Inclusion and Belonging | Champions

Your child belongs in our circle.

No matter your child's age, you have big dreams for their future. So do we. That’s why we commit to preparing them for the next step at school—and beyond.

Browse through this page to learn how we help early learners welcome others and cheer each other on. You will also find resources for practicing these skills at home.

Bring inclusion home.

Teaching empathy, compassion and understanding to kids is much easier than you think! In fact, you may be doing a lot of it already. Click through the tabs below to get more ideas on how to bring these important lessons home!

Ages 8–12
Ages 5–7
Ages 3–5

Involve older children in conversations about fairness and justice.

Fairness and justice are hot topics for this age group, and that makes these concepts easy for them to relate to.

Explore the concept of fairness. Sometimes everyone getting the same thing feels fair (for example, siblings getting the same desert or similar gifts). Other times if feels fair when each person get what they need even if it isn't the same (for example, a thirsty person getting water and a hungry person getting food).
Keep the conversation going. As things come up in the news or in your community, talk about them—your child’s opinions and ideas might surprise you!

Expand your child’s point of view (in big and small ways).

Use everyday moments as teachable opportunities to open your child to other points of view and new experiences.

Explore outside your neighborhood. When signing up for activities, try a music class or a play soccer in a new neighborhood, where you’ll broaden your family’s potential for meeting new groups of people.
Check out community events. Celebrate different cultures, holidays, and observances that are different from yours. Look to your local library for ideas—sometimes they also have free resources and events.

Dream big and often, letting your child know they can accomplish anything they put their mind to.
Be upstanders together. Talk about how you might handle a situation when someone isn’t being treated respectfully and how you could support them.

Learn about understanding and inclusion.

The lessons they learn now will build on new ones as your child grows, helping them develop a foundation for empathy, compassion, and understanding.

Introduce new points of view. Read books that show different cultures, activities, and characters than those in your own home, listen (and dance) to new music genres, enjoy a wide variety of flavors when you eat, and look at art created by artists all over the world. As you build these experiences, they create new thought patterns that help your child see differences as attributes.
Acknowledge similarities and differences. Bring your child’s attention to things they can see that are different and the same about themselves and yourself! Pointing to and naming parts of your body that are the same (i.e., “We both have eyes”) or describing the qualities that are different (i.e., “You have green eyes and I have brown eyes”) can help your child learn to appreciate and accept the ways we are alike yet also unique.
Name feelings in themselves and others. When your child has big feelings, give them a name (i.e., “I see that loud noise made you feel scared”) and let them know it’s okay to express their feelings. Then, you can help them recognize that feeling in others (i.e., “Your friend feels scared right now. Remember when you felt scared?”). These are building blocks for empathy and understanding, which can help interrupt the development of biases before they start.

Our programs are safe, supportive learning environments.

Respecting all kinds of families, and fostering a safe, welcoming community is foundational to who we are. In big cities and small towns, families come to us from every walk of life. When you join us, we’re committed to valuing the experiences and traditions you bring with you and honoring them within our community. We do this by:

Using classroom materials that reflect the local community and the people who live there.
Creating accessible and welcoming spaces, with the support of our Inclusion Services team.
Helping children recognize and speak out against unfairness.

Champions is a place that welcomes families of all different backgrounds, means, and structures. We strive to create a place where every child can thrive and feel confident in who they are.

Doing what's right for our employees and our community.

Kids aren’t the only ones learning at Champions! Education is a lifelong journey, and we are committed to learning about and creating respectful, welcoming, and supportive spaces for all our employees. In addition to leaning in and listening to our employees, and honoring their experiences, we’re working on taking meaningful steps forward in our journey in ways that benefit our students, families, employees, and the communities where we work and live.

Here are a few things we’re doing right now:

Giving our employees space to be heard and opportunities to learn with employee resource groups, guest speakers, and other employee events.
Working with experts across industries and government to help us identify areas for improvement and define a way forward.
Partnering with underrepresented groups within our company and assigning a leadership caucus to represent interests within our business.
Supporting local communities through partnerships that place importance on education equity, early childhood literacy, whole- child health, and more.
Assisting families of all kinds with child care through benefits programs and subsidies that can help offset the cost of care.

When we all work together, we get closer to creating an inclusive community for all.

Learn about our programs Take a virtual tour