What is Working for Kids: Building Skills™?

Working for Kids: Building Skills™ is an educational program that seeks to build strong communities by focusing on the development of a community’s most precious asset --- its children. Working for Kids: Building Skills™ is a train-the-trainer program that teaches social service providers, teachers and trainers how to deliver educational information to parents so they can better support their children’s brain development. The educational program uses fun interactive learning materials and games to teach so that the information about how the brain develops over the first 25 years of life and how all adults in a community can help facilitate sturdy brain development in children is easy to learn, engaging and can be immediately put to use within a community by parents, child care providers, teachers and all who work with children. Educational Training Programs and Training Resources are available through Working for Kids: Building Skills™. Many of the resources available to teach parents are free (see The First Pathways Game on the Training Resources page of this website).

The Working for Kids: Building Skills™ program has been tested over the past seven years in a number of communities and has been shown to positively impact children’s brain development (read articles published about this evidence-based program that are cited on the Training Resources page of this website).

Working for Kids: Building Skills™ Flyer

How Do You Learn More About Working for Kids: Building Skills™?

There is a lot of information available on this website, including a number of videos and links. Under the tab 'About Us' read the Working for Kids: Building Skills™ mission statement and learn about the team of program developers. Under the tab 'Training Programs' learn about all the different educational programs we offer to parents and other community adults, professionals working with young children, professionals working with teens in the juvenile justice system, and executive directors and legislators responsible for deciding what educational programs to make available in their communities. The 'Training Resources' tab lists all of the educational materials and games Working for Kids: Building Skills™ has developed. You can watch videos about these educational materials.

News about Working for Kids: Building Skills™

January 9th-12th, 2024

The Working for Kids: Building Skills™ program is providing training to community agencies, social workers, school district personnel, school counselors and psychologists who work with children at three Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU) Family Support Centers who are participating in the TEAR (Trauma Education & Response) program. The goal of this AIU initiative is to support children exposed to trauma and violence through improved communication between law enforcement and schools so that children who are exposed to trauma receive appropriate interventions to help them succeed academically. Working for Kids will be using interactive educational tools to teach participants how changes in the things that children do when they are exposed to stress differentially builds brain pathways, such that children’s responses to stress shapes the impact of the stress on their developing brains. Practical guidelines will be provided for how to facilitate adult-child interactions that will most effectively help children develop stress resilience, support systems and interventions that can help counteract the impact of life stresses on children’s brain development and help them build resilience to the impacts of stress will be discussed.

School Counselor from the New Kensington-Arnold School District – “I would like to build the concept of ‘charging stations’ into my guidance lessons.”

Community-based Resource Coordinator from Gwen’s Girls – “The process of brain development is precious and needs gentleness and patience.”