The Educator Wellness Revolution Podcast by EmpowerEd

For our first episode of 2026, we're discussing a topic central to both student achievement and educator well-being: effective family engagement. We know families are essential for student success, but too often the pressure for this falls on individual teachers rather than being supported by a systematic approach that creates consistent, empathy-driven interactions. We were so lucky to speak with Emily Garcia, Executive Director of the Flamboyan Foundation. Flamboyan has partnered with over 70 schools in Washington, DC, to help educators improve their proactive family engagement practice and provide systems-level support to help ensure that all leaders see families as partners in a student's academic and personal growth. Emily shares the core strategies for better family engagement, including taking an assets-based perspective and challenging internal biases when interacting with families. She also outlines best practices that help educators enlist families in ways that actually make their jobs easier, rather than adding to the overwhelm. We also discuss: - The biggest misconception about effective family engagement—something we see all the time in schools. - Why making family engagement a top priority helps educators and schools achieve all their other goals. - The magic of the "home visit" and how schools can better support educators in this practice. - And much more! We loved this conversation and hope it inspires you to focus on family engagement in new ways this year. As always, we’d love your feedback. What family engagement strategies have been most effective for you? Thank you for listening! Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email gracy@weareempowered.org