood services. It was found, using a network analysis approach to assess impact, that families who participated in the EQUPIO program were less isolated and more connected to social supports and formal service providers.

EQUIPO has been implemented and adapted in other communities and also provides professionals strategies for better utilizing informal supports within the community. In Miami- Dade County, ConnectFamilias is the first and only neighborhood partnership funded by The Children’s Trust that has successfully implemented the EQUIPO model. In two separate Florida communities, EQUIPO, funded by the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, has been adapted (called CHANGEMAKERS and SUCCESSMAKERS) to meet the needs of the children and families.