Promoting Positive Childhood Experiences through the Nebula Childcare Collaborative
Since becoming a HOPE-Informed organization in 2026, Nebula Childcare Collaborative, an organization that supports educators and caregivers, has imbued the HOPE framework in its internal culture as well as outward facing work. The collaborative provides a range of services to the communities it serves, including Nurturing Parenting® classes in Spanish, Arabic, Dari, and English to ensure families can access support in the language that feels most comfortable and meaningful to them.
Nurturing Parenting® classes highlight positive childhood experiences (PCEs), drawing attention to the ways each family or community member can provide PCEs for children. Nurture HOPE ™, which was created to support families navigating the experiences of raising children with disabilities and health challenges, focuses on PCEs as well.
Meeting community needs through listening and honoring their differences
Rebecca Armentrout, founder and executive director of the collaborative, says that listening to what the community needs is a critical ingredient in its success, and matches the spirit of the HOPE framework.
“One thing that’s always resonated with me when we became really familiar with the HOPE-Informed structure is that a lot of times we’re telling communities what they need and what they do, versus taking a stance of curiosity and really listening to our communities and honoring that every community is different,” she said. “It’s not us telling you what you should do and should not do. It’s saying, ‘What’s working in your community, where [are] strengths and resources in your community, and how can we come alongside to support?’”
Meeting behavioral challenges with a strength-based approach
Armentrout also connects with the HOPE framework because it is strengths-based, not deficit-based.
“How do you take that challenging behavior and align it with [Four] Building Blocks [of relationships, environment, engagement, and emotional growth] and HOPE philosophy, instead of just [calling it] challenging behavior, which can also be considered a deficit way of looking at children?” she said.
The collaborative has incorporated the HOPE framework into its internal culture through multiple pathways. They developed a new policies and procedures handbook that all staff, contractors and collaborative partners receive. It was redesigned through the HOPE-based framework and provides an orientation to HOPE principles during onboarding.
Spreading the HOPE framework everywhere
They have also incorporated the HOPE Coaching Guide into their regular supervision and team consultation processes. During supervision sessions, supervisors use the guide to structure conversations around strengths, protective factors, and opportunities to increase access to the Four Building Blocks of HOPE, or key types of PCEs that children need to thrive. Rather than focusing solely on challenges, staff are encouraged to identify the positive experiences already present in the lives of the children and families they serve and to consider how those strengths can be leveraged to support goals and address challenges.
The collaborative has redesigned its website to include HOPE-aligned language on every page. Ultimately, they aim to deliver the HOPE framework to as many stakeholders as possible.
“We joke that positive experiences should just be spread everywhere. It’s not a proprietary model. It’s not a model that’s developed and [you] say, ‘This is our thing.’” Instead, it’s “‘How do we spread that and share that with communities?’”
