2026 MCEA Fall Conference

Discover how we transformed a standard two-hour monthly art class into a thriving, high-demand community meet-up. This session breaks down our framework for bridging diverse communities, sparking a genuine joy for learning, and encouraging creative risk-taking. Learn how designing a low-stress environment can lower social barriers, foster creative confidence, and build a sustainable engine for genuine human connection. 

Discover three innovative programs recognized as 2025 MCEA Project Award Winners and take home practical ideas you can implement in your own community.
This fast-paced showcase features:

• Mahtomedi Schools – Career, Internship & Volunteer Fair (Presenter: Kate Andersen) – Learn how to build meaningful partnerships with local businesses and community volunteers while connecting students to career exploration, internships, and volunteer opportunities.
• Faribault Public Schools – School Supplies for All (Presenter: Cassie Riopelle) – Explore how community partnerships and coordinated support can eliminate school supply lists, reduce financial barriers for families, and ensure every student begins the school year ready to learn.
• Proctor Public Schools/Hermantown Community Schools – DORA (Driving Opportunities with Recreational Activities) (Presenter: Kristal Berg & Kaitlyn Koehler) – Discover how a mobile recreation program can increase access, strengthen neighborhood connections, and provide high-impact, low-cost programming for children and families.

Whether you're looking to strengthen community partnerships, improve equitable access to programs and resources, or launch innovative initiatives in your district, this session will provide proven strategies from award-winning Community Education leaders.

Participants will:

• Learn practical strategies from three award-winning Community Education initiatives that can be replicated in districts of any size.
• Discover innovative approaches to engaging community partners, businesses, volunteers, and families.
• Gain ideas for increasing access, equity, and participation through creative programming and collaboration.
• Leave with actionable tools and inspiration to develop or enhance programs that positively impact students, families, and their communities.

Come learn more about how Hawthorne Education Center (Rochester) uses Northstar Digital Learning to improve digital literacy skills for adult learners across three different classroom settings. Activities will show best practice ideas of how to incorporate this interactive website in different ways.  Participants will have an opportunity to try Northstar during the session; laptop or other device recommended to fully participate. 

1. Northstar Digital Literacy is a website with free access to learning essential computer skills, software, and technology for daily life.
2. Topics for learning include introductory information (Basic Computer Skills, Internet Basics) to more specialized information (Windows 11, Google Doc, Social Media).  
3. Application of knowledge to benefit K-12 programs through module on supporting K-12 Distance Learning models.

Belonging is essential for engagement, learning, well-being, and community connection. This interactive workshop explores how unconscious bias can influence educational environments and provides practical strategies to recognize and interrupt bias. Through reflection, discussion, and real-world case studies, participants will gain actionable tools to foster inclusive learning spaces where all learners feel welcomed, valued, and connected. 

This session will provide an in-depth discussion of the essential components for sustaining social/emotional learning at the early childhood level. After a decade of Pyramid Model Implementation at Pearson Early Learning Center, the team has identified the following essential components for sustainability: strong social/emotional curriculum, consistent language, well-developed scope and sequence of social/emotional learning, community and family engagement activities, staff training and motivation, and a clear fundraising plan. 

Key takeaways:
-Participants will gain an in-depth understanding of the essential components for sustaining social/emotional learning at the early childhood level (and what this looks like on a day-to-day basis).
-Participants will walk away with specific ideas that can be implemented in their own sites.

Do you speak emergency? Communication and a common procedures can make all of the difference when seconds matter. The Standard Response Protocol (SRP) is the standard in K-12 schools. Learn how the SRP can change the way you prepare, react and communicate in various community education environments. 

During this fast-paced, interactive peer-to-peer session, participants will learn about an innovative model for conducting community needs assessments. In Fall 2025, ISD 622 Community Education and Marnita’s Table used Intentional Social Interaction (IZI) to reimagine programming. Outcomes include: identifying program strengths, uncovering participation barriers, and generating actionable solutions for addressing the current needs of a diversifying community. 

Most community education programs still rely on their print catalog for course registrations, even as families they hope to reach have moved online. This session follows one district's shift to digital marketing, including its first Meta campaign, which had 55,000+ impressions and drove 600+ landing page views for about $400, and offers a low-cost starting point that any program can run on its own.

Outcomes:

1. A realistic, low-cost first step for moving from a print-only approach to a digital-first one, with no marketing background or large budget required.
2. A simple way to use the registration data they already collect to segment audiences and send families messages that match their stage of life.
3. A practical approach for reaching new families who do not yet know community ed exists, including younger parents and households just outside the district.

Minnesota communities are facing unprecedented childcare shortages, and school districts are uniquely positioned to help bridge the gap. This session will provide a comprehensive, real-world roadmap for launching a leased family childcare model right inside your school walls. We will walk through the lifecycle of the initiative, including:

• Strategies to identify childcare gaps in your community and district.
• Navigating facility alterations, meeting licensing requirements, and managing liability concerns.
• How to seek out high-quality providers and structure mutually beneficial leasing agreements.
• Honest takeaways, pitfalls to avoid, and best practices developed over years of implementation.

Whether you have empty classrooms or need a staff retention tool you will leave this session with actionable steps to jumpstart a successful in-school family childcare partnership.

Key Takeaways:

1. Understand the legal, logistical, and licensing frameworks required to host external providers in school facilities.
2. Gain a practical checklist for assessing facility readiness and community demand.
   
   
   

Generative AI is changing how we work, communicate, plan, teach, promote programs, and serve our communities — and it is moving fast. But you do not need to be a tech expert to understand it, use it, or bring practical value back to your Community Education team. In this high-energy, practical session, Princess Paula brings her signature mix of humor, clarity, and real-world examples to help Community Education professionals better understand tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI platforms. Whether you are building program descriptions, communicating with families, supporting instructors, planning events, creating marketing content, improving workflows, or simply trying to keep up with what AI means for education and community engagement, this session will give your ideas you can actually use. And if you have attended one of Paula’s AI breakout sessions before, this session will include fresh updates, new tools, current examples, and additional ways to think about how AI can support your work in Community Education.

If you have ever worried you might accidentally break the internet, ask ChatGPT the wrong question, or discover that AI knows a little too much about your grocery list, you are in good company. Paula makes Generative AI approachable, useful, and far less intimidating with plenty of laughs along the way.

This session is designed for curious beginners, busy professionals, and anyone who wants to better understand how AI can save time, spark ideas, and support the important work Community Education teams do every day.

Key Takeaways

• Understand what Generative AI, ChatGPT, Claude, and LLMs actually are without needing a computer science degree or a secret decoder ring. 
• Learn how Community Education professionals can use AI for program planning, class descriptions, instructor communication, marketing, event support, newsletters, and daily operations. 
• Explore ways AI can help save time, reduce repetitive tasks, improve communication, and support stronger service to students, families, instructors, and community partners. 
• See updated tools, examples, and practical use cases for both first-time attendees and those who have attended Paula’s previous AI sessions. 

Leave with clear, practical ideas you can use right away to work smarter, communicate better, and stay relevant in a changing education and community engagement landscape.

Fact: Youth are vaping. Fact: Youth find it extremely difficult to quit. Youth say vapes are easy to obtain, easier to start, and extremely easy to get hooked. Learn how one youth group is boldly pushing Big Tobacco out of their lives and communities.

Outcomes:

1. Identify key strategies for building and sustaining a youth coalition.
2. Describe how the E-cigarette Prevention Initiative Youth Action Council (EPIYAC) is helping reduce youth vaping through yotuh-led prevention efforts.
3. Recognize the mutual benefits of meaningful youth engagement for both youth and adult partners.

Explore how 125 LIVE and Rochester Community Education built an innovative partnership to create diverse, responsive programming that serves evolving community needs. Learn how collaboration has expanded offerings in arts, fitness, outreach, multi-generational experiences, and educational programming while strengthening community engagement and creating adaptable models for lifelong learning.

Outcomes / Key Takeaways

• Identify strategies for building and sustaining successful community partnerships.
• Gain ideas for developing diverse programming that responds to changing participant interests and needs.

This interactive think tank invites Community Education professionals to generate bold, practical ideas for equity, inclusion, belonging, and public-sector change. Participants will help inform MCEA Equity Committee best-practices work while engaging in a trauma-informed space with clear guardrails for de-centering whiteness, avoiding performative allyship, and moving from values to action.

Outcomes / Key Takeaways

• Generate practical equity best-practice ideas for Community Education systems and programs.
• Practice shared agreements that de-center whiteness and support accountable participation.
• Identify bold, actionable strategies for advancing equity, inclusion, and belonging in public-sector spaces.

Learn from us! In this session, Winona ECFE shares how we moved our early childhood programming from nest to network through intentional internal coordination, increased family engagement, exciting community collaborations, and meeting families where they’re at. Through trial and error we filled empty seats, connected with new corners of our community, and learned a few lessons on what didn’t work. 

Attendees will learn:

1. How we’ve enlarged the reach of our program by expanding our focus from birth to third grade. 
2. Several ways that we’ve partnered and collaborated with community organizations.
3. How we have increased access to our programs through unique family engagement events.

In this session, participants will gain understanding of the importance Early Childhood Mental Health.  We will cover what typical development and how to identify mental health concerns.  Based on concerns participants will gain insight into pathways to getting mental health services and what it will look like for families getting services. 

Key Takeaways:
-Understand why Early Childhood Mental is important and what it looks like.
-Individuals will have an understanding of development and how and why it can go off track.
-Understand behaviors from the lens of development and when is behavior clinically significant to assess resources.
-Understand how resources work and the process of getting mental health services.

Community Education plays a vital role in how a school system serves the people in their district. Quality community ed programs are a critical factor in how school districts are viewed by their constituents. By attending this session, you will learn the requirements for becoming eligible for your CE Director license, and the role you can play as a school district and community leader. 

How do you communicate the value that Community Education brings to your community as an essential part of the educational opportunities available to all learners? The answer starts with listening. Through purposeful survey work, Community Education leaders can gather meaningful feedback, organize community insights, and use the data to make strategic decisions that reflect local needs and priorities.

This session will explore how to measure what matters most to your community and transform feedback into actionable programming that supports your community’s desire to learn, connect, and grow. Presenters will highlight a successful partnership between Owatonna Public Schools and School Perceptions that generated high-value community feedback, strengthened connections with stakeholders, and supported the continued growth of the Community Education program. Attendees will gain practical strategies for using survey data to demonstrate impact, guide decision-making, and build programs that reflect the voices of their communities.

This session will share a real-world case study from Centennial Public Schools, where staff turnover and low job satisfaction were threatening the stability of their early childhood programs. Through a facilitated engagement process, leaders uncovered root causes, gave staff multiple ways to be heard, and built alignment across administrators and principals. 


During this session you will: 

• Learn about engagement strategies based on multi-modal input, staff ownership, leadership team workshops, and principal partnerships
• Have time for interactive reflection to connect the lessons to your own community ed program, circumstances, and district

Leave with takeaway tools, including sample engagement techniques and leadership alignment practices

Generative AI is changing how we work, communicate, plan, teach, promote programs, and serve our communities — and it is moving fast. But you do not need to be a tech expert to understand it, use it, or bring practical value back to your Community Education team. In this high-energy, practical session, Princess Paula brings her signature mix of humor, clarity, and real-world examples to help Community Education professionals better understand tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI platforms. Whether you are building program descriptions, communicating with families, supporting instructors, planning events, creating marketing content, improving workflows, or simply trying to keep up with what AI means for education and community engagement, this session will give your ideas you can actually use. And if you have attended one of Paula’s AI breakout sessions before, this session will include fresh updates, new tools, current examples, and additional ways to think about how AI can support your work in Community Education.

If you have ever worried you might accidentally break the internet, ask ChatGPT the wrong question, or discover that AI knows a little too much about your grocery list, you are in good company. Paula makes Generative AI approachable, useful, and far less intimidating with plenty of laughs along the way.

This session is designed for curious beginners, busy professionals, and anyone who wants to better understand how AI can save time, spark ideas, and support the important work Community Education teams do every day.

Key Takeaways

• Understand what Generative AI, ChatGPT, Claude, and LLMs actually are without needing a computer science degree or a secret decoder ring. 
• Learn how Community Education professionals can use AI for program planning, class descriptions, instructor communication, marketing, event support, newsletters, and daily operations. 
• Explore ways AI can help save time, reduce repetitive tasks, improve communication, and support stronger service to students, families, instructors, and community partners. 
• See updated tools, examples, and practical use cases for both first-time attendees and those who have attended Paula’s previous AI sessions. 

Leave with clear, practical ideas you can use right away to work smarter, communicate better, and stay relevant in a changing education and community engagement landscape.

 Particpants will gain strategies to support staff, improve morale and retention, and develop techniques to increase emotional intelligence across teams.

The University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Program aims to share research-based horticulture knowledge to the public through projects with local partners and other community outreach opportunities. This presentation will discuss the statewide Master Gardener Volunteer Program, provide examples of community collaboration in Olmsted County such as free educational programming for adults and youth using the garden as an outdoor classroom, and inspire you to connect with Master Gardener Volunteers in your local area.