DOCUMENT RESUME ED 401 008 PS 024 724 AUTHOR Wolf, …DOCUMENT RESUME. PS 024 724. Wolf, Kathy Goetz Parents Leading the Way. Family Resource Coalition, Chicago, IL.; National ...

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PS 024 724

Wolf, Kathy GoetzParents Leading the Way.Family Resource Coalition, Chicago, IL.; NationalResource Center for Family Centered Practice, IowaCity, IA.Administration for Children, Youth, and Families(DHHS), Washington, D.C.; Danforth Foundation, St.Louis, Mo.ISSN-1041-86609690-CW-1084/0137p.Family Resource Coalition, 200 South Michigan Avenue,16th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604.Collected Works Serials (022) ReportsDescriptive (141)Family Resource Coalition Report; v15 n2 Sum 1996

MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.Activism; Advocacy; *Children; Community Involvement;Community Programs; Computer Networks; DecisionMaking; Developmental Disabilities; *FamilyInvolvement; *Family Programs; Family Relationship;Family Role; Leadership; *Parent Participation;*Parents; Personal Narratives; Policy; PolicyFormation; Program Evaluation; QuestioningTechniques; Social Action*Family Support

This special issue of the Family Resource CoalitionReport presents personal experiences and reflections regarding parentinvolvement and leadership in family support. Articles in this issueare: (1) "The Vaughn Family Center: It's My Story" (Jorge Lara andMatt Oppenheim); (2) "Asking the Right Questions is Key to DevelopingParent Advocacy" (Luz Santana); (3) "Parents United and Uniting"(Mark Smith); (4) "New York Parents Become Partners in Policy Making"(Sally Mehrtens and others); (5) "Getting Involved in State-LevelPlanning: One Parent Walks the Long, Rocky Road of Collaboration"(Carmen Siberon); (6) "Using Computers to Build Local Community:Newark Residents are Turning MUSIC Into Health and Education" (PamelaMorgan); (7) "Parent Network Empowers a Community" (Beverly Bell,Jr.); (8) "Houston Family Advocacy Network is Parents' Vehicle forChange: FAN Members Speak"; (9) "Community Involvement in ProgramDecision Making" (Bryan Samuels and Tony Markward); (10) "Becoming aBoard Member: A Parent's Story"; (11) "Georgia's Youth FuturesAuthority Involves Youths and Adults in Local Planning" (JacquelineElmore); (12) "Parent Network Center: Parents Help Each OtherAdvocate for Children with Disabilities" (Joan M. Watkins); (13)

"Turning Up the Volume on Parent Feedback In Evaluation" (NiloferAhsan); (14) "Empowering Parents is Mining Diamonds in the Rough"(Ted Bowman); and (15) "National Parent Assembly: Opportunities,Challenges, and Results" (Lucy Trujillo and Kathy Goetz Wolf).(KDFB)

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F U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION("thee of Educational RtlltCh and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

)(pis document has been reproduce° as°clime° from the person or organization

originating itO Minor changes have been made to improve

reproduction Quality

Points of view or oerniOnS stated in this dOcvment do not necessarily represent ofriciaiOERI position or polICV

Parents Leading the WayVolume 15, Number 2Summer 1996

3 About This Issue

Maria Elena Orrego

4 The Vaughn Family Center: It's My Story

Jorge Lora with Matt Oppenheim

7 Developing a Nationwide Model for Parent Advocacy

Luz Santana

8 Boston Parents Join Forces for Childcare

Mark Smith

9 New York Parents Are Partners in Policy Making

Sally Mehrtens with Anna

Lobosco and Carol Nash

10 Being a State-Level Planner: A

Parent's View

Carmen Siberon

I I Parent-Friendly Computers

Help Build Local Community

Pamela Morgan

13 Parent Network Empowers a

Virginia Community

Beverly Bell, Jr

15 Local Governance is Parents'

Project in Houston

16 Making the Most of

Community Input

Bryan Samuels and

Tony Markward

21 Becoming a Board Member:

A Parent's Story

Interview with Jewell Cody

22 Georgia Initiative Involves

Youth in Local Planning

Jacqueline Elmore

ISSN 1041 -8660

23 Parents of Children With Disabilities Advocate Together

Joan M. Watkins

24 Preview: A Tool for Turning Up the Volume

On Parent Feedback

Nilofer Ahsan

27 Empowering Families is Mining Diamonds in the Rough

Ted Bowman

29 FRC Learns Lessons from the Parent Assembly

Lucy Trujillo and Kathy Goetz Wolf

33 Resource File

N AYSP

DRUG-FREECOMMUNITY

O

PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE ANDDISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL

HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 'ational Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice

AWS

<0.. 7

ell

C,

Parents are leading the way to community ownership of the programs that

serve children and families. And in creating this special-focus issue of FRC

Report, parents also led the way. FRC wishes to thank first and foremost the

parent leaders, organizers. planners. and program participants who gave gener-

ously of their time and talents to create this publication. Many, many parents

and others working in parent-led programs wrote about their efforts or agreed

to be interviewed for this Report; their hard work will help others navigate the

difficult road to empowermentMaria Elena Orrego, FRC's Washington. D.C., liaison, contributed significantly

to this issue; her knowledge, experience working with parents, and commitment

to parent empowerment made her input invaluable. Many thanks to her and

FRC staff Bryan Samuels. Joanne Kelly, Anthony Williams, and Brenda Rodriguez

for contacting parent leaders, reviewing content, providing information for the

resource file, and contributing to the vision for this project.

FRC Report thanks the Danforth Foundation for its support of this publication

and of the Parent Assembly. Without their generosity these efforts would not

have been possible.

This issue of FRC Report was produced in part by the National Resource

Center for Family-Centered Practice, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Administration on Children,Youth,

and Families; Children's Bureau, cooperative agreement number 90-CW-1084/01 under contract with the University of Iowa School of

Social Work The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the funders, nor does mention of trade

names. commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

REPORT

Editor. KATHY GOETZ WOLF

Assistant Editor, JACQUELINE LALLEY

Artist YOSHI MIYAKE

Art Director LYNN PEARSON

Editorial Assistant SHAMARA RILEY

Reporters, SHAMARA RILEY and SHELLEY PECK

Printer BOOKLET PUBLISHING

Family Resource Coalition is a membership, consulting, and advocacyorganization that has been advancing the movement to strengthenand support families since 198 I The family support movement andFRC seek to strengthen and empower families and communities sothat they can foster the optimal development of children, youth. andadult family members. FRC builds networks, produces resources,advocates for public policy, provides consulting services, and gathersknowledge to help the family support movement grow. For informa-tion or to become a member, contact FRC at 200 S. Michigan Ave.,I 6th Floor Chicago, IL 60604, 3 1 2/341 -0900, 312/341 -9361 (fax).

The opinions expressed in the FRC Report are those of the authors; the Report strives to include a variety of perspectives from the family support field.

The FRC Report is published quarterly in the public interest by the Family Resource Coalition, a tax-exempt. nonprofit organization. Membership in the Coalition

includes a subscription to the FRC Report. Readers are encouraged to copy and share its content we ask you to credit the Family Resource Coalition as the original

source of information.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

About This IssueMaria Elena OrregoFRC Washington, D.C., Liaison

ht is both an honor and a great pleasure to introduce this Family Resource Coalition Report, "Parents Leading

stories, struggles, and reflections shared in this issue are shining examples of what parent involvement and leader

about and what a fundamental force for change it represents for the future of children, families, and communities

Each article validates and affirms what I have experienced and learned as a parent and community worker th

remember my own beginnings as a parent involved with my first child day-care center. We parents and the teac

chairs as we tried to figure out how to clean up a huge pile of dangerous trash from a backyard so ourchildren

ground. It was a lot of work, but we did it. Sitting in those little chairs we also plotted how to keep the Washingt

cutting our 64 childcare slots in half; we staged a sit-in right in the offices of the director of the Human Services

the faces of the bureaucrats as we piled ourselvesparerits, toddlers, teachers, friends, relatives, and other supp

must have loved the diaper changing, snacking, crying, and laughter that went on, because in the end they did no

of faith and courage, but we did it.Those experiences and accomplishments gave us confidence to carry on and

struggles. They also prepared me for more community organizing efforts.

The issue of parent involvement has gotten much attention in recent years, due largely to enlightened federal an

"forced" the issue by requiring that consumers be involved in planning human services. Many parent leaders and tflo

write in this Report of how they have taken part in systems change.They share their sources of inspiration and fru

that if we are to effectively reform family-serving systems, we must multiply efforts to involve parents and, especial,

in poor and in minority communities are well supported to participate in systems reformnot as token represen

those of us working to strengthen and support families know, parent involvement is not some kind of "fad" that will

tems change. It is the only thing that can make true reform in human services possible.

Many of us in the family support field have been busy trying to create meaningful opportunities for parent invo

many levels, and as evidenced by the experiences and wisdom shared by the authors on the following pages, we h

Among the principal lessons we have learned is that creating these opportunities requires a whole new way of thu

tionships between parents and providers.This new way leads to sharing power and control. Sharing power is uncomon in mainstream

American culture, yet the most powerful examples in this Report come from parents who are organizingtheir cominunities by utilizing ash

leadership approach.

Way.- The experiences,

hip in family support is all ,.

nationwide.

ughout the years. I still

ers sat in tiny. child-sized

culd have a decent play -

r.. D.C.. government from

eoartrnent I still remember,...-

rzersin the hallways.Theycut our childcare! lt took a lo

take on other projects and

state legislation that has

e working with themation: from them, we learn<1

to make sure that parents-..",i:

ves. but as full partners..,..

pass. ft is the core of sy.'

ement and leadership

ve indeed come a long

:King about roles and rela-

..Asi ,..

In spite of our progress, we still have a long way to go toward building partnerships between parents and fame "-serving professionals and'''.developing programs that are truly family-centered. Although good intentions abound, parents for the most part d not share in controlling.an

planning family services, agencies, and systems.To establish a full partnership among parents and others in service panning at all levels. parent:v..:-. !:

must be listened to with full attention and complete respect for their thinking. And both practitioners and parentsikust commit unconditionally._

to building long-lasting, supportive relationships, whether that means supporting parents' efforts to care for their faAilies or working toguuier tin...".1-.f.4,.:14

develop a strategic plan to care for all families in the community.Finally, we must resist the temptation to limit parent involvement to a few chosen contexts. We must not allow

have reached the goal of parent involvement because one or two or even 10 parents sit on an advisory council, st

of directors. Parent involvement is a process of development that occurs at home as a parent supervises his orhetbus as one parent tells another where to find help in the community, in the clinic as a parent asks questions about:,

development, in a support group as parents share their stories and encourage each other, in a prenatal education

1-.7;p..

urselves to think that we

ering committee, or bochild's homework, on the,is or her child's health

ass, in a meeting betweeri.a.-,

parent and a special education teacher to plan the child's screening andcurriculum, during a program activity in wh ch parents meet with the-.;7

board of trustees, in a meeting of a neighborhood governing board, and in countless other contexts.Valuing the great diversity of roles parents can play and functions they can performthat is, valuing parent involvementmeans that we

must provide ample resources and types of support, starting with creating welcoming atmospheres in all human se

essential support such as childcare, transportation, and meals; making information easily obtainable and culturally ac

and mentoring; and creating opportunities for parents to build skills and acquire training that enable them to asst

roles and allow them to bring other parents along as leaders.

These pages reflect many different experiences with parent involvement you will hear from parents, family sup

who are trying to clear the way for parents to have a say in systems that are intended to serve children and famili.

affirm the foundation of family support: supporting and strengthening families is about building relationships, listening

ices programs; providing

essible: facilitating coaching.-,,

and sustain leadership

practitioners, and othei*-77-,

But all of these articles,,:and communicating effect

tively, sharing resources and collaborating, building mutual trust and respect, and recognizing that there must be equ participation in makingr,

real our vision of a future of peace and well-being for our families.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE4

FAMILY RESOURCE COAUTIONI JO RT SUMMER 1996

The Vaughn Family Center:It's My Story

by Jorge Lara with Matt Oppenheim

U.S.en I came to the

U I was angryand afraid. My

heart was still in Mexico, my fatherwas alcoholic, and I couldn't findwork. But I was also a social activistand a self-starter. At the age of sevenI was selling popsicles, newspapers.and bread on the streets of CiudadGuzman in Jalisco. Mexico. Atschool we held a strike to stop cor-ruption and got the principal fired.Later, while living in Florida. Ilearned more about how to stand upfor my rights from the Cubans.

After we moved to California, mydaughter entered the school inPacoima. where there were mainlyBlack and Latino students but teach-ers who were almost all Anglo. I feltthat many of the problems childrenfaced were racial. Teachers werejudgmental, and that caused resent-ment from parents. We hired a neu-tral principal who was Chinese, andshe encouraged parents to work withthe teachers.

My daughter wasn't learning andno one would help her. Finally theprincipal got her into special educa-tion. That was a turning point for me.because I began to trust the principal. ThenI started volunteering at the school. I beganto notice many problems. There were oftenfour benches full of kids sitting in the hotsun going through detention. Could this beright?

One day in 1990 I was invited to helpadminister the state achievement test tofirst-graders. I felt that the teacher wantedthem to fail so that the school would getmore money for special programs. Duringthe test I cried and had to leave. After thatI promised myself that I would do what-ever it took to guarantee the success ofevery child in my community.

The welfare systems kills the spirit of thepeople. I have witnessed families beingdestroyed. It is very difficult to see peoplelosing their dreams and the desire toachieve goals. I promised myself I would

e.)

Author Jorge Lara, Job Developer at Vaughn FamilyCenter, San Fernando, California.

never go on welfare and that I would dowhatever it took to stop people in my com-munity from doing so. People were afraidto get involved in the school, because theyhad been used so many times before. Ittakes us a long time to build trust.

A group of parents started to talk aboutthe need for changes. Later, two commun-ity facilitators from Los Angeles EducationPartnership (LAEP) and United Way cameand said they wanted to work with us.They'd heard that our school was one ofthe worst in Los Angeles. At first we wereskeptical, but they convinced us that theywanted to understand our needs and assistus in creating a school-based family sup-port initiative. We decided that familyhealth and school readiness were our great-est concerns. They invited serviceproviders from agencies, who listened and

04 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. IS, NO.2

agreed to work with us on our ownterms. We formed a commissioncomprised of parents and theseproviders to oversee the develop-ment of our family center. They triedto convince us that the center shouldbe run by "professionals," but wewanted to run the center, too. Peopleoften saw us as having deficits, butwe knew that we were "experts."Through this planning process, theVaughn Family Center was born.

Soon Yoland Trevino was hired asDirector. We wanted someone spe-cial. who would be our mentor,guide. and advocate. In the interviewwe challenged Yoland to see if shehad the qualities that we needed inour community, and it was soonobvious that she was the right onefor the position. A group of parentvolunteers started working with her.She helped us express our anger andpushed us to develop skills and useour initiative. When funds camethrough I was hired as a part-timefamily advocate. At first. I thoughtthat money was just handed out toschools and programs. Now I know

a lot more about getting grants, andhave helped develop several myself. It

was obvious that I would be making lessthan half what I had been making as anelectrician, but I decided to continue. Forthe first time I saw new hope for my com-munity. They asked me for my commit-ment and I said, "You have it." My wifewas strongly opposed at first. She couldnot understand why I would contribute lessto my own family to serve children whowere not related to me. Little did she knowthat this would bring great success to ourfamily, that it would bring happiness andopportunities to us and our children. Shenow volunteers and is as committed as Iam. She helps guide my decisions for thesuccess of the community.

Yoland brought people in to offer train-ing at the Vaughn Family Center. I quicklylearned basic office and social-work skills.When I started calling agencies on the

phone I was almosttrembling because Ifelt so inferior. butYoland instilled inme the knowledgethat I was workingfor the people of thecommunity and hada right to beassertive. Then Istarted doing familyvisits. The first fewtimes my heart wasin my throat and Icouldn't go. Thenafter seeing a fewfamilies I becameecstatic: It was easierthan I thought. I wasmaking a good con-nection with familiesin need and felt thatwe were starting tomake a difference. I learned a great dealfrom these families, including the ability tounderstand that their strengths could sup-port their needs. We connected them with

Community members

health and counseling servicesvided free food and cloth-ing. I was their cheer-leader. coach, and mentor.

From the start, the fami-ly center was my family:everyone cared and sup-ported one another. Westarted dreaming about thefuture and talking aboutour vision. We wanted asafe environment for ourchildren where they couldsucceed in life. But wewanted more. We wantedeveryone to have financialindependence and to takecharge of the future of ourcommunity.

The school became oneof the first Charteredschools in California. andI served on several of themany committees that ranthe school. The CharteredSchools Initiative allowsschools to become inde-pendent from the schooldistrict and be governedby parents and teachers.The hardest job was sit-

and pro-

in the Pacoima Urban Village remove graffiti from a public mural.

ting on the budget committee, where therewere constant arguments about funds. I feltthat some of the teachers wanted moneyfor themselves and didn't really want tohelp the community. Other teachers were

great and cared a lotfor the needs of ourchildren.

I became a mentorfor volunteers andrealized that it wasimportant to be arole model. I havestarted teachingthem the way thatYoland taught me.encouraging theirself-confidence andchallenging them totake the initiative.while giving themsupport wheneverthey needed it. Theother day a newcommunity coordi-nator said he wasscared to call anagency on thehe wasn't speakingcenter and the com-e later with a bighad enjoyed making

phone. I told him thatfor himself but for themunity. He came to msmile and said that hethe call.

A Par- entleader's Tips forPromoting-Parent Involvement

I Parents and community members have a lot to express and have a lot of skillsalready; just support them and encourage them to become who they alreadyare.

2_The community belongs to the people who live there: they have to make thedecisions.

3. Professionals have to be partners with parents, and parent leaders have to berespected and paid just the same as anyone else.

4.Teach people by being a good role model, and give them a lot of freedom toexperiment and express themselves.

5. Dream about the future, and learn how to make your dreams a reality.

6. Don't use language that diminishes people and their communrty, such as "atrisk,""dysfunctional," and "case management" (who is in the position to man-age someone's life?).

7. Never underestimate the role of parents and community members.

8. Never come with your own agenda to a neighborhood.Ask peobie what theywant They are the experts.

9. Don't exploit community knowledge. In many communities, outside expertshave come and used residents' knowledge to dominate them. Show that youcan be trusted to not do the same.

BEST Gue 'I AVAILABLE 6

A businessman. KayInaba, came to us twoyears ago and startedtalking about the"Pacoima Urban Vil-lage." I was wonderingwhat his angle was, butafter a while realized thathe wanted to help. Hehelped us dream aboutour future as a villagebecoming self-sufficientby unleashing humancapital. We believed thevillage would become ahealthy. safe, and cleancommunity.

We recently opened acenter for the PacoimaUrban Village wherepeople come in droves tofind out about jobs andtraining opportunitiesthat we post. We try totell each person who vis-its about our vision andinspire them to volun-teer. The job club hasbecome the core of ourcommunity's unfolding.

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. 15. NO. 2 5

Conununity members graduate from theirUrban Village.

It has created an atmosphere in whichpartners in the project mix with commun-ity members. They learn from each other.

training as outreach workers for the Pacoima

reflect upon experiences, develop aspira-tions, discover opportunities for employ-ment and economic development, and

---A1111111

Staff of the Vaughn Family Center meet over a meal.

7

6 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 :COL. 15. NO. 2

40111144

give back to their community. We formedan organization called Americans forBetter Communities (ABC), a nationalcollaboration among people in theMidwest, New York, and Los Angeles. Allof us are working to promote the socio-economic status and infrastructure of ourcommunities. We arranged for a group offormer gang members to go to New Yorkto take part in a program called BananaKelly, where they learned about construc-tion and business manaeement. Nowthey're back and have started renovating ahouse.

Now I do so many things it's hard tokeep track of them. I work in the PacoimaUrban Village, helping people to get jobsand training. I still see some of my familyclients and help them out from time totime. I work in collaboration with com-munity-based oreanizations, businesses,and churches. I am a member of the boardof directors of an organization that helpslocal social programs to work together.Our center recently won a grant to workwith Los Angeles Urban Funders (LAUF)in developing a plan for the future of ourvillage. We are mentoring five other com-munity centers and work with area busi-ness people. I have traveled all over thestates to talk about our program and pro-vide parent training. I am also a memberof the Family Resource Coalition.

I often see people that are just like Iwas: angry and afraid, with nowhere toturn. You can't imagine how great it feelsto be able to help lift them up, and I stilloften cry about it.

Jorge Lara is Job Developer at VaughnFamily Center, 13330 Vaughn Street, SanFernando, CA 91340, 818/834 -1498 (phone),818/834 -1492 (fax).

Matt Oppenheim is an ethnographer fromCalifornia State University. Long Beach, whois writing about the Pacoima Urban Villageas a dynamic learning community. He wantsto utilize local knowledge in reforming curric-ula and to assist community building throughself-evaluation.

Asking the Right Questions is Keyto developing Parent Advocacy

In a church basement in westernMassachusetts, parents brainstorm alist of questions:

Is my child learning math?

How is my child learning it?

What is the math curriculum?

How is what my child is learningrelated to the curriculum?

Who decided on this curriculum?

What is the process involved in meet-ing with the teacher?

Who else can give me information?

What is the homework? How doeswhat my child is receiving compareto what other children are receiving?

What skills are my child developing?

Since 1991, the Right QuestionProject, Inc., (RQP) has been helping inparents ask these types of questionsand, in doing so, develop the skills g,they need to participate more effec-tively in their children's educationand occupy different roles in relationto the schools in their communities.The RQP model, which started on the locallevel in Massachusetts and has been repli-cated nationwide thanks to the DeWittWallace Reader's Digest Fund, consists ofa series of four workshops led by parents,family workers, community activists, andteachers.

Through the workshops, parents are chal-lenged to understand the concept of formaland informal education and to think criti-cally, analyze, and strategize to becomeeffective participants in their children'seducation. Effective parent participationinvolves parents:

gathering information about what theirchildren need to be learning

monitoring what the teachers are teachingand what their children are learning

taking action to support their children aswell as the teachers

In general, effective parent participationmeans parents having the confidence totake an active role in setting an agenda,participating in decisions being madearound their children's education and hold-

by Luz Santana

ing their children's schools accountable.

How Does RQP Work?RQP develops the capacity of communi-

ties to increase effective parental involve-ment. In order to reach as many parents aspossible, RQP trains facilitators who areparents, school staff, community organiz-ers . . . anyone who is interested in helpingparents participate more effectively in theirchildren's education. Facilitators arerecruited through organizations that sharethe goal of increasing effective parentinvolvement. Both the facilitators and theorganizations make a commitment toimplement the curriculum with parents.

The RQP CurriculumIn the RQP workshops, parents base their

discussions on the following questions:What is my child learning? What does

my child need to learn? Is the teacherteaching what my child needs to learn? Ismy child learning what he/she needs? Ifthe teacher is not teaching what my childneeds to learn, what can I do? If theteacher is teaching what my child needs to

8

learn, what else can I do?The formulation of questions is at

the center of the RQP model. By for-mulating questions, parents addresseducational issues as well as otherissues affecting their lives. Ratherthan providing parents with a list ofquestions they should ask, RQP helpsparents develop skills that will allowthem to skillfully address differentsituations in their lives by thinkingcritically. An interactive formatallows participants to shape the con-tent of the workshops. The facilitatorhelps parents learn from each otherbased on their own questions andexperiences. This strategy results inparticipants bringing their own exper-tise instead of depending on"experts." When parents in commu-nities develop a sense of being ableto advocate for themselves, the inter-action with schools, as well as withother community groups, changessubstantially.

This model of parental participationdevelops parents' leadership by pro-viding opportunities for them to dis-cover and strengthen the skills theyalready have. Participants in the

workshops have stated that the processhelps them to: become more confident,define the kind of information they need,gather information, think about things theynever thought about before, experience sat-isfaction and accomplishment after meet-ing with teachers and practicing theirskills, and view learning as an importantprocess for themselves as well as for theirchildren.

All of this is done in a series of simpleexercises in which participants are able touse their knowledge and life experiences.This model was developed after workingwith groups of parents who repeatedlynamed one of the critical obstacles to par-ticipation in their children's education:they didn't even know what questions toask.

Luz Santana is Director of the Right QuestionProject Training Center, Massachusetts ParentTraining and Empowerment Project, 218Holland Street, Somerville, MA 02144,617/628 -1070 (phone), 617/628 -8632 (fax).

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL IS, NO.2 7

Parents United and Unitingby Mark Smith

parents need high-quality, affordablechild care. Nearly

10 years ago a group ofBoston parents startedmeeting informally to dis-cuss the issue. Eventuallywe formed Parents Unitedfor Child Care (PUCC).Our mission is to add astrong parent voice to thepublic debates over child E

care and family policythat bear so much influ-ence on our child caresystems.

PUCC is a grassroots,multi-racial organization

_cCL.

Crsaa,a,

of 2,000 low- and moder-ate-income people dedicated to expandingthe availability of affordable, quality childcare in Massachusetts and to providing aparent voice on public policy issues relatedto families and children.

We are an organized constituency of par-ents from throughout the state that is work-ing to win improvements in child care andfamily policy. PUCC pursues this goal byempowering parents who are affected bythese policies.

PUCC: A PortraitPUCC is a group of parents united and

uniting around our mutual concern forchild care. We are working and non-work-ing parents. We are parents from many dif-ferent rungs on the socio-economic ladder.We are African American, Latino, white,Cape Verdean, Haitian, and Brazilian par-ents. We are parents from every neighbor-hood of Boston and many communitiesaround the state of Massachusetts. We areparents who fight against isolation fromeach other in our neighborhoods and city.We are parents who struggle with the over-whelming pressures of everyday life, andwe are parents who try to cope with busy,disjointed schedules on top of striving tobe and do the best for our children. And asparents, being and doing the best for ourchildren necessitates linking our concernsand joys with other parents: uniting ourhands, we are connected to one another;uniting our voices, we are louder; unitingour neighborhoods, we are more powerful.And uniting as parents, we share with eachother our common love and concern forour children.

The linchpin of the many aspects ofPUCC's work is organizing parents tobecome effective advocates for themselvesand their children. At the level of theschool, the community-based program, theneighborhood, the city, and the state,PUCC works with parents to help thembecome involved in the critical debates anddecisions that impact their lives. These par-ents seek to increase the capacity, quality,and affordability of child care in inner-cityneighborhoods, particularly those that areimpacted by welfare reform or have aninadequate supply of affordable child care.

Successes in Quality School-Age Care

PUCC's first campaign was for school-age child care. We surveyed more than5,500 families to document parents' childcare needs, reaching parents in their ownlanguages. PUCC then launched theBoston School-Age Child Care Project(BSACCP) in response to those needs.Now in its fourth year of operation,BSACCP's top priority is to increase theaccessibility of school-age care throughtechnical assistance, funding to promotesliding-scale fees, and provision of writtenresources and referrals. Because ofPUCC's leadership on the issue of school-age care, Boston received one of threenational grants awarded by the DewittWallace Reader's Digest Fund as part ofthe Fund's MOST (Making the Most ofOut-of-School Time) Initiative. The three-year, $1.2 million grant, which has lever-aged other money for school-age care, isused to make out-of school programs moreaffordable for low-income parents and tosupport several model programs that have

8 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. 15, NO. 2

incorporated creative andinnovative strategies toimprove the quality of school-age care.

Changing PublicPolicy

Another important focus ofPUCC's work is to engage andtrain parents to be active in thepublic policy arena. Parents inPUCC's Public ActionCommittee monitor the statebudget and funding of childcare and are trained to lobbytheir legislators. Parents lobbyto increase the budget forchild care subsidies and tosupport welfare reform legisla-

tion that truly leads low-income parents toself-sufficiency and guarantees quality,affordable child care. While PUCC hasbeen successful in influencing key policyand budget policies at the state and citylevels, it is working with parents at thelocal, grassroots level that ensures parentshave a role in determining how resourcesare allocated in their neighborhoods.

This coming year PUCC will begin threeexciting new initiatives that will enhanceits current work. Through its LeadershipDevelopment Program, it will train parentsto become neighborhood leaders andspokespeople regarding the child careneeds in their neighborhoods. Second,PUCC's Public Awareness Campaign (partof the BSACCP/MOST Initiative) willseek to elevate the issues of accessible andquality school-age care in the public eye.Third, a proactive advocacy campaign willbe aimed at increasing access to child carefor working poor families who do notreceive any welfare-related child careassistance. The campaign's goal is toengage more parents in the local andstatewide debate, and ultimately to increasechild care subsidies for parents who arecoming off of welfare and yet cannotaccess the child care they need because ofits costs.

Mark Smith is Assistant Director forCommunity Organizing at PUCC, 30 WinterStreet, Boston, MA 02108, 617/542 -1515(phone), 617/426 -8288 (fax). He and his wifelive in Boston and have a two-year-old son.

NJ evvYcrk Parents BecomePartners in Policy Making

THE NEM YORK STATE

DEVELOPMENTAL Disractorms Punninc Council.

partners in Policy Making teachesindividuals with developmentaldisabilities and their family mem-

bers to become informed, productive part-ners with those who are in positions tomake local, state, and federal policychanges. Parents in Policy Making train-ing has been offered by the New YorkState Developmental Disabilities PlanningCouncil (DDPC) since 1991; it is built ona model developed in 1987 by theMinnesota Governor's Planning Councilon Developmental Disabilities.

The workshops, offered over consecu-tive weekends, encourage parents to envi-sion a future that they desire and canwork toward. Families involved in earlyintervention who recently took part in theprogram envisioned a world in whichearly intervention is family-centered anddoes not isolate parents, parent groups areencouraged, and there is recognition thatparents know their children best.

To enable parents to realize theirvisions, Partners in Policy Making pro-vides training that breaks down the wallof frustration for parents by educatingthem about their rights and providingthem with the leadership skills they needto be assertive when seeking services fortheir children.

Partners in Policy Making trains partici-pants in a number of skills, beginningwith how to handle meetings with offi-cials. Included are techniques forassertive communication in meetings andover the telephone, handling behavior thatdoes not appear to value family input,negotiating, and public speaking. Local,regional, and state legislators and policy-makers are invited to attend and interactwith participants as part of the training.Participants also work on developingmanagement and leadership skills. Thistraining covers topics such as running asuccessful meeting, involving others, andinfluencing authorities.

At every session, "homework" isassigned, which participants report uponat the next session. Homework assign-ments include writing letters and makingtelephone calls to legislators and policy-

by Sally Mehrtenswith Anna Lobosco and Carol Nash

makers, collecting information as part of agroup or individual project, sharing infor-mation with other families, and organiz-ing local forums.

Partners in Policy Making is tailored tospecific groups of participants. Usually,40 to 50 individuals come together forthree to six monthly training weekends.Sessions begin on Friday afternoon andend Saturday afternoon after 11 to 12hours of activities. Meals and accommo-dations are provided, and participants arereimbursed for travel and childcare coststhat are directly related to their participa-tion in the training. The DDPC presentsthe training to families from many cul-tures; the contents of the training aremodified to meet the needs of specificcommunities, and portable translationequipment is used.

Parents Work TogetherA most important aspect of Partners in

Policy Making is the time given for par-ticipants to interact with presenters andnetwork with each other. The intensiveformat of the sessions brings participantstogether without distraction and allowsthem to exchange information and pro-vide mutual support to each other. Expertsin specific fields present up-to-date infor-mation at each session and are availableto further discuss current issues in thefield. All activities are interactive andactivities-based.

Participants also have the opportunityto work with each other in developingaction plans to take back to their commu-nities. These action plans have includedstarting a community family supportgroup, establishing a hotline for parentsand professionals to answer questions,producing a video on early interventionservices to be shown on public television,developing a computerized database offamilies who could share support andskills, working with childcare providersto improve their skills in working withchildren with disabilities, and providing avariety of training opportunities to sensi-tize professionals to the needs of fami-lies. Often, these plans include informinglegislators and policymakers of specificneeds in a way that emphasizes theimportance of families.

DDPC has presented modified Partnersin Policy Making sessions jointly with theNew York State Departments of Health

10

and Education. These sessions haveoffered leadership development activitiesto parents of children enrolled in earlyintervention programs and to families ofchildren with special health care needsand individuals with traumatic braininjuries.

Over the last six years, DDPC has spon-sored 17 regional Partners in PolicyMaking trainings. Nearly 1200 peoplehave completed Partners in PolicyMaking; about three-quarters of themhave assumed leadership roles at thelocal, regional, state, or national levels."Partners" chair about half of the 21regional Family Support Councils. Theyalso are members of all 21 councils, mostof the 62 county and borough councils ondevelopmental disabilities, and many stateagency advisory bodies. These parentleaders also sit on local committees (suchas the Committees on Special Education/Preschool Special Education and theLocal Early Intervention CoordinatingCouncils), and have written grants toestablish their own agencies to provideservices to people with developmentaldisabilities and their families.

Participants in Partners in PolicyMaking come from diverse social, eco-nomic, regional, and cultural back-grounds. What unites them is their com-mon interest in the well-being andhappiness of their children. One partici-pant said: "One of the most frustratingthings I have faced as a parent is thatsometimes-overwhelming feeling of help-lessness when it comes to my child's dis-ability. Partners in Policy Making hashelped me get a real sense that I can dosomething constructive for my child, forother children, for other parents, and formyself."

Sally Mehrtens is a graduate student at theNelson A. Rockefeller College of PublicAffairs and Policy at the University ofAlbany, State University of New York, and isworking on an internship with DevelopmentalDisabilities Planning Council. Anna Loboscoand Carol Nash are Program Planners withthe DDPC.

For more information on Partners in PolicyMaking training, contact Shirley Reynolds,New York DDPC, 155 Washington Avenue,2nd Floor, Albany, NY 12210, 518/432- 8233or 800/395- 3372.

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2 9

Getting Involved in State-Level PlanningOne Parent Walks the Long, Rocky Road of Collaboration

by Carmen Siberon

Iam the parent of two biological sons,three foster sons and two step daugh-ters. For the last two years I have been

a parent representative in the federalFamily Preservation and Support ServicesProgram (FPSSP), the federal initiativethat involves parents and the public, pri-vate and business sectors of the communi-ties in planning services and support forfamilies and children. I was motivated toget involved in the FPSSP work groupconvened in my region, southwestConnecticut, because I know the humanservice delivery system both as a parentand as a social services professional. Ihave come to see that this system as it iscurrently funded and structured cannotserve families effectively today; whatworked when there were plenty of jobsfor high school graduates and when theminimum wage was enough to meet afamily's basic needs does not work now.

Our work group was charged withassessing the priorities of social servicesrecipients in our region. We began byadministering a survey to parents throughcommunity agencies and public housingprojects. About 500 individuals respond-ed; they listed food, housing, jobs, a nur-turing family and community, and accessto services as their top five priorities. Atthis point we faced a couple of majorchallenges. First, our schedule for allocat-ing the funds was nearly impossible tomeet. Second, there was some disagree-ment among group members over how themoney should be used. Some argued thatthe social service delivery system shouldnot and could not deal with the basicneeds of children and families identifiedby the consumers. They argued that men-tal health problems and substance abusewere the kinds of issues that needed to beaddressed. Others felt that these problemsoften arose because basic needs are notmet. Talk about a "which came first, thechicken or the egg?" discussion. In theend, our commitment to responding toconsumers led us to fund a job readinessand training program for adults and twosummer youth employment programs.

Combining Leadership andCollaboration:The Challenges

Connecticut's Department of Childrenand Families, like the departments of pro-

tective services in other states, has beendesignated as the lead agency for organiz-ing and funding the plans that regionalwork groups like ours developed for theFPSSP. The other state and communityagencies and business people are at thetable cooperating and collaborating, butadvancing their input beyond the scope ofthe specific initiative in which they arecollaborating is an ongoing challenge:imagine how the goals of the collabora-tion would be advanced if they were inte-grated into the agenices, businesses, andcommunities in which these people workand live every day.

In general, initiatives that call for col-laborative governance and shared owner-ship of problems and solutions usuallyappoint a lead agency. But from my expe-rience, these established service deliverystructures act as a barrier to producingsystems change, rather than being ameans of change. It is extremely difficultfor both a collaborative governance bodyand a lead agency to be true to their pur-poses. The notion of collaboration andpeople working together is a start, but thegoal of systems reform continues to beelusive.

Another challenge presented by collabo-rative systems reform has to do with "par-ent involvement." At a recent meeting onparent involvement, the keynote speakerasked "How many of you are parents?" Isaw many of the family-serving profes-sionals who are also parents raise theirhands. Why, then, the special effort toachieve parent involvement? While I am a"parent representative" in our regionalwork group, I am not the only parent inthe group: others, who act as representa-tives of agencies and businesses, are alsoparents. The factors that distinguish mefrom other group members are that myparticipation is strictly as a volunteer(although a stipend covers the expenses Iincur to attend meetings) and that there-fore I am supposed to be at more libertyto represent my personal views as a parentand the personal views of other parents. Iattend these meetings on my own time,not as an employee of a given agency orinstitution.

Early in the group's work to assess con-sumers' needs and formulate a plan tomeet those needs, the question of who is a

10 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2

parent and/or consumer surfaced, but itwas never quite resolved. I think this isbecause answering that question involvesdrawing the "us-and-them" distinctionthat we work so hard to overcome. If webecome clear about what we mean whenwe speak of "parents," then we can beclear about defining their roles and expec-tations regarding their involvement andhow in fact it is different from that of aprofessional. In the human services net-work, "parent" seems to mean someonewho is not only legally responsible forchildren under the age of 18, but whomore often than not finds herself or him-self at the receiving end of government-funded health care, education, services,and monetary and social support for poorand minority children and families. Whilemany children in this country are experi-encing hardships and are in need of acomprehensive service delivery system toaddress their needs, these needs are mostpressing in poor and minority communi-ties. The lack of parent involvement inplanning services is also most pressing inthese communities. If what is needed toeffectively reform our family-serving sys-tems is the input of parents from poor andminority communities, why not put thaton the table? I believe that an honest dis-cussion and answer to this question willhelp us get a bit closer to the systemsreform we all hope for.

Those working in the service deliverysystem are doing their best given the sys-tem's structure and history. Collaborationand parent involvement are importantbeginnings. However, these strategies asthey are currently practiced fail to addressthe inability of the existing service deliv-ery system to meet families' needs. Today,even capable, motivated youths and headsof households contend with not only inthe economy, but with the government-sponsored systems and programs that areintended to help them deal with it.

Carmen Siberon is former Director of CaseManagement for the Annie E. CaseyFoundation's New Futures Initiative. She canbe reached at 49 Meadow Brook Drive,Monroe, CT, 06468, 203/268 -5724 (phone),203/459 -8478 (fax).

1.1

Using Computers to BuildLocal Community

Newark Residents are Turning MUSICinto Health and Education

Discussions about informationtechnology usually focus onhow it can give people access

to resources and programs that are not apart of their local communities: the globalvillage, not the local village.But many of the most devas-tating, persistent problemspeople face have to do withlocal issues: crime, abuse,fear of and alienation fromtheir own neighbors, who areoften children and youth.

MUSIC, a computer net-working system, helps usersbuild their communities bymaking information technolo-gy local, social, and easy touse. Part of a project calledLinking Up Villages, MUSIC(which stands for Multi-UserSessions In Community) usestext, graphics, digitized voice,and speech synthesis to bringtogether members of real localcommunities, rather than vir-tual ones. By placing termi-nals in homes, churches, com-munity centers, health centers,and educational institutions,MUSIC models how infra-structure can be advanced byinformation technologies inneighborhoods just as it isglobally.

Newark ParentsHarness Technology'sPower

Newton Street Elementary School is inthe middle of an area that gained nationalattention in 1967 during the civil insurrec-tion that is commonly referred to as theNewark riots. During the late 1960s andearly 1970s much of the housing wasdestroyed. In the late 1970s the NewCommunity Corporation, a community-based, not-for profit organization, movedin and began providing housing (700units), job training, and social services forall of Newark. Over 85 per cent of the

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Now, computers in Newton StreetElementary School and in neighborhoodhomes, social service offices, the publiclibrary, the central office of NewarkPublic Schools, a church, and theUniversity of Medicine and Dentistry arelinked via modem to a community bul-letin board system on a network server.MUSIC lets users communicate in a num-ber of ways. General information that isfor the common good of the community isbroadcast through general postings. E-

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Turning Information"Have-Nots" into"Haves"

MUSIC is addressing acritical lack of access toinformation technologyamong a large and crucialpopulation: those withoutaccess to government, com-mercial, and educationalinstitutions, which are swift-ly going on-line. Withoutefforts to increase access toinformation technology, theybecome a population ofinformation "have-nots."

Access to informationtechnology is not only anissue of providing moremachinery to those who aremarginalized. This technolo-gy must be made to be rele-vant, easy to use, and invit-ing to those who have themost difficult time makingtheir voices heard in ourcountry. Otherwise, fear,

apathy, and ignorance may keep all of thebenefits of this technology from thosewho could make use of it to empowerthemselves.\MUSIC allows users to "go" to "build-

ings" (Newton Street School, UMDNJ,New Community Corporation, DiscussionGroups, and Social Activities) and"rooms" within them (those who "go" tothe school can choose the computer lab,the principal's office, Kids' Corner, orParental Involvement). Each room offers

2AMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2 1 1

participants text, graphics, and sound asways to communicate. The messages areusually responded to within 24 hours.

In the future, MUSIC will allow users tolog on without modems by using touch-tone phones. MUSIC can handle on-linevoting, surveying, and polling. Specialrooms facilitate news publications. A spe-cial graphical map database/directoryroom allows users to get informationabout another resident or organization bysimply clicking on a street name or orga-nizational grouping name.

Community Collaborates toMake MUSIC

Continuous collaboration has been amain ingredient of the project's success.The Newton Street School administration,the Office of Computer Education andTechnology of the Newark PublicSchools, the New CommunityCorporation, and the office of the dean atthe New Jersey Medical School worktogether. Representatives from those insti-tutions and from the office of the Provostof Rutgers, the State University, theNewark Public Library, the Star Ledgernewspaper, the AT&T Alliance of BlackTelecommunications Employees, andother interested community membersmake up an advisory board that meetsquarterly to review and advise on pro-gram progress and offer resources to sup-port the project.

MUSIC also helps parents becomeinvolved in their children's education.Parents contact Newton Street ElementarySchool principal Willie Thomas on-line toget information or just to "talk." He hasincluded many of the MUSIC participantsin his school-based planning teams. Longviewed by youths in the community as afather figure, Thomas is now viewed as"one of the family" by MUSIC parentsand their family members.

The Sound of MUSIC inNewark

Many residents, although they live nearthe University of Medicine and Dentistryof New Jersey, have not used the institu-tion's resources. MUSIC is helping to buildthe relationship between residents andmedical personnel to help residents devel-op healthy lifestyles and seek medical helpin times of illness, rather than using theemergency room as the source of primarycare. Through MUSIC, community mem-bers receive educational and preventativeinformation from-doctors on-line. Theyalso communicate with New Communitysocial service providers on-line.

Residents develop many activities andevents through on-line communication.Residents have planned and carried outflea markets, a community talent show,holiday and birthday celebrations, and asplash party for children. As part of acommunity-based photography class, stu-dents captured their community on filmand then developed the prints. Residentsare now preparing to exhibit the pho-tographs on the World Wide Web (lookfor them soon at http://mmassey.www.media.mit/edu/people/mmassey/MUSICintro.html). A security watch pro-gram has also been initiated. Residentsare working with the Newark PoliceDepartment and the New Communitysecurity force to develop strategies tocombat crime in their community.

Teachers and parents are now in theprocess of refining scholastic content onthe program. On-line discussion groups(Circle of Sisters, Circle of Brothers,About AIDS, Parenting and House-keeping) are particularly popular becauseparticipants can use them to meet infor-mally and work through important issuesthat are confronting them.

How Did They Do It?In spring 1994 the Office of Computer

Education and Technology of the NewarkPublic Schools applied for a Telecom-munications Information InfrastructureAssistance Program grant from theNational Telecommunications InformationAgency of the U.S. Department ofCommerce. They received $106,950 toinstall a community computer networkthat aimed to:

1. Raise student achievement by improv-ing the delivery of primary health care;and

2. Improve the quality of life for commu-nity residents.

Interviews and surveys began in January1995 and resulted in 15 community mem-bers becoming participants or "captains."To be a captain, a community membermust:

1. Have a child at Newton StreetElementary school;

2. Live in New Community housing;

3. Complete a series of training sessions;and

4. Allow at least four people from outside

1 2 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2

his or her immediate families access tothe computer placed in his or her home.

Captains spent two intense days analyz-ing community needs and developingstrategies to meet those needs. Theydeveloped and signed a contract that stat-ed their responsibility to the program andto the community, participants' expecta-tions, indicators that would show the pro-gram's success, and ways the programcould be a tool for empowerment toimprove the quality of life in their neigh-borhood. The preface reads:

"Once the community creates a bond,the quality of life will improve and givehope to many families that life will bebetter. It starts with one victory! Whereonce we knocked on doors and they wereclosed, now, we will get them opened."

Computer-focused training brought par-ents and children together to learn to usethe Macintosh computer. After they hadsuccessfully completed the training activi-ties, a community celebration served asthe program's kick-off. Ongoing trainingkeeps community members involved andlearning; approximately 80 percent of par-ticipants have never before used a com-puter or related technology.

In addition to Newark, MUSIC has beensuccessfully used in inner-city Boston.Work is in progress to implement MUSICin educational and community developmentprograms in other areas of the country.

Pamela Morgan is a curriculum specialist forthe Newark Public Schools, and has been apublic school educator since 1972. She hasbeen active in educational technology since1985.

MUSIC was developed by Dr. Alan Shaw atthe MIT Media Laboratory. For more infor-mation on MUSIC, contact Alan or MichelleShaw, 33 Algonquin Street, Dorchester, MA02124, 617/436 -8048 (phone), or via e-mailat: [email protected] or [email protected]

13

Parent NletvvoricEmpowers a Community

by Beverly Bell, jr.

Three years agoseven parentscame together

to empower their com-munitythe low-income, mostly AfricanAmerican East End ofRichmond. Virginiabyforming the ParentResource Network. AsSenior ParentCoordinator, I workwith these parents to sustain a resource andsupport network that educates parents, chil-dren, families, agencies, and organizationsso that they can collaborate on family-cen-tered reform in health, education, juvenilejustice, and welfare systems.

Much of our work is about building con-nections. By doing this and empoweringparents to get involved, the ParentResource Network works to decreasecrime, increase communication betweenneighborhoods, increase participation ofparents, improve communication betweenparents and youth-serving agencies includ-ing schools and mental health agencies,involve parents in planning and policymaking, educate and unify the community,promote respect. reduce school dropoutrates. educate parents. and identify andassess community strengths.

Through information sharing, the net-work hopes to effect positive change thatcreates interpersonal growth; bondingamong families, the community. andschools; and development of many kinds.The network gets parents more involved inthe City of Richmond's Youth and FamilySupport Programs. The NeighborhoodCoordinators are volunteers who lead theNetwork's activities and convene parentgroups in the Chimborazo, Creighton.

A

Fairfield, Fulton, Mosby, St. John, andWhitcomb neighborhoods. In these groups,community members raise, prioritize, andaddress issues and concerns by helpingeach other find the necessary resources tohandle problems.

I got involved a year after the Networkhad formed. One of the requirements ingetting the job was that I be a member ofthe East End community; I had been veryactive here, working with youth as a men-tor and coordinating youth activities, andwas familiar with the issues of communityresidents. I was chosen by a committeethat included community folks, the presi-dent of the tenant association, other parentsinvolved in the Network, and a minister.

Because we live in the community, theNeighborhood Coordinators and I do a lotof our work informally. I'll go to the gro-cery store, and run into someone whoneeds to talk about a problem or has someresources to offer, and my grocery shop-ping turns into an informal meeting. Or aparent will flag me down as I drive downthe street because there's some trouble,their child has been shot, and that will bean informal meeting.

Through the Network, parents help eachother access substance abuse treatment andcounseling, employment services. andemergency food (both by referring them to

churches and by pro-viding money forfood). We have startedneighborhood patrolsand neighborhoodwatches to detercrime. The many waysin which parents havebeen involved haveaffirmed their value inthe community. Theyhave done all of this

without formal training; now parents areseeking training to stretch their possibilitieseven further.

Progress Takes PatienceOur neighborhoods face a lot of chal-

lenges, and crises often come up that tem-porarily slow our progress in making thecommunity stronger. Parental substanceabuse and physical abuse in particular havecreated stress for families. It is importantthat we encourage each other to followthrough in solving problems, such as get-ting treatment and counselling. Twenty-three percent of our community membersreceive public assistance, and 38 percentare below the poverty line.

We are making progress. Especially withthe possibility of welfare reform, we'vebeen building residents' employmentcapacity: locating jobs and helping peopleget into and follow through on job training,and GED preparation.

This summer we got a building to use forservices and programs for children, youths,and families, and are now assessing whatthe community wants to use it for. We alsohave pulled together a wide range of peo-ple who work with families to start collab-orating at monthly meetings. These peoplehave committed to coordinating their

14 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. 15, NO. 2 13

actions and resources for the upcomingyear.

Parent-Empowering PrinciplesGuide Network

Several steps have been essential to oursuccess: respect for each other: accessibili-ty: building trust: establishing sincere rela-tionships with parents. children, and fami-lies: meeting everyone at their own level.regardless of religion. education. econom-ic, or social standing: honesty: open com-munication: inclusion in decision making.planning. and organizing: and reinforcingeveryone's uniqueness.

The Parent Resource Network sees allpersons. settings. and events as resourcesfor development. Participants in the net-work view all persons. irrespective of roleor social status. as potential sources of sup-port and possessors of competencies.Network Coordinators approach thesepotential resources by organizing par-ent support groups in the commu-nity. In some cases, parent supportgroups have been organized in thearea schools to pursue the goal of par-ent-led problem solving and to increaseparental involvement in children's educa-tion. Parent groups utilize different com-munity activities to share information.including tenant council meetings. civicorganization meetings. community days.and rallies. These events provide anotheravenue for parents to socialize and discussissues, concerns, opinions. anxieties. andaspirations for the future. They also allowindividuals to provide resources to eachother, which has helped to bring about asense of togetherness. social support. andself-direction. The Parent ResourceNetwork events also provide an opportuni-ty for individuals to be creative in develop-ing and sharing resources.

The Network WorksThe Parent Resource Network has come

to be looked upon as the helping hands ofthe seven communities in which it existsand of the East End larger community.Individual parents' homes have becomeplaces of respite and safe-houses for fami-lies and parents: they are the place inwhich family and community crises arehandled.

Parents are working in collaboration withSpectrum/Family First. a community-basedoraanization. to oraanize a kids' day fordads in each of the public housing devel-opments. The network has been workingwith other parent groups in the community.Also the Parent Resource Network is orga-nizing 80 volunteers to participate in the

annual East End Back to School rally. Theparents have been advocating to bringchild development activities, provided bythe Garfield F. Childs organization. into thecommunity. One Network Coordinator istrying to organize a Narcotics Anonymousgroup in her community in response to asubstance abuse epidemic among mothersthere. Another is working to secure Biblesfor a minister in the community who hasbeen working with children and has had nooutside support.

Through the ParentResource Network parentshave helped each otheraccess substance abusetreatment and counseling,employment services, andemergency food. They havestarted neighborhoodpatrols and neighborhoodwatches to deter crime.

Each parent has brought to the ParentResource Network skills in parenting.adapting to situations. and other areas, aswell as compassion and the desire tochange systems. They have been advisorsto committees. boards, civic organizations.and schools. Each parent has moved from aplace of dependence to one of interdepen-dence. and has set goals and made strides toattain those goals. This has spilled over toother parents. motivating them toward indi-vidual development, family development.and community consciousness. In provid-ing the numerous services, parents haverealized that there is a definite need fortraining so that they can increase the quali-ty and effectiveness of the services theyprovide and enhance their own personaldevelopment.

How Do Parents Get Involved?Neighborhood Coordinators widely pub-

licize monthly neighborhood meetings todiscuss working together to make the com-munity better. At the meetings, attendees

14 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER. R=-5 :01_. IS. NO. 2

learn about programs going on in theneighborhood. such as the Youth andFamily Support Programs that are spon-sored by the City of Richmond. and areinvited to become part of a communityteam so that they can have input into theseprograms and have opportunities to furthertheir own educational and emotional devel-opment. Network Coordinators are respon-sible for bringing their own resources toshare with the other parents. Each workswith one parent to orient him or her to thework of coordinating the Network. TheParent Resource Network also holds com-munity-wide meetings monthly. The loca-tion rotates from one neighborhood toanother.

During this entire empowerment process.those involved in the Parent ResourceNetwork have had to be mindful of egosand personalities to continuously work

toward a balance and reinforce each per-son's uniqueness and competencies.

The impact of the Parent ResourceNetwork has been felt by each

parent coordinator. individually.collectively. and community-wide.

Despite the obstacles that individualsand the whole network have encountered.the development of parents. families, andthe community increases.

Beverly Bell. Jr.. is Senior Parent Coordinatorfor the Parent Resource Network. 701 N. 25thStreet, Richmond. l'.4 23223. 8041780-4567.All work of the Parent Resource Network is acollaboration among Bell and NeighborhoodCoordinators Richert(' Pointdevter. AnnieGiles. Dianna Herndon. Wince). Hobson.Joyce Kenny, Cynthia Loney. and ValierMuhammad.

15

H c u ston Family Advocacy Nie-tvvcDrIcIs Parents' Vehicle for Change

FAN] Members SpeakResearch and experience show thatthe family plays the single most criti-cal role in determining a child's

future. The Family Advocacy Network (FAN) ishelping to ensure that public services supportfamilies in that role. Formed to facilitate par-ent input into the Annie E. Casey MentalHealth Initiative in Houston, Texas, FANenables parents to be advocates for their fami-lies. In FAN, parents find an environment inwhich they can work with service providersand legislators in planning and governance.

FAN coordinates parent efforts to advocatefor family-friendly change in public policiesand systems. Parents meet with serviceproviders and program and governmentagency administrators so that together theycan plan for family-focused programs and sys-tems. FAN staff also facilitate the integrationof public sources of support so that familiescan make the most of them. It keeps familiesfrom "falling through cracks" between differ-ent public services and helps them find waysto meet their needs.

The Annie E. Casey Mental Health Initiativeis in place in four communities nationwide; in1993, after responding to a request for propos-als, the third ward of Houston was chosen bythe governor to be the urban site for theInitiative. As the final year of the Annie E.Casey Mental Health Initiative draws to aclose, those involved in the Initiative inHouston have formed a non-profit organiza-tion called People In Partnership and areseeking funding to continue their work Below,FAN members and staff tell their story.

Edwoodie MathisMember, Family Advocacy Network

When I came on board, I was looking forsomebody to advocate for me. I had triedeverywhere and talked to every kind ofagency, trying to get some help for my chil-dren. While all this was going on, I was work-ing with the governing board and we wereplanning ways to improve the outcomes for[our] children. It was a long, hard struggle,[but] we did lots of things to bring peopletogether, trying to draw [them] together sothey could get the information we had to givethem. We had to get together and lay somefoundation work, set some parameters, clarifygoals. I'm still working with the governingboard and the Family Advocacy Network. Ihold [FAN] in high regard because they arethe [ones] who actually step out into theneighborhood and get in touch with the peo-ple: talk to them, convince them, help them togain access to the services that are offered. It'speople like [FAN] that encouraged me, have

inspired me to stick to it, go ahead with italthough I didn't see any way out or any [like-ly] outcome. So the Family AdvocacyNetwork is like my best friend.

Cedric JohnsonParent Coordinator, Annie E. Casey MentalHealth InitiativeStaff Member, Family Advocacy Network

There is not enough appreciation of theproblems facing disadvantaged children andthe consequences of these problems for allcommunities. The systems and servicesdesigned to serve children and families are sopoorly understood that there is little meaning-ful public debate about their quality, efficiency,and management, and there is very little, ifany, accountability.

During the planning stage of the Annie E.Casey Mental Health Initiative in Houston'sthird ward, an assessment was conducted todetermine the mental health and human ser-vices needs of the community's children andfamilies. The committee that conducted theassessment, and began the planning that fol-lowed, consisted mostly of service providers.It became apparent that the inclusion and par-ticipation of families was being neglected. Adecision was then made to separate the com-mittee into two entities, one of which was theFamily Advocacy Network or FAN.

FAN works to ensure that the Initiativekeeps children and their families as the focusof its efforts by working with other stakehold-ers in the community (such as business people,providers of services and programs, and edu-cators), committees, and state- and local-leveltask forces. We develop policies and servicedelivery procedures and take other actions todemonstrate our conviction that children canand should have better futures.

The Family Advocacy Network hopes tobring about awareness of these concerns andfamily participation in solutions that addressthem. As family resource centers becomeestablished in our community, we expect tohave a meaningful role in managing them.

Eugenia OkwuSecretary, Family Advocacy Network

I was always a strong advocate for my fami-ly, friends, and neighbors, but didn't realize ituntil I started working with FAN. It is a goodfeeling when I assist someone in cuttingthrough the red tape. Working with this grouphas strengthened my capabilities. I havelearned a lot about advocating for my rightsthrough the different agencies. FAN hasbecome recognized for letting the agenciesknow what the average citizen of this commu-nity is looking for in services, not what some-

16

one [else] thinks we need.I guess you could say [my family] is an

empowered family due to our connection toFAN. My daughter has benefited greatly frombeing a member of this group. It has helpedher in school and sports, with her communica-tion skills, and [dealing with] the public ingeneral. She also helps her fellow schoolmatesby advising them. My sister was the greatestinfluence for both of us. She was chosen to bethe Chair of FAN and is our strongest FANasset. [Our] being involved with FAN has alsoempowered our adult children.

D'Onice Renchie-SyonChair, Family Advocacy Network

I know sometimes people want to see achange, and they want to see it fast. But ittakes time for some things to change. I say toanyone working with the Initiative:Understand when it is time for us to makechanges in the big picture that we all want tosee happen. [Understand when it is time] tomake moves that would encourage the com-munity to keep supporting these efforts. Wecan volunteer our time, but we still need moresupport from our state and city partnersallof the partners we have in our midstif weare going to [serve] families.

Nikita WilsonCo-Chair, Family Advocacy Network

Although inclusion efforts are extremely tax-ing, they are fundamental to the success ofcollaboration. [When the Family AdvocacyNetwork was first formed], as FAN struggledto provide input to the decision-makers for thisinitiative, I was amazed at how informationthat was sent [to these decision makers] forconsideration in this consensus process wasdiluted, convoluted, and just plain misinter-preted. So I became a VISTA worker on theproject to try and discern where and how thecommunication break-downs were occurring.It became quite clear that in collaborative part-nerships, there is an inherent chaos in attempt-ing to be all-inclusive of all levels of the com-munity. The organizational efforts aremonumental and constantly in need of modifi-cation.

Stick with it if you are involved in familyempowerment. Bureaucracy does throw up allkinds of roadblocks to changing the waythings are done, to discourage rattling theircages. But consumers of services must beheard; their input is vital. People are not proneto use plans made for them without their input.FAN can be reached at Frederick DouglassFamily Resource Centel; 3000 Trulley,Houston, 7X 77004, 713/659-8630 (phone),713/659-3821 (fax).

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15. NO. 2 15

Community Involvement inProgram !Decision Making

by Bryan Samuels and Tony Markward

Most people working and partic-ipating in family support pro-grams believe that the involve-

ment of community residents is crucial tothe legitimacy and success of both pro-grams and communities, especially wherethere has been a history of disenfranchise-ment. But when we start to try to addresscommunity involvement through strategicplanning, difficult questions arise. "Whichcommunity members should we involve?What function will community involve-ment serve in our program and commun-ity? And what exactly do we mean by`involve,' anyway?"

The first step programs can take to planfor community involvement is to examineall of their options. In general, people viewcommunity involvement as residents tak-ing part in determining how information isshared, goals and policies are set, resourcesare allocated, and programs are operatedand evaluated. Family support profession-als often say that community involvementmeans empowering residents and increas-ing community ownership of programs: byhaving power to determine what programsdo and how they are operated, residents aremore likely to get what they need. So com-munity involvement can be defined as aredistribution of power and responsibilitythat gives residents a significant role indecision making and governing.

Programs generally make sincere effortsto involve residents and consumers in waysthat are beneficial to both programs andparticipants, but because they do not thinkstrategically about involvement, very fewmanage to rise to their vision as it isdescribed above. Other common reasonsthat programs have trouble attaining thatvision are:

1. A natural reluctance on the part of pro-fessionals to believe that they do notalways know best for their programs,

2. A lack of understanding that influencecan be shared with residents on morethan one level, and

3. A mismatch between the amount ofinfluence programs want to share withresidents and the types of involvementthat are made available to residents.

In the real world of family-supportive

practice, community governance of a pro-gram is a matter of degrees rather than adistinction drawn in black and white.Community members can be involved in afamily support program or center at a num-ber of different levels, all of which havedifferent costs, consequences, and benefitsfor the program, for the citizens who com-mit their time and other resources to getinvolved, and for the community as awhole. In the most effective family supportprograms and centers, a broad range ofcommunity residents are encouraged toparticipate in the planning, development,implementation, evaluation, and gover-nance of programs and centers, and partici-pation is understood to involve a degree ofinfluence over the decisions made at thedifferent stages in the life of the program.

The framework suggested in this article,which we have termed the "CommunityInvolvement Stairway" (see diagram,pages 18-19), was developed to help pro-gram staff, participants, planners, andadministrators determine:

1. Their goals concerning communityinvolvement (including their vision ofhow much authority should be sharedwith residents),

2. The techniques and methods they canuse to meet these goals, and

3. The types and amounts of commitment,responsibility, and skills that they areasking community residents to con-tribute.

What CommunityInvolvement Looks Like

We have identified six levels or steps thatmake up the theoretical communityinvolvement stairway.

Step 1: Informal RolesThis step encompasses a wide range of

roles that residents can fulfill in familysupport programs without exercising for-mal authority over how programs are run.These roles are often essential to programoperation and provide important opportuni-ties for residents to connect with programs,but do not contribute to the ability of acommunity to share in making decisions.They allow information and power to flow

16 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. 15, NO.2

in one direction, from program staff andgovernance bodies to community residents.

The main influence that residents in theseroles wield over a program is their abilityto grant or not grant it the credibility itneeds to be effective in the community.Vehicles for involving residents in non-governance roles include town hall meet-ings, open houses, testimonies, public pre-sentations, and grand openings. Theseactivities build upon the skills and rely onthe relationships that a small number ofresidents already have. In some situationsthe amount of time spent on these activitiesis limited and takes place just during theinitial stages of the program, when it is stilltrying to establish itself; in other cases, res-idents devote many hours to outreachefforts and remain involved for the life ofthe program. Community recruits areenlisted or hired to promote the programbecause they can identify with potentialconsumers and effectively communicatethe value of the program. New programsoften ask community leaders, activists,religious leaders, and educators to sponsorevents that serve the purpose of "market-ing" the program in the community.

Step 2: ConsultationWhen residents act as consultants, they

are invited to express their opinions, expec-tations, and preferences before decisions aremade on important issues like programdesign and implementation strategies.Residents provide insight into why a partic-ular program is needed, why some pro-grams have failed, and what steps can betaken to improve programs. While informa-tion flows mostly from resident to program,the power rests primarily with the program.Sometimes these consultation structures areestablished in order to fulfill a grant require-ment or public law. In many situations, resi-dent participation is measured quantitatively(by how many individuals attend meetings,donate time, bring friends to meetings, andcomplete surveys), but not qualitatively.Programs value the information and advicethey obtain through consultation, but are notrequired to act on it. This may be the mostcommon level at which programs currentlyinvolve residents.

Resident input is sought through steeringcommittees, advisory boards, and neigh-borhood or tenant councils. Residents also

1?

may be program evaluators, grant review-ers, reviewers of audiovisual and writtenmaterials, members of the orientation com-mittee for new staff, paid consultants, andadvisors in the process of assessing thecommunity's needs.

Residents are asked to spend a modestamount of time and energy on preparation,attend regularly scheduled meetings, andco-host community meetings. Consultationtypically consumes between one day amonth and one day per quarter of resi-dents' time, but paid advocates can workon a regular daily or weekly schedule.

Step 3: RepresentationAt this level on the community involve-

ment stairway, residents act as the recog-nized "voice" of the community. Usually, asmall number of residents are selected andgiven an official role in making decisionswithin the larger circle of stakeholders.Each resident has the same voting poweras each stakeholder, but residents are verymuch in the minority. During the initialstages of the decision-making process,when many important decisions are made,residents' participation is often diminishedbecause most are uncomfortable speakingfor the community.

Resident representatives are oftenexpected to:

1. Build understanding of and support forthe program in the community,

2. Offer a forum in which other residentsare comfortable sharing their ideas andconcerns,

3. Mediate disputes between residents andstakeholders, and

4. Identify opportunities for achievinggreater "buy-in" from the community.

Common mechanisms for representationinclude boards of trustees, citizen reviewboards, collaborative governance bodies,and task forces.

Because the resident is accountable toboth the organization of which he or she isa representative and the community whoseinterests he or she is expected to promote,this role can take a considerable amount ofdedication and time (between two and fourdays a month).

Step 4: PartnershipAt this level, the vision of community

involvement in family support begins tomatch the reality. Decision-making poweris distributed between community residents

and stakeholders/program staff so that eachshares responsibility for planning, decisionmaking, and accountability. Participantshave the power to make changes in thestructure or content of the program if itfails to meet their needs, and they are privyto all information so that they can makeinformed decisions. In the formal decision-making process, residents hold 50 percentof the votes.

While residents serving at the representa-tion level express opinions that are notnecessarily acted upon when other stake-holders make the final decisions, residentsin the equal partnerships that characterizethis step help forge final decisions and,with their voting power, can require otherstakeholders to compromise. At the part-nership level, participating residents areaccountable to two groups: the partner-ship's stakeholders and community resi-dents.

Residents involved in a partnership areexpected to:

1. Build families' capacity to become self-sufficient,

2. Build the community's capacity to meetthe needs of residents,

3. Provide a forum for the community toshare its concerns,

4. Mediate disputes among all individualsand organizations involved in the pro-gram,

5. Build broader community understandingof the program, and

6. Identify the unmet needs of families.

The structures and mechanisms common-ly used in partnerships include familyresource centers, boards of directors, jointplanning boards, appointed commissions,and some collaborative bodies. All of thesestructures require that residents and otherstakeholders come together as a team.Each resident must feel valued and respect-ed, and each is assumed to be competent todecide what is in the best interests of thecommunity and to be capable of masteringnew skills. The agenda must be set withinthe partnership and not from the outside.

The amount of time a resident must com-mit to a partnership depends on whether heor she is a program participant, organizer,decision maker, or paid employee. Thetime invested by program participants maybe ongoing but not intensive. Organizersand decision makers often contribute about

18

five days a month, and paid employees canwork up to full time.

Step 5: LeadershipThe leadership level of community

involvement is achieved when residentsbecome the dominant force in planning,implementation, and governance, and havethe power to pursue what they believe tobe in the best interests of the community.This level can be successful only when theterms of the leadership have been negotiat-ed among the community, the program,and officials and funders from the publicand private sectors (of course, the lines ofdistinction among the parties blurs as com-munity involvement progresses). At thislevel on the stairway, it is primarily com-munity residents who are accountable forthe success or failure of the program.

The leadership role requires participatingresidents to:

1. Provide broad oversight and direction,

2. Have a firm understanding of the pro-gram's operations,

3. Provide a forum for the community toshare its concerns,

4. Mediate disputes among all individualsand organizations involved,

5. Build broader community understandingof the program,

6. Identify unmet needs of families,

7. Set goals and benchmarks and measureoutcomes, and

8. Evaluate the success of the program.

Residents' responsibilities are selected sothat they build on strengths, and residentsmust have the latitude to determine howthe work gets done. Early on, the residentswill need to spend a lot of time establish-ing formal decision-making protocols andprocedures. They also may formulate astatement describing significant powersthat have been delegated and to whom theyhave been assigned. In these structures,residents are appointed by funders or elect-ed by the community.

In some cities and states, leadershipstructures such as local planning entitieshave received funding to plan and/or oper-ate neighborhood programs.

At this level, a core set of communityresidents and leaders usually is hired halfto full time and commits six months to a

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2 17

CommunityControl

O

O

Community Invol

Informal Roles

Representation

Consultation

programmatic workoutreachconsumer reactioncreate demandestablish credibility

Partnership

equal statusformal role itshared respotrue governai

"voice" of the peopleformal role in decision makingbuild bridges

advise before decision madefulfill requirementsnew perspectivecollect information from residents

AgencyControl

1 8 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. 15, NO. 21 9

Levels of In

CommunityGovernance

elected by the communityfull accountabilityselected by funder

Leadership

] dominant voiceprimary responsibilityresource allocationaccountable to funders/community

:ision-makinglityrole

fir If7

ement

BEST COPY AVAILABLEFAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL IS, NO. 2 I9

year of time. In some cases, their positionsbecome permanent.

Step 6: Community GovernanceAt the community governance level, only

residents are accountable to the communityand to funders for all decisions and results.Residents have complete control over theprogram, policies, and the allocation ofresources. In this scenario, residents holdthe authority that outside stakeholders inthe non-community governance scenariohold. While they may ask for the input ofothers from outside the community, suchas professionals, businesspersons, or resi-dents who have been involved in similarefforts, residents control the flow of infor-mation. Community governance is oftencited as the utopia of community involve-ment. Indeed, it may exist only as a goal orvision; we do not know of a program thathas reached this level.

True community program governance isa pure form of empowerment. It is moreresponsive to the needs of both the familyas a whole and individual family membersthan governance mechanisms that involveoutside stakeholders and professionals. Itencourages the flow of resources to fami-lies in ways that are flexible, individual-ized, and responsive to changing needs.

Residents perform many of the samefunctions in community governance asthey do in leadership. At this level ofinvolvement, a strong, more formal staffstructure that includes several communityresidents full time and part time is neces-sary, and advisory boards and boards ofdirectors are likely to be established. Forresidents involved at this level, the timecommitment is significant and may be'overwhelming.

ConclusionsThe ascending nature of the stairway

described above implies that the higher thelevel at which a program involves its com-munity, the better the program. But whenresident involvement is put into practice, itis more aptly described as a set of pointson a continuum than as steps on a stairway.

One could say that the nirvana of com-munity involvement is the community'stotal governance of the programs that serveit. Of course it is desirable to achieve thishighest level of involvement, but at thevery least, programs wishing to call them-selves "community-based" and "empower-ing" must strive to achieve the partnershipstep. While most of us could name severalprograms that do not grant residents anytrue decision-making authority (partner-ship-level involvement or above) and are

still effective, it is fair to say that theseprograms would enhance their otherstrengths if they gave more communitymembers decision-making roles.

Also, providing residents a single mecha-nism for participating at the partnershiplevel or above is not enough. Programsneed to provide a range of opportunitiesfor residents at all levels on the stairway.Because the demands on residents are dif-ferent at each level, residents with differentmotivations, personalities, and skills willbe attracted to different levels and differentroles within those levels.

Next StepsMuch more needs to be understood

before we truly comprehend the processand outcomes of community involvement.You probably have your own ideas aboutwhat is missing from the stairway. Here aretwo of ours: First, the stairway reflects thesupply of opportunities available to resi-dents, but not the demand; it captures onlythe range of governance-related opportuni-ties typically made available to residents,not necessarily the opportunities in whichresidents are most interested. Now we haveonly the broadest notions of what moti-vates residents to participate in efforts toimprove their communities and what repelsthem. We need to make an effort to askresidents, including those who are notalready involved in a community-basedprogram, what results they hope to achievefrom involvement. Second, the model doesnot represent the whole range of ways inwhich a resident can connect with a pro-gram without being granted official influ-ence over its direction: as a volunteer, astaff member, and as a participant, as wellas in many less formal ways.

Achieving the full potential of communi-ty involvement in family support programswill occur only when we can match the fullrange of opportunities for resident involve-ment with residents' many degrees andsources of motivation to be involved.

Bryan Samuels is Co-Director of the NationalResource Center for Family-Centered Practice(NRC-FCP), in which FRC is a partner. TonyMarkward is a staff member of the NRC-FCP.They can be reached at FRC, 200 S. MichiganAve., 16th floor, Chicago, IL 60604, 312/341-0900 (phone) or 312/341 -9361 (fax).

2120 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. 15, NO. 2

Becoming a Board Member:A Parent's Story

Jewell Cody, a divorced single mother,is secretary of the Executive Board ofthe Center for Parent and Neighbor-hood Involvement in New Haven,

Connecticut.In a city where 50 percent of the children

live in poverty, parents are developing,designing, creating, and managing theirown child- and family-serving programs.The Center's workshops and models allowparents to develop the skills and knowledgethey need to advocate for effective servicesand control their own resources.

The Center for Parent and NeighborhoodInvolvement attempts to spread the mes-sage in communities that prevention isimportant, and to help them organize toadvocate for family resource centers; italso offers a parents a way to network witheach other about their neighborhoods andtheir personal concerns. The New HavenFamily Alliance founded the Center afterlearning from earlier experiences that inorder for family resource centers to be suc-cessful, they must spring from communi-ties' own desires and initiative and be theresult of community members' leadership.The Alliance provides administrative sup-port to the parents involved in the Center,which is currently funded by the Com-munity Foundation for Greater New Havenand the William Casper GrausteinMemorial Fund.

For more information, contact the Centerfor Parent and Neighborhood Involvement,25 Science Park, Box 34, New Haven, CT06511, 203/786 -5970 (phone), 203/786-5974 (fax).

FRC: How did you get involved with theCenter for Parent and NeighborhoodInvolvement?

Jewell Cody: I became involved because Iwas an Aspira/Americorps member.Americorps is like the Peace Corps, but itis based in the United States, and Aspira isa regional Latino youth organization. Iwanted to volunteer to help improve mycommunity, and they placed me in a com-munity service job. But I had transportationdifficulties couldn't complete my last 40hours at the job, which was in Bridgeport.My Americorps coordinator, who hadworked with Mustafa Abdul-Salaam [for-mer New Haven Family AllianceExecutive Director and current FRC board

member] in a group working on youthissues, arranged with him for me to com-plete my assignment at the Center forParent and Neighborhood Involvement,which I could get to without my car.

I volunteered with Amelia Hills, an out-reach worker at the Center. She was in thework group convened in our region to planfor the federal Family Preservation andSupport Services Program (FPSSP). Ihelped process responses to the request forproposals for the child abuse preventiongrant issued by the ConnecticutDepartment of Children and FamilyServices (DCF), the lead agency for theFPSSP. The Center had other parentsinvolved in this process in order for us tounderstand the funding that came into thecommunity through DCF and to have a sayin what programs got the money.

I also attended meetings where DCF staffcreated and laid out their work plans. Thisgave me and the other parents who attend-ed a chance to talk to the policymakers. Iguess some people might at first be afraidat those meetings, but I'm very outspokenand have no trouble saying what I think. Ithink they received me well. They gave theparents a stipend of $25 to help pay forchildcare. I had arranged for childcare andonly needed to accept the stipend once.

FRC: How are you currently involvedwith the Center?

JC: Because I had volunteered for 40hours through the Center, parents electedme to serve on the executive board of theCenter, as secretary. I had completed myservice with Americorps, and my workwith DCF had shown the others at theCenter my dedication and commitment.

As secretary, I write up the minutes ofmeetings and give them to New HavenFamily Alliance, which provides adminis-trative support to parents working throughthe Center, and to board members. Theboard meets with foundations to ensure theCenter's compliance with grant require-ments. In general, we voice our concernson the continuation of the Center forParent and Neighborhood Involvement. InJune, the board had an awards luncheon tohonor parents who contributed their timeand effort to the group.

Because of my experience reviewinggrant applications, I got the idea that par-ents at the Center could be trained in grant

22

writing: how it's done, the specializedterms involved. We could write the grantsthat fund the Center, and that knowledgemight help some people get a good job.We're planning a retreat so we can learn tohandle a budget and funds. Eventually, wewould like to have ongoing training forparents.

At the Center, we have advisors in spe-cific areas, but the advisors are only calledupon when we have questions, like howwe should present ourselves to foundationsor who we should go to and ask to dotraining with us. We would like the advi-sors to train parents in skills so that parentscan earn CEU [continuing education] cred-its and have skills to show on theirrésumés.

FRC: What advice would you give to pro-grams who are trying to encourage parentinvolvement and leadership?

JC: I think there has to be some way topull the parents in[a new program] needsto offer them something so that they can beable to get something out of the program.They could give stipends or CEU creditsso parents can ... utilize [the credits] forrésumé purposes.

Another thing is childcare. Programsneed to discuss where parents are going tohouse their children while they attendmeetings. Otherwise parents have to paythis extra cost, which can be hard. The pro-gram could organize day care while par-ents run their program so parents can getinvolved.

Transportation is also key to running asuccessful program, as a lot of the parents'incomes are spent on transportation forthemselves and taking their kids to andfrom schools.

FRC: What do you feel is the most impor-tant work that parents can do in their com-munities?

JC: It's essential for parents to begin inter-acting in the community to find out what'savailable for their children that's positiveand divert their children's energy into apositive academic environment so they'llgrow up to be a political asset. It's alsoimportant for the children to grow up andhave an intellectual life and confidence inthemselves.

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL IS, NO.2 21

Georgia's Youth Futures AuthorityInvolves Youths and Adults

in Local Planning

aC

*".4.1,A' 4

The most important element in compre-hensive community building [is] the inclu-sion of residents of the neighborhoods ingenuine decision making. This means help-ing residents (youth and adult) work, asequal partners, with representatives frompublic and private sectors to improve con-ditions in their neighborhoods. Involvingpeople in using their own strengths to solveproblems is the cornerstone of buildingstrong neighborhoods. People must havethe opportunity and resources to take con-trol of their lives, and to sustain their fami-lies and communities.Dr. Otis Johnson, YFA Executive

Director

The Chatham-Savannah Youth FuturesAuthority, created by Georgia state legisla-tion in 1988, is a community collaborativecomprised of representatives from the edu-cational system, city and county govern-ment, social and human service agencies,the business sector, and youths and adultsof the community.

Since its inception, the Youth FuturesAuthority (YFA) has learned first-hand thatinvolving residents in the decision-making

by Jacqueline Elmore

process requires not only a new way ofthinking, but a shift in practice.

To continue this shift, YFA started itsCommunity Change for YouthDevelopment (CCYD) initiative, whichpromotes the involvement of youths andadult neighborhood residents in the leader-ship, planning, implementation, monitor-ing, and evaluation of programs and activi-ties for themselves. An advisory councilcomposed of residents is in charge ofdeciding and overseeing the services need-ed in the community, developing resourcesto carry out activities, and overseeing thebudget that pays for services and activities.

Because this kind of community involve-ment in planning was a new order of busi-ness, creating trust and confidence had tobe the first step. Organizational meetingsfor the youths included pizza parties andround-table discussions with the YFAadministrative staff and representatives ofPublic Private Ventures, which providestechnical assistance to YFA in implement-ing the Community Change for YouthDevelopment initiative.

"At first, [some youths] were hesitantabout becoming a part of a group that ran

22 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2

the risk of not being accepted by theirpeers," recalls Rhoney Trippett, CCYDDirector. At a facilitated retreat, however,youths saw that "they could set the agendafor what is acceptable and model thisbehavior for other youth." Adult coordina-tors of the initiative gave direction andconsistently demonstrated sincere concernand interest in the youths; this promotedthe requisite comfort level, and soon ayouth council was formed, complete withby-laws and a vision statement. Evenbefore the initiative became a reality, com-munity residents were included in planningmeetings that crafted the design for theCommunity Change for Youth Develop-ment initiative.

When YFA staff traveled to Philadelphiato hold preliminary discussions with PublicPrivate Ventures about implementation ofthe initiative, members of the communityadvisory council always accompaniedthem. Their inclusion showed the valueplaced on creating equal partnerships thatis crucial to making local leadership work.Pearl Spaulding, a member of the advisorycouncil, is proud of her involvement inplanning the services of her local familyresource center: "I had to get to knoweverybody; now I make suggestions to thestaff and serve as secretary of the council."

Funding for Community Change forYouth Development and the other initia-tives of the Youth Futures Authority comesfrom both local and national sources.Partner agencies that represent the humanand social service arena collaborate inYFA; they have committed to joint deci-sion making, joint allocation of funds, andjoint accountability measures throughsigned memoranda of understanding. TheYFA model is in the process of being repli-cated in other communities in Georgia.

Jacqueline Elmore can be reached at YouthFutures Authority, 316 East Bay Street,Savannah, GA 31401, 912/651 -6810.

Parent Network Center:Parents Help Each Other Advocate

for Children With Disabilities

The Parent Network Center bringstogether parents of children withdisabilities in New York State to

support. advocate, and empower eachother. As staff. we are all parents of chil-dren with disabilities. Together with fami-lies, we develop strategies and techniquesfor working with professionals in fieldsimportant to children's success. We use ourfirst-hand experience and training to helpother family-serving professionals under-stand the rights of families seeking ser-vices for their children, especially in thearea of education. We believe that profes-sionals must understand each other in orderto form a partnership that will help chil-dren achieve their full potential.

Each parent who contacts the ParentNetwork Center is directed to the staffmember who has the most experience inthe type of disability that the family isdealing with. One staff member, for exam-ple. has a learning-disabled child andassists others in finding resources ondevelopment of reading skills,remedial help, and experts withwhom they can consult.

In addition, each of us has an area ofspecialization: early childhood, legaladvocacy. formulation of individual educa-tion plans. and outreach to the AfricanAmerican and Latino communities aresome examples. Staff members coordinatesupport groups to bring together parentswhose children have similar disabilities;through these support groups and one-on-one meetings and conversations, we pro-vide support and education to help parentswork in non-adversarial, collaborativeways with educators and other profession-als with whom their children have contact.

We also put parents in touch with eachother through Parent to Parent, a networkof peer telephone support; through Parentto Parent, families throughout the statesupport and educate each other and benefitfrom the experiences and knowledge ofothers. The Parent Network Center is fund-ed by the U.S. Office of Special Educationand Rehabilitative Services. It serves all ofNew York state except New York City.

Parents Share EmotionalSupport

In addition to pointing parents toward

by Joan M.Watkins

resources and experts. the parents whostaff the Parent Network Center often playanother crucial role: we listen to parentsand help them cope with the intense andconfusing emotions parents often feelwhen their children are born with oracquire disabilities. Grief counselors havenoted that families in these situations oftenexperience feelings that are very much likethose related to death. These situationsresult in the loss of a dream: we often feelthat the future we planned for our familieshas been tragically torn away. As in the

The parents who staff theParent Network Centerplay a number of crucialroles: In addition to point-ing parents towardresources and experts, welisten and help them copewith the intense and con-fusing emotions parentsoften feel when their chil-dren are born with oracquire disabilities.

-7

case of a death, we grieve for what wewanted life to be like.

Shock is usually the initial stage, and isfollowed by denial: "This can't be happen-ing1.- But at the Parent Network Center, wepoint out to parents the ways in which wesee them planning for how they will copewith the situation. even as they may bedenying it. As parents of children with dis-abilities. we know that while we are say-ing. "Oh. no!- we are also making somemental plans for how we will cope with thesituation.

We also support other parents as theycope with anxiety. fear, depression. andguilt feelings that can occur and recur inany order and in response to unsettling

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 24

events. Often individuals seeking help dis-play anger; many times professionals andservice providers believe this anger is inresponse to their actions, while in realitythe parent is angry at the situation life hasdealt him or her, or is reacting to previousbad experiences. We try to act on ourknowledge that anger may be eitherdestructive or productive. depending onhow we handle it. On the positive side,anger can be the force that triggers neces-sary action. (You know how you feel whenyou are infuriated and you're "not going totake it any more.")

Most lists of the stages that grieving par-ents eo through end with "acceptance."Parents are told by the world includingmedical and educational professionalsthat they must accept the disability. Thismessage makes many parents feel tornapart: they do not have the "required" feel-ings. and they cannot accept the disability.

A child with a disability can be contin-ually in need of assistance. services.

therapies, medical help, and aneducational setting that gives

him or her the opportunity to learn.Parents can accept their beloved, vul-

nerable child unequivocallybut theycannot accept the disability that has onlybrought harm to the child.

We at the Parent Resource Networkencourage family- and child-serving pro-fessionals to understand and to reassureparents about their feelings, giving parentspermission to feel as they do. Because wehave had similar experiences, we knowthat the best that can be expected is forparents to acknowledge the disability: "thissituation exists." Having acknowledged thedisability, parents can go on to do some-thing about it.

If parents truly accepted the disability,there would be no impetus for progress. Byaccepting the child and acknowledging thereality of the disability. parents can mar-shal their forces to try to make things bet-ter for their beloved child, working as part-ners with understanding professionals.

Joan Al. Watkins is Executive Director ofParent Network Center. 250 Delaware Ave.,Suite 3. Buffalo, NY /4202, 716/853 -1570(phone), 716/853 -1574 (fax).

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15. NO. 2 23

Turning Up the Volume On ParentFeedback in Evaluation

Increasingly, foundations, governmentagencies, communities, and the public atlarge have been scrutinizing how effec-

tively our social service dollars are beingspent. For family support programs, thishas meant an increased push to measureefforts and successes. For most programs,such evaluation presents major challenges.In order for it to fulfill the requirements ofall parties and support a strengths-based,empowering approach to working withfamilies, evaluation must meet a number ofcriteria:

1. The evaluation must respond to therequests of all stakeholdersfounda-tions, constituents, communities, pro-gram staff, and participantsfor mea-surement of progress, results. andaccomplishments.

2. Evaluation efforts must operate withinthe constraints that are unique to fami-ly support program models, such as:the flexibility and responsiveness ofthe family support approach, the timeit takes to develop and implementfamily support program components,the limited funding base, and the vol-untary nature of participation in manyfamily support programs.

3 Evaluation must be useful and relevantfor guiding program design, manage-ment, and implementation so that itdoes not to replicate more traditionalservice delivery models.

by Nilofer Ahsan

For the past 18 months the FamilyResource Coalition has been identifyingand developing conceptual frameworks,strategies. and tools that assess participantor consumer satisfaction. Coalition staffhave been particularly interested in thosemodels and tools that strive to address theuniqueness and diversity of family supportcontexts and extend the growing knowl-edge base of effective family support prac-tice. The participant satisfaction tool pre-sented here in draft form is one product ofthis effort.

The tool is designed with the expectationthat each family support program using itwill adapt sections to its own needs andcontext: to begin with, the program canadapt the cover page to include its logoand mission statement. Page one is a tem-plate that programs can modify to reflecttheir service components and features. Therest of the tool presents simply phrasedquestions and statements that allow partici-pants to use family support principles toevaluate the program's current practice.

In keeping with the family support tenetthat programs respond to communities'specific needs, the toolwhen adaptedallows participants to evaluate the programin the context of its own stated mission orpurpose. Another intent of this tool is tomake family support principles understand-able in a way that connects these principlesto the day-to-day experiences of familiesparticipating in programs. The tool should

DRAFT

offer programs some guidance and anopportunity not only to "talk the talk" but"walk the walk"to meet the increasingdemands for program evaluation, and tofurther the goal of parent involvement andempowerment.

Ultimately, this participant satisfactiontool seeks to provide the field with a wayto strengthen and affirm the partnershipsthat exist between programs and partici-pants, promote ongoing dialogue and par-ticipant involvement, and inspire acknowl-edgment of families' and programs'progress and successes. The initial draft ofthis tool, printed here, will be field-testedin English- and Spanish-language versionsthroughout the United States later this year.FRC welcomes your questions, commentsand suggestions. Please contact NiloferAhsan, FRIENDS Director. FamilyResource Coalition, 200 S. MichiganAvenue, 16th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604,312/341-0900 or 312/341-9361 (fax).Many thanks to the following people for con-tributing to the development of this tool: FRCSenior Training Specialist Brenda Rodriguez;FRC Intern David Diehl; Joyce Bowen of theChicago Urban League; FRC Washington,D.C., Liaison Maria Elena Orrego; FRCPresident Bernice Wiessbourd; and membersof the FRC Best Practices Project SteeringCommittee: Hedy Chang, Moncrieff Cochrain,Emily Fenichel, Sharon Lynn Kagan, LindaPassmark, and Karen Pittman.

[Place your program's logo here :]

NEIGHBORHOOD FAMILY CENTER[Place your mission statement here :]

The Neighborhood Family Center is dedicated to creating opportunities for familiesto exercise power and self-determination in governing their own lives.The Center's mission is to enhance and sustain healthy families and

communities in which people make their own decisions, take their own initiative,help and support each other, and have a strong sense of belonging.

24 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2 25

D R A F T

How are we doing?What Services Do You Use?

The Neighborhood Family Center offers the following services. Please check off those that you have participated in during the last year.

Community Activities1:1 Nutrition Classes

Volunteer OpportunitiesEntrepreneurial ProgramShare Food ProgramBreast Feeding EducationKawaida BoutiqueCase Management (Medical)Teen AdvocacySelf-esteem Enhancement

Life Skills WorkshopsCI Resource and Referrals

Support GroupsCounselingSubstance Abuse EducationJob Readiness ProgramCase Management

CI Recreational ActivitiesDevelopmental ScreeningsIn-School Workshops

What other services would you like to see offered at the Center? (Continue on back)

Is there anything you'd like to tell us about the services you've received? (Continue on back)

WIC ReferralsTransportation AssistanceGEDGroup TherapyPreventative Health EducationDrop-In Day CareHome VisitsVocational/ Career Training

What do we believe in?Below we list our guiding principles and ask questions about the services you received at the center.

Your answers will help us provide services that reflect our core beliefs.

1. Staff and families work together in relationships based on equality and respect.Do you feel welcome when you enter the center?Do staff listen to your point of view and encourage you to make your own decisions?Do staff work with you to identify and meet your needs?Is program information communicated in a way that is clear and easy to understand?Do you feel staff respect your family members (including those you consider family)?Are staff interested in and respectful of what you think about child rearing?

2. Programs enhance families' capacity to support the growth and development of all familymembersadults, youths, and children.

Is everyone you consider family invited to participate in center activities?Do programs and services at the center meet the needs and interests of all members of your family?While participating in the family center, have you learned about how your child learns and grows,and the role you play in supporting your child?Does the center make a positive difference in your life and the life of your family?Does the center provide childcare, transportation, and other forms of support so that you can par-ticipate in services?

3. Families are resources to their own members, to other families, to programs, and to com-munities.

Has the center helped you participate in community activities?Are there opportunities for you to support center activities and other families in the program?Do you feel more confident in solving some of your family problems or dealing with difficult sit-uations because of your involvement with the center?Do center staff ask for and listen to your opinions and feedback about services and activities atthe center?Have you been invited to plan or coordinate activities at the center?

4. Programs affirm and strengthen families' cultural, racial, and linguistic identities andenhance their ability to function in a multicultural society.

Does the center provide services in the language that you are most comfortable with?Do staff respect your family's culture and identity?Are center activities and programs consistent with what you teach your children about culture,history, and values?Do the program environment and activities show pride in your community's culture, identity andachievements?

BEST COPY AVAILABLE'26

Always Usually Sometimes Seldom Never

Eli

o

Eli

Eli El

r0

LI

0

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2 25

DRAF T

Do you meet and learn from people of different cultures and backgrounds at the center?Do the center's classes, activities and materials reflect your culture, language and background?

Always Usually Sometimes Seldom Never

5. Programs are embedded in their communities and contribute to the community-buildingprocess.

Do center staff help you and your family feel more connected to your community?Do all types of families in the community use the center?Do center staff organize activities that improve life in your community?Is the center active and responsive to the issues important to families in your community?

6. Programs advocate with families for services and systems that are fair, responsive, andaccountable to the families served.

Does the center bring families together to discuss and share concerns about community issues?Does the center listen carefully to your needs and concerns and refer you to other agencies andorganizations that can help or assist you?If yes, are these referrals helpful?Do center staff help you to get services, or resolve problems with other service providers?Do center staff encourage you to share your views and take a leadership role within thecommunity?

7. Practitioners work with families to mobilize formal and informal resources to supportfamily development.

Does the center staff help you get the services you need?Have you learned of clubs, associations, social activities, and other community events throughthe center?Does the center provide opportunities for families in the community to get together and meet?

8. Programs are flexible and continually responsive to emerging family and communityissues.

Is the center easy to get to?Are services available at convenient times?Do you have to wait to participate in activities or use specific services?Does the center provide what your community needs?Do you feel that staff care about you and your family?Has the center developed new activities or programs as community needs have emerged?Do you feel comfortable sharing concerns about the program with staff?

What do you like best about the center? (Continue on back)

What do we need to work on? (Continue on back)

1:1

Thank you for answering our questions.

Your answers and opinions are important.

The information provided will help us to learn and grow, and to serve you better.

The guiding principles and key practices used in this evaluation tool were developed as part of Family ResourceCoalition's Best Practices Project and are excerpted from Guidelines for Family Support Practice, published inJuly 1996 by Family Resource Coalition.

26 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. 15. NO.2

Empowering Parents is MiningDiamonds in the Rough

by Ted Bowman

It can be said ofmost, if not all,families with

whom we work thatthey are "diamonds inthe rough." Under-neath even the mostcautious, guardedexterior is a personwith talents, skills,and dreams lookingfor a place for the sparkle to emerge and beseen. To be sure, some diamonds are cam-ouflaged better than others. Even so, allfamilies have resources. Our tasks as par-ent educators include finding thoseresources and affirming with parents thatthey and their families possess them.

Regarding families as "diamonds in therough" can require a shift in thinking, oth-erwise known as a paradigm shift. Theshift is from seeing some families only astroubled, disadvantaged, or dysfunctional,to expending the time and energy to lookat the strengths and abilities parents pos-sess, even while seeing their issues clearly.Such a shift requires a willingness to pur-sue the goal of parent empowerment inspite of barriers erected by those who arepaying too much attention to what's miss-ing and what's wrong. Funding streams inmany human service, health care, and edu-cational systems are driven by attention toand removal of problems. The trendtoward managed care and "doing morewith less" can exacerbate this emphasis.Diligence is required if attention to assets,strengths, capacity, and hope are to prevailover what is wrong or missing.

There are perspectives and processes thatfamily resource professionals can use tohelp facilitate recognition and use ofstrengths and resources:

a'

Choose to look. Some diamonds just popout as we walk by. But most will never bediscovered unless someone is looking.What appears as dysfunction may hide sur-vival skills and resourcefulness . . . unlesswe choose to look. Also, broaden yourways of looking for diamonds in the rough.Your life experience affects the way youview families and their circumstances.Someone of a different background willsee different things. Ask colleagues,including parents, how they look fordiamonds.

Know what you are looking for. Thegrowing literature on resiliency, empower-ment, and family strengths provides animpressive array of clues about the thingsthat help families deal with adversity:problem-solving skills, support, hope, thepresence of supportive adults (sometimescalled mentors), and a way of makingsense or meaning of life stresses are but afew. While none of these factors guaranteeresiliency, looking for and recognizingthem helps us be alert to things parents andchildren already are doing to cope withtough stuff in their lives. Further, if theseor other protective factors or resources areabsent, we can work with families to addthem or to compensate for their absence.

28

Create a criticalmass ofsearchers. Whileit is crucial thateach family edu-cator look for

0z diamonds in the>-` rough, the

impact of indi-viduals' effortscan be enhanced

by a group's efforts. One voice has power;additional voices add to the power, credi-bility, and clout of our multiple messagesof recognition and affirmation. If you donot work in collaboration with other fami-ly-serving workers, now is the time tostart. Find out who else also works withthe families you work with. Join handswith public health nurses, university exten-sion staff, school personnel, and others insearching for diamonds in the rough. Ifyou work in groups, pause periodically toengage the group in reflecting on strengthsthey have become aware of as they haveobserved or listened to one another.

Share your discoveries with families.Carl Dunst says that there are a lot of com-petent people out there who are notempowered because they don't yet believein their own competence.' Sharing yourobservations of a family's strengths andresources can be a first step in fosteringthat family's ability to do the same. Whenyou see a diamond, let the diamond know.Otherwise, the diamond may think it's justanother rock. You may need to reinforceyour observation. When individuals orfamilies have not been the recipients ofsuch affirmation, they may be dubious oreven cynical about what you are sayingand why you are saying it. Try something

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2 27

like: "Ted, I have something to say to you.I want to name some strengths I think youpossess which you may not now see or beready to believe. But I see them. And Iwant to tell you what I see in the hopesthat one day you will be aware of theserich resources." Galway Kinnell has ahaunting poem in which there is a line tothe effect that sometimes it is necessary to"reteach a thing its loveliness."2 Familysupport professionals teach and reteachabout loveliness.

Aid families in owning their resources.Calling attention to strengths is but onestep in the process of promoting resiliency.Aid parents and children in seeing waysthey have been and are resourceful in theface of adversity. Past successes can builda foundation for future achievements. Evenwhen their choices may not have workedout or been the "best" choices, affirm themfor attempting to cope effectively. Supportthem in utilizing their own and others'assistance. A willingness and an ability toengage in problem solving is one of thekeystones of resiliency. Hence, a parentwho is making choices of any kind mayhave one of the tools useful in coping.Help parents to discover this about them-selves. Then, aid them in refining thechoices they pursue.

Remember that empowerment must betaken. Many people view people's effortsto empower others as just another form of

"one-upping": someone with powergives power to another. Many findsuch actions demeaning, arrogant,and patronizing. Remember thatempowerment is not something thatcan be given; it must be taken. Yourdiscovery of diamonds in the roughwill not necessarily change some-one's life. The person may beunable to see the diamond whichyou are calling to their attention. Nomatter what the consequences,embracing a commitment to searchfor strengths and resources creates adifferent way of viewing parentsand children. Whether a lot of dia-monds are discovered or not, andwhether or not parents see the samediamonds you do, can be incidentalto the act of searching. It is the cre-ation of a climate of recognition andaffirmation that promotes the proba-bility that parents and children

4, themselves will discover their owndiamonds. When that occurs,empowerment has been taken. Themusical group Sweet Honey in theRock have a song about a girl who

grew up in a house with no rnirrors.3 Theonly images she saw of herself were thoseshe received from others, including Nana,who also lived in the house. The chorus,"The beauty that I saw in everything wasin her eyes, was in her eyes," shows howNana provided an environment in whichempowerment could be taken!

Avoid false praise and cheerfulness.When searching for diamonds in the rough,you may find some "rough." The roughmay include past or present experiences ofpain, loss, or grief. A searcher for dia-monds in the rough does not avoid com-ments about pain. People who are grievingtell me that the last thing they need, espe-cially when in the midst of grieving, is pre-mature cheering-up. Rather, what theywant is acknowledgment of their loss.Surround them with care and empathy.And you may discover, even in the midstof grief, diamonds of coping with losswhich deserve discovery and affirmation.Such understanding often creates a climatefor greater cheer.

Dreaming new dreams may require let-ting go of old dreams. Before families canlook for diamonds, they may need toattend to their losses, and to receive sup-port in doing so. Picture the family whodiscovers at birth that their longed-forchild has a birth anomaly which will addchallenges the rest of the child's life. Mostparents speak about such discoveries as a

28 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2

loss of dreams and loss of the future thefamily had hoped for. Before a new storycan be created, before a new dream can besought, it is often essential to face the loss.Or picture the parent who grew up inpoverty and who vowed that her childrenwould never experience such hardship. Ifcircumstances have left her in poverty now,she may have to face shattered dreamsbefore she becomes willing to search fornew ones. Honor her loss. If you feel over-whelmed, link up with a grief professionaland ask for assistance. Practice self-care;polish your own diamond. Doing what isadvocated in this article requires patient,persistent effort and self-care. Put items onyour calendar that are likely to polish yourdiamond. Further, for your sake and thesake of the families with whom you work,find ways to share your work with col-leagues. Imagine a staff lounge filled withconversations about "diamonds in therough." Think of the contrast this wouldpose to an area where staff are discussingonly problems and deficits. Surround your-self with hopeful colleagues, not complain-ers. Resources grow best when we shareour work. So find support for yourself as adiamond collector as you build a broadersupport system for parents and children.Working toward enhancing familystrengths is a many-step process. Familieswill be better able to access and utilizeinformation or skills, set realistic goals,and draw on other tools when they havepride and confidence in themselves. Sokeep digging for diamonds. They are allaround you. And they are not that hard tofind.

Ted Bowman is a trainer/ educator who pro-vides consultation, is a public speaker, andleads workshops for family support programs,government entities, and others. He worked indirect service with families for twelve years inNorth Carolina and Minnesota, and continuesto serve families directly. He is a long-timemember of the Family Resource Coalition. Hecan be reached at 2111 Knapp Street, St. Paul,MN 55108-1814, 6121645-6058 (phone) or6121645-6326 (fax).

NotesDUNST, C. (1994) Supporting and strengthening fami-

lies: Methods, strategies and practices. (Cambridge, Mass:Brookline Books).

2KINNELL, G, (1980) "Saint Francis and the Snow" inMortal Acts, Mortal Words. (Boston: Houghton-MifflinCompany) 9.

3BARNWELL,Y. M. (1992) "No Mirrors in My Nana'sHouse," recorded on Still On the Journey compactdisc by Sweet Honey in the Rock (Redway, Calif.:EarthBeati Records).

29

National Parent Assembly:Opportunities, Challenges,

and ResultsEducators, service providers, and pol-icymakers have convened repeatedly in past years to discuss the impor-

tance of involving families in the educa-tional process, in their communities, and inlocal government.

Often parents have been the highlight ofmany of these meetings. In order to sup-port parents in making their own voicesheard at policy-making tables, the FamilyResource Coalition and the DanforthFoundation convened the first nationalParent Assembly May 1-4, 1996, in con-junction with the FRC national conference.This article is an attempt to summarize thelessons learned from that experience, toshare information with the hope that it willbenefit other organizations that are devel-oping mechanisms to involve parents in thefamily support discussion.

OPPORTUNITYBackground

A few years ago, under the auspices ofthe Danforth Foundation, parents from sev-eral school- and community-based pro-grams had an opportunity to meet in St.Louis. Parents who attended reported thatas a result of the meeting and of theprocess of sharing their accomplishments,obstacles, and aspirations with other par-ents, they had acquired a greater sense ofpower in their lives. When program offi-cers of the Danforth Foundation met inClearwater, Florida, in November 1994,they decided to build on that success bysponsoring a national gathering of parents.The Danforth Foundation approached theFamily Resource Coalition to facilitatewhat would be called the first nationalParent Assembly. The original proposalcalled for the assembly to be organized byparents and for the assembly's agenda tobe determined by those parent organizers.The Parent Assembly would be a confer-ence convened explicitly by and forparents.

Basic Plan and ExpectationsThe main plan for the Parent Assembly

was to bring together parents from low-income communities who were leaders inschool and community involvement andwho represented programs that were con-sumer-guided, consumer-driven, and had

by Lucy Trujillo and Kathy Goetz Wolf

been successful in building capacities infamilies. The plan was to select sites acrossthe nation and to bring in a group of fourparent participants from each site. Socio-demographic variables to be considered inthe selection were: income, education, eth-nic background, and gender of parent par-ticipants. Other variables included: groupcohesiveness, size of group, duration ofgroup, and type of leadership (includingleadership by consumers as opposed toschools or agencies).

The plan called for organizers in commu-nity-based family support organizations toconvene these groups of parents, whowould plan and attend the Assembly. Inorder to ensure that the Parent Assemblymaintained its goal of a consumer-drivenagenda, it was anticipated that each groupin its local site would take part in severalactivities leading to the Assembly. Theseactivities included mobilizing local parents,assessing community needs, networkingwith those in the other participating sites,and collaborating in building the ParentAssembly agenda. Designated FamilyResource Coalition staff and consultantswould provide technical assistance to eachgroup, coordinate efforts and foster inter-site communication, and ensure that theactivities at each site be undertaken in atimely fashion.

The funding for this initiative wasdesigned to meet needs that any economi-cally challenged participant or programcould be expected to have. The budgetincluded expenses such as airfare, meals,lodging, and ground transportation; it alsoearmarked $1,500 per site to cover itemsthat would not generally be expected. Thismoney could be used to cover the costs oflocal planning meetings or the develop-ment of handouts for use at the conference.If determined appropriate and reasonableby the local planning committee, parentscould have used the mini-grants to pur-chase conference attire, to pay for child-care for the days they were out of townattending the conference, or to meet someother unique, individually identified need.

ObjectivesThe original Parent Assembly goals

were:

1. To plan and convene a Parent Assembly

32

that features parents in leadership roles

2. To bring parent leaders together to forma national support network while provid-ing them with the opportunity to learnfrom one another about new roles andapproaches to parent involvement

3. To strengthen individual efforts throughinterchange and mutual support and fos-ter development of more parent leader-ship efforts throughout the country

4. To develop and disseminate two prod-ucts, one for parents and one for profes-sionals who work with parents, whosecontent would be determined by parents

Building on the Work of theCoalition's Affinity Groups

Family Resource Coalition has a mem-bership of more than 1,500 community-based family resource programs and practi-tioners, which is the Coalition's biggestasset in connecting the national organiza-tion with grassroots community efforts.The Family Resource Coalition's member-ship includes two affinity groups: theAfrican American Caucus and the LatinoCaucus. The Caucuses help to build a net-work of communities, professionals, andfamilies of color within the family supportmovement and to connect the FamilyResource Coalition to this network.Identifying and nurturing indigenous lead-ers in communities has been one of theCaucuses' primary activities and one oftheir most significant contributions to theknowledge base of the Coalition and to thefamily support field.

The Parent Assembly grant offered theCaucuses an attractive opportunity to addto their ongoing work within the Coalition.Family Resource Coalition agreed to usethe Caucuses as a foundation on which tobuild the Parent Assembly. Through plan-ning the Parent Assembly, the Caucusessought to mobilize parents as a nationalconstituency. Their vision was that parentswould significantly influence discussionsabout what kinds of program models, prac-tices, guidelines, policy incentives, staffingskills and patterns, and governing struc-tures work best in diverse communities; aswell as what strategies are necessary toincrease parents' involvement in communi-

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL I5, NO. 2 29

ty-based family resource centers, school-community partnerships, and other initia-tives aimed at achieving desired outcomesfor children and their families.

In each site selected by the Caucuses toparticipate, a member of the steering com-mittee of either the African AmericanCaucus or the Latino Caucus was availableto support start-up activities. The selectionof these sites made it possible for projectstart-up to occur immediately and allowedevery local community access to technicalassistance through Caucus volunteers.

Participating SitesSite LocationAtlanta, Georgia

Brownsville,Texas

Chicago, Illinois

Chicago, Illinois

Cleveland, Ohio

Denver, Colorado

Miami, Florida

New Haven, Connecticut

Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania

San Fernando,

California

St Louis, Missouri

Community-Based PartnerAtlanta Family Support

Institute, Inc.

The Valley Interfaith

Education Fund

Logan Square

Neighborhood Association

Center for New Horizons

Ohio Rainmakers

Cheltenham Family

Resource School

Rainmakers, Inc.

New Haven Family

Alliance, Inc.

Madeira Family Center

Vaughn Family Center

Grace Kill Neighborhood

Services, Inc.

Three of the original sites dropped out ofthe Assembly due to other commitments:the Brownsville, Texas, site and the twoChicago sites. Three sites joined later inthe process: two in Chicago, with FamilyFocus and the Ounce of Prevention as theircommunity-based partners, and one inCincinnati, Ohio, organized by Friends ofHeberle.

Other programs also sent parents to theParent Assembly, funded by sources otherthan the Danforth Foundation: ParentsPlace in San Francisco; Parent ServicesProject in Fairfax, California; and theChildren's First Initiative/The HartfordFoundation in Hartford, Connecticut.Parents from these programs were notselected according to the original criteriaand did not take part in pre-conferenceactivities at their sites.

WHAT HAPPENEDAs the plan called for, approximately 60

parents met for four days at FRC's nationalconference in Chicago. Parents who came

to Chicago for the Parent Assembly werebe able to attend all sessions of the largerconference, but Parent Assembly meetingswere closed to other attendees of the FRCnational conference (whether program par-ticipants/parents or staff of programs oragencies) in order to safeguard the agendaand facilitate the work to be done at theAssembly by the parent participants.

When the Parent Assembly convened, itsagenda called first for each site to make apresentation to the larger group aboutissues facing its community and the workthat parents had initiated to address thoseissues. The parent groups were excitedabout the opportunity to attend the FamilyResource Coalition conference and the firstnational Parent Assembly, and welcomedthe chance to present the work they weredoing at home to other groups like themfrom around the nation. Consider the expe-rience of parents involved in CheltenhamFamily Resource School in Denver,Colorado.

The Cheltenham group was delighted tobe invited to participate in the ParentAssembly. More than 450 students, fromnursery school through second grade,attend Cheltenham, which, like the city's10 other Family Resource Schools, seeksto increase student achievement and parentinvolvement, increase the skills and capaci-ty of parents, and coordinate the resourcesand services available for families. In thepast, Cheltenham school and project fundshad allowed the principal, the project coor-dinator, and an occasional teacher to attendthe FRC conference; while they had foundfunds to cover parents' registration at localconferences, they had little success secur-ing money for parents' airfare, lodging,and incidentals connected to national con-ferences.

The local coordinator for ParentAssembly activities led the process ofselecting which parents would attend; shetook into consideration which parents haddeveloped presentation skills, made homevisits, done case management work, setpersonal goals and achieved them (such asgetting a GED, entering college, finding ajob, or learning English), and/or held lead-ership positions (such as officer of the PTAor Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee ormember of the school-based governancecommittee). Bilingualism was a major con-sideration; the vast majority of 'involved'Cheltenham parents are monolingualSpanish speakers and would only best beserved if the conference were bilingual.Also, parents self-selected when it cametime to make the commitment to leavetheir families behind for five days.

In preparation for the Parent Assembly,parentsconvened by the coordinatormet to discuss their experiences as leaders

30 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. 15, NO. 2

and advocates, and how they could useconnections with others nationwide tochannel those experiences into policy mak-ing that would benefit families.Cheltenham has a large and very activeparent group. All of the parents who tookpart in the Assembly had been involved inactivities at Cheltenham Family ResourceSchool for at least three years, conductinghome visits, carrying out case manage-ment, being active in the PTA and in theRazalogia parent empowerment program(for information on Razalogia, see FRCReport, Fall/Winter 1994-95, page 14),and advocating for themselves and for eachother in many other ways. They had pre-sented their issues to government officials,funders, program developers, and evalua-tors, who visit frequently because of thewell-known success of Family ResourceSchools. They had derived in-depth knowl-edge of their community and its impact onthe school by conducting communityassessments.

But they had not had the opportunity todiscuss how this work had affected theirown growth. They knew each other fromhaving worked side by side, but in prepar-ing for the Parent Assembly they built ontheir relationships in new ways. Theyspoke from their own experiences aboutthe conditions in the community that con-tribute to domestic violence, drug and alco-hol abuse, child abuse, language barriers,poverty, health care (or lack of it), employ-ment, housing, teen pregnancy, educationalfailure, and employment, and they spoke ofbeing frustrated when every year theytalked to people in the systems, yet stillstruggled to find support and resources fortheir efforts to eliminate these conditions.The possibility of networking with othersnationwide added to their vision of whatthey could accomplish. They discussedhow they might apply the knowledge andskills they had developed locally in thelarger policy-making arena.

Cheltenham parents conducted a work-shop at the FRC conference entitled Backto School: Where Families Advocate forThemselves. Approximately 90 peopleattended, and no one left during the one-and-one-halfilhour presentation. ParentAssembly participants commented after-ward that the Cheltenham parents coveredall of the issues that they had come to dis-cuss; they gave voice and meaning to thepreviously marginalized parent participant.The experiences of which they spokeseemed to be emblematic of the storiesshared by the more than 50 other parentswho participated in the Parent Assembly atthe FRC conference.

According to the agenda established forthe Parent Assembly, presentations by localsites were supposed to take place during

3

the morning of the first day, however,because of the great interest in fully shar-ing each group's experience these presenta-tions stretched well into the second day,thereby greatly affecting the agenda for theAssembly. More time was then spentdeciding how to revise the agenda. In addi-tion, several logistical problems occurredthat diverted the energy and the attentionof the attendees and which affected theentire group (see below).

Parents agreed that future ParentAssemblies would be a good idea andwould help them further their goals by cre-ating a supportive national network and byproviding a forum in which they couldshare ideas and learn from each other. Partof the meeting was spent brainstormingnext steps.

Overall, the meeting met its goal ofbringing parents from low-income commu-nities together and serving as a springboardfor future action, but it did so without mostparticipants feeling that it was an unmiti-gated success. Why?

OBSTACLES AND LESSONSLEARNED

In retrospect, it is clear that those whoconvened the Parent Assembly greatlyunderestimated the complexity of theevent, and therefore the difficulty of plan-ning it. Facilitating planning in the siteswithout substantial resources for communi-ty organizing efforts, coordinating commu-nication and reaching consensus on anagenda among groups scattered nationwideusing only the telephone, and bringing alarge group of low-income parents to anational gathering all were more difficultthan anticipated. As a result, the ParentAssembly was not the conference for par-ents by parents that it was intended to be.

PlanningIt was impossible to ensure that parents

were adequately involved in planning anddifficult for local sites to facilitate a partici-pant-led planning process for the event.Since parents weren't involved in selectingsites for the project, involving parents andgenerating enthusiasm among parentsbecame a task for the coordinators. Thesecoordinators were generally program direc-tors or administrators with full-time pro-gram responsibilities and no direct connec-tion to the funding source. This being thecase, it was unrealistic to expect that theParent Assembly could be a major focus oftheir time or attention.

Moreover, different sites had differentprocesses: parents were included to differ-ent degrees and different amounts of plan-

ning occurred. There was no way to ensurethat sites participate equally in the plan-ning process nor even to promote enthusi-astic involvement in the planning processat each site. The late addition of parentsand sites further complicated planning.

As a result of all of these factors, decid-ing upon the details of the plan and fulfill-ing the requirements of the grant from theDanforth Foundation became the focalpoint for action. Site coordinators and FRCstaff got bogged down in the what, why,and how of organizing the Assemblyinstead of concentrating on building andsupporting relationships with the commu-nities and facilitating a participatory plan-ning process that relied heavily on parentsto frame the agenda for the Assembly.

Choosing a Setting for theGathering

A conference-within-a-conferenceseemed like a good idea because the atten-dees of the Parent Assembly would haveaccess to the larger conference: they wouldbe able to take part in all workshops, semi-nars, meals, and plenary sessions, and net-work with policymakers, practitioners, andparents. But in the end the conference-within-a-conference posed many problems.The FRC Conference is notorious for pro-viding an overwhelming whirlwind ofopportunities for its participants; it is exhil-arating, demanding, and exhausting forattendees, and most participants report thatthe experience is tremendously enrichingbecause of the wealth of knowledge, infor-mation, resources, people, workshops, andnetworking opportunities. The most fre-quent regret is that choosing to attend onesession precluded attending others thatlooked equally promising. ParentAssembly attendees experienced this muchmore acutely than other conference atten-dees because so much of their time wasdevoted to Parent Assembly meetings.

The strategic intent of the ParentAssembly was that it would begin toincrease the role parents play in the familysupport movement by convening a groupof parents who would work together toaddress the challenges facing low-incomefamilies and communities. FRC's Caucuseshoped that as a result of this meeting anucleus of parents interested in workingtogether to advance this agenda would coa-lesce. To create this opportunity at theFamily Resource Coalition conferencemeant the Assembly would be in someways separate from the rest of the confer-ence.

Many parents attending the ParentAssembly experienced this separation asisolation. They felt that they were not ableto participate in the overall conference

32

because their allegiance was to the ParentAssembly, and it took most of their timeand energy. This isolation drew strong crit-icism from Parent Assembly participants.In addition, many conference attendees(including parents/program participants)who were not from Parent Assembly sitesexpressed disappointment and frustrationin being restricted from participating in theParent Assembly at the conference; manysaid they would have liked the opportunityto attend some or all it.

Clarifying Roles, DedicatingAdequate Resources

Any national organization that wishes tofacilitate grassroots community organizingefforts must realize that to be effective itwill need to invest significant resources inhiring, training, and supporting staff whocan travel to local communities and engagewith them as partners in mobilizing parentsfor change. This process requires clear def-inition of both the role of the staff involvedin on-site work with the communities andthe purpose of the overall organizing.Many barriers to the success of the ParentAssembly were created by problems withcommunication and with coordinationbetween the Parent Assembly and the FRCconference overall. Clear lines of responsi-bility, oversight, and accountability werenever established, and expectations regard-ing these matters were not adequately dis-cussed nor agreed upon. In addition, staffchanges at FRC and at the DanforthFoundation complicated the planning andadministration of the project. Other factorscontributing to planning problems wereoverall insufficient staff resources commit-ted to the project and overreliance on thevolunteers, and the difficulty of coordinat-ing community organizing activities overthe telephone.

Paying Attention to theSelection ProcessIdeally, in this type of project, the nationalorganization is supporting a parent-initiat-ed process that goes as follows:

1. Parents develop the concept.

2. Parents develop the proposal.

3. Parents plan the event.

4. Parents decide who is invited.

5. Parents host and facilitate the event.

When the process does not occur in thisway, as was the case with the ParentAssembly, the national organization mustcreate a strategy for involving parents thatmaximizes their role as decision makers.

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 15, NO. 2 3 I

This could be done through a request-for-proposals process or another mechanismwhereby parents and not staff play a lead-ership role in framing the agenda and theevent from the project's inception.

Being Clear about GoalsDifferent strategies are important to

achieving different goals. The ParentAssembly was burdened by its attempt tofulfill multiple, albeit complementary,goals on the back of a single meeting: tofeature parents as leaders at a national fam-ily support conference; to encourage theformation of a national parent support net-work, a nucleus of parents who wouldwork to increase the role parents play inshaping the agenda for the family supportmovement; to elicit from an assembledgroup of parents their views about theproblems and challenges facing low-income communities and potential solu-tions; and to offer low-income parentsfrom different regions of the country anempowering opportunity to come togetherwith other parents to discuss their chal-lenges, opportunities, and successes.

It is important to be clear about the pro-ject's primary objective and to structure themeeting accordingly. If, for example, theprimary goal had been to feature parents asleaders, it would have been important toinvite them to present workshops at thelarger conference and to make that possibleby paying their expenses and providingthem with the opportunity to attend theentire conference.

If, on the other hand, the primary goalhad been to form a national parent supportnetwork through an interchange of ideas,the Parent Assembly would have beenstructured to emphasize relationship build-ing. This might have worked best outsideof the context of the FRC national confer-ence. Such an event could have beenscheduled as follows:

Day One: Showcase programs and com-munities

Day Two: Facilitate dialogue and rela-tionship building.

Day Three: Identify, clarify, and priori-tize the issues, concerns, and recommen-dations.

Day Four: Develop structures to facili-tate the ongoing "cross-pollination" ofideas and support.

Making Parents Feel WelcomeThe Parent Assembly was intended to be

composed of low-income parents. Thegrant was structured to cover travel andincidental expenses that parents might

encounter. But the dissemination of thegrant money was not executed with theexperiences of low-income parents inmind. Instead of parents receiving moneyup-front to cover incidentals while still intheir communities, money was given tothem at the conference. Parents who had topay for clothing, childcare, and othernecessities before leaving their communi-ties were to be reimbursed, but most didnot have credit cards, so fronting theseexpenses was very difficult or impossiblefor them. Many were understandably ner-vous about whether all of their expenseswould really be covered.

Many parents arrived uneasy becausethey had many questions that had not beenanswered in advance: What would anational conference be like? What knowl-edge and contacts could they expect tobring home from the conference? In addi-tion, they worried about details: Wouldtheir meals be paid for? How would theycall their families? In addition, many low-income parents have experienced overt dis-crimination and been ostracized and madeto feel unwelcome in unfamiliar situationsbecause of their race, ethnic background,and socioeconomic status. This was true ofmany Parent Assembly participants and itcontributed to their initial uneasiness.

In order for events such as the ParentAssembly to be successful, parents must bemade to feel welcome and comfortableimmediately upon arrival, so that theirdoubts or worries evaporate and they canget on with their agenda. The onus is onthe sponsoring organization to gain theparents' trust, which requires paying spe-cial attention to logistics: making sure thatmoney to cover expenses is advanced andis easy to obtain, arranging with the hotelahead of time to cover incidental expenses,and preparing staff to respond to partici-pants' concerns graciously.

The single most embarrassing moment atthe Parent Assembly was when a group ofparents, relatively unfamiliar with and tiredfrom airplane travel, tried to check intotheir hotel. They were denied access totheir rooms because it was the hotel's poli-cy to require a credit card to be presentedin advance to cover incidental expenses.None had credit cards. In the end, afterextensive intervention by FRC staff,Caucus steering committee representatives,and even the Danforth Foundation programofficer, the hotel management disabledincidentals that would result in charges,which allowed participants to check in.Unalterable damage had been done to thequality of the Parent Assembly partici-pants' experience. They felt humiliated,and the episode greatly detracted from theevents of the next several days.

The power of an unintentional, negative

32 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. IS. NO. 2

experience should not be underestimated:in this case, such an experience confirmedparents' fears and worst expectations andundermined the relationship between thenational organization and its grassrootsconstituency. It is incumbent on those plan-ning such an event to anticipate any possi-ble barriers or obstacles to their guests'maximal enjoyment, to quickly and effec-tively respond to problems as soon as theyoccur, and to bend over backwards to com-pensate participants who feel that theyhave been wronged.

FOLLOW-UP AND NEXTSTEPS

After the Parent Assembly, FamilyResource Coalition asked all parents whohad participated in the gathering to evalu-ate their experiences by way of a bilingualsurvey that could be completed in writingor orally. FRC has received responses fromone-third of participants and is continuingto make contact with more participants toobtain as much feedback as possible.While much of the feedback has reflectedthe difficulties presented by the problemsdiscussed above, the surveys also indicatethat many parents are very interested incontinuing to pursue the goals of theParent Assembly through future events andnetworking. Parents leaders do want toshare their work in parent and communityempowerment with others like them inother locations, and there is an interest incontinuing this networking and support.

Family Resource Coalition is more com-mitted than ever to facilitating organizingamong and within grassroots communitiesand to building the constituency of thefamily support movement. From the expe-rience of convening the Parent Assembly atits national conference, FRC learned moreabout the staff, resources, and strategiesnecessary for accomplishing these goals,and about the importance of realisticallyassessing the capacity of this national orga-nization to undertake such an effort.

Lucy Trujillo, former project director of theDenver Family Resource Schools, now works asan independent consultant. In her current work,which centers on the development of family,school, and community partnerships, her prima-ry objective is to provide guidance and supportto teams in their efforts to identify and furtherdevelop parent leaders. She is a member of thesteering committee of the Family ResourceCoalition Latino Caucus.

Kathy Goetz Wolf is director of communica-tions and publications for the Family ResourceCoalition and is editor of FRC Report. She hasworked with the Family Resource Coalition forfive years.

. . .

Center for the Study of ParentInvolvementJohn F. Kennedy University370 Camino PabloOrinda, CA 95360510/254-0110National clearinghouse created in 1973that also provides training and technicalassistance on parent involvement tocommunity leaders and educators.Quarterly newsletter offers informationabout parent involvement programsaround the nation.

Family Support Network21902 Second Avenue WestBothell, WA 98021206/487-4009http://www.familynetworkorg/wecare(World Wide Web address)[email protected](e-mail address)Started as one woman's project to balancework and raising a family on a limitedincome. After collaborating with othercommunity members to develop anetwork that facilitated an exchange ofservices and support (childcare, repair,carpentry, meal preparation, etc.), founderCheryl Honey developed training to teachparents and family workers in othercommunities to do the same. Also offers"Good Neighbor" registration and "FamilyAdvocate" certification.

Family VoicesP.O. Box 769Algodones, NM 87001505/867-2368 (phone)505/867-6517 (fax)

National grassroots organization of familiesand friends speaking on behalf of childrenwith special health care needs. Founded byparents who developed national and statefamily networks and organizations toimprove the health and education systemsthat serve their children. Goal is to helpshape national, state, and local health carepolicy and practice in private and publichealth care systems by:

I. Supporting a national network ofvolunteer regional and statecoordinators who provide informationto families and policymakers;

RESOURCE FILE

2. Serving as a clearinghouse to keep itsmembers informed about health careissues; and

3. Forming partnerships with professionalsand other state and nationalorganizations to make sure the voices offamilies are heard. Is a partner with FRCin disseminating guidelines for healthsupervision of children and adolescents.

Federation of Families forChildren's Mental Health1021 Prince Street

Alexandria,VA 22314-2971703/684-7710 (phone)703/836-1040 (fax)National parent-run organization focusedon the needs of children and youth withemotional, behavioral, or mental disordersand their families. Serves as a catalyst forchange by promoting partnerships amongfamily members, professionals, and otherinterested citizens to improve services forchildren with emotional, behavioral, ormental disorders. Also provides leadershiptraining of parents in advocacy andcommunity outreach.

Girl Scouts Behind BarsNational Institute of JusticeDepartment of Justice633 Indiana AvenueWashington, DC 20530The National Institute of Justice createdand developed Girl Scouts Behind Bars, aprogram designed to preventintergenerational cycles of criminal justiceinvolvement and bring families closertogether.The Girl Scouts who participatein the program are girls aged five to I I

whose mothers are incarcerated.Theymeet with their mothers in jail to worktogether on troop projects, which includesessions on self-esteem, drug abuse,relationships, coping with family crises, andteenage pregnancy prevention.Themothers also take part in classes onparenting and other life skills.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving511 E. John Carpenter Fwy.No. 700Irving,TX 75062214/744-6233Parent-led organization that trains parentsto get involved in schools and talk to themedia to advocate against drunk driving.MADD parents serve on public, lawenforcement, and legislative advisory

BEST COPYMIAMI 4

boards and aid in establishing local andcounty initiatives and task forces. Parentsprovide victim assistance and conductoutreach. Workshops and publicationsavailable.

National Committee for Citizensin Education10840 Little Patuxent Parkway,Suite 301Columbia, MD 21044301/977-9300Advocates for parent involvement andlocal action to improve the quality ofeducation.Trains parents in schoolimprovement techniques and publishes anewspaper for parents focused on publicinvolvement and school improvement.

National Coalition for ParentInvolvement in Educationdo Institute for EducationalLeadership1001 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 310Washington, DC 20036202/822-8405 (phone)202/872-4050 (fax)iel©iel.com (e-mail)Advocates for the involvement of parentsin their children's education and fostersrelationships among home, school, andcommunity that enhance young people'seducation. Is a collaboration of education,community, and public serviceorganizations nationwide. Providesinformation on publications, training, andservices available.

Parent Leadership InstituteP.O. Box 50492Palo Alto, CA 94303415/424-8687Provides parenting workshops, classes,group leadership training, and resourcematerials to parents in advocating for theirconcerns. A core part of the Institute'swork is teaching parents to utilize a set ofmutual support counseling techniques,called Listening Partners, which they canuse parent-to-parent

Parents Anonymous675 West Foothill Boulevard, Suite 220Claremont, CA 91711-3475909/621-6184 (phone)909/625-6304 (fax)HN383 I ©handsnetorg (email)National organization that provides

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL IS, NO. 2 33

technical assistance and training on a varietyof leadership skills for parents.Trains parentsto train other parents to operate mutualsupport groups. Based on a vision thatestablishing parent input, leadership, andmutual support are essential components instrengthening families and preventing childabuse and neglect.

Parents as Teachers9374 Olive BoulevardSt. Louis, MO 63132314/432-4330 (phone)314/432-8963 (fax)PAT trains parents to be parent educatorsin its nationally replicated program toprovide parents with the information andsupport they need to give their children thebest possible start in life. Parents becomecertified to conduct home visits, coordinategroup meetings, conduct developmentalscreenings, and link parents with providersof service and support. Parent educatorswork in partnership with the school andthe community. Offers a variety of trainingand technical assistance.

Right Questions Project, Inc.218 Holland StreetSomerville, MA 02144617/628 -4070 (phone)Offers intensive training workshops inseveral cities to prepare community-based agencies to facilitate workshops inwhich parents learn how to effectivelyadvocate on behalf of their children'seducation. Workshops help parents acquirespecific tools to support and monitor theirchildren's education and generate newknowledge about effective involvement.Targets parents who have not been reachedby parent involvement programs.

Publications

Many of the organizations listed above haveproduced training manuals and other resourcesuseful for increasing parent involvement andleadership positions; they can be contacted forinformation on these. The books listed beloware available from the Family ResourceCoalition, 312/341-0900.

Empowerment and FamilySupportby Moncrieff Cochran, editorFrom leading researchers in the parentempowerment movement comes this

compilation of two years' worth of anetworking bulletin published by membersof the Cornell Empowerment Group.Articles offer research findings and programmodels to show how family support canempower families, especially low-incomefamilies, to meet the challenges that facethem. Special topics include Child Care andthe Empowerment Process, Redefining theProfessional Role, and a Global View ofEmpowerment and Family Support.

Essential Allies: Families asAdvisorsby Elizabeth S. Jeppson and Josie ThomasPartnerships between families andpractitioners are a key element of familysupport practice. Now comes an importantguide to developing these partnerships.Thispractical resource equips service providerswith guidelines on how to form healthyalliances with the families they work with, awell as information on the benefits of andbarriers to collaboration.

KnowYour Community:A Step-by-Step Guide to CommunityNeeds and Resources Assessmentby Bryan Samuels, Nilofer Ahsan, and Jill GarciaBased on FRC's experience assisting localprograms, planners, and communityresidents, this easy-to-use manual walks youthrough the process of getting theimportant information you need about yourcommunityincluding hidden resources.Highlights includes how to involvecommunity residents on the planning teamand assessing needs from residents'perspectives in defining communitypriorities.

Raise Your Legislator's Antenna:ANuts-and-Bolts Guide to How(and Why) to Advocate ForFamilies ...With Familiesby Shelley Peck and Kathy Goetz WolfWith big changes in Washington and theprospect of even more in our states andcommunities, those who work with familiesneed to speak out for the laws andprograms that we know work. Get quickanswers and steps you can take today to:involve parents in advocating for their ownbest interest, write and talk to lawmakersand the media, and team up with others tomake a difference.

Starting and Operating SupportGroups:A Guide for ParentsFamily Resource CoalitionIf you are a parent thinking of starting asupport group or if you work with parents

34 FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL. 15, NO. 2

and want a resource that will help themhelp each other, this guide is for you.Produced in cooperation with the AmericanSelf-Help Clearinghouse, this manual definessupport groups, gives tips for planning thefirst and subsequent meetings, and offersthoughts on maintaining a healthy group.Advice from parents who have started orrun groups is included throughout theguide. Appendices provide valuable resourcematerials, including a complete guide on"Where to Find Parenting Support," sampleflyers, sample meeting handouts, and aresource directory of publications andnational organizations.

35

Changing the WayAmerica Works for Families

Family Resource Coalition (FRC) works to bring about a com-pletely new societal response to children, youths, and their fami-

lies: one that strengthens and empowers families and communi-

ties so that they can foster the optimal development of children.youths, and adult family membersone that solves problems by

preventing them. We envision a society in which all of usfami-lies, communities, government, social service institutions, busi-

nesseswork together to provide healthy, safe environments for

children and families to live and work in.

Family Resource Coalition is recognized as the nationalorganization of all those who participate in the family support

movement. Our job is to bring people together, to facilitatecommunication among proponents of the family supportapproach, to provide the most current family supportinformation and resources, and to he the umbrella under whichpeople and organizations come together to change the wayAmerica works for families. Family Resource Coalition:

Builds networks and strengthens connectionsamong those in the family support field

FRC strives to enhance communication and collaborationamong the many groups and individuals who are concernedabout and work with families. Our membership bringstogether community-based program providers, schoolpersonnel, those who work in human services, trainers,scholars, and policy-makers. Our members have formed twospecial interest affinity groups: an African American and aLatino Caucus. And members have formed state and localnetworks in several places nationwide. We hold a biennialnational conference which, with nearly 2,000 attendees, hasbecome the national gathering place for those in the field of

family support.

Provides resources and publications

FRC is the leading source for programmatic informationabout family support. We publish and distribute resources togive program providers and planners the information and

tools they need to develop and maintain quality family-supportive programs.

Offers technical assistance and consultingservicesWe help community-based and state-level programs andplanning groups build quality family-supportive practices intotheir policies, training, and service delivery systems.

Undertakes public education and advocacy

effortsWe strive to increase public understanding of the familysupport movement and of the difference that family-

supportive services are making in the lives of children and

families. We work to build support for universally availablefamily support opportunities, and we promote the adoption offamily-supportive public policies at the federal, state, and

local levels.

Develops the knowledge base

FRC works with researchers in the field, community-basedfamily resource programs. and human service reforminitiatives to expand what is known about family supportitsforms, practices, and effectsand to promote quality practicein the field of family support.

For information on joining the Family Resource Coalition

or to receive a catalog of our publications and services,

contact us at 200 S. Michigan Ave., 16th Floor, Chicago, IL

60604,312/341-0900 (phone), 3121341-9361 (fax) or via

Hands Net at HN4860.

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION

FAMILY RESOURCE COALITION REPORT SUMMER 1996 VOL 1 S. NO. 2 35

Board of DirectorsBernice Weissbourd, PresidentFamily Focus, IL

Amy Rassen, ChairJewish Family and Children's Services, CA

Ruth Massinga, Past ChairCasey Family Program, WA

Mustafa Abdul-SalaamNew Haven Family Alliance, CT

Ann Ada list-EstrinParent Resource Association, PA

Mary Lee AllenChildren's Defense Fund, DC

Charles BrunerChild and Family Policy Center IA

Elizabeth Carlson.National Futures Association, IL

Maria ChavezFamily Development Program, NM

Moncrieff CochranCornell University NY

J.T. ChildsIBM Corporation, NY

Frank FarrowCenter for the Study of Social Policy DC

Sid GardnerCenter for Collaboration for Children, CSU, CA

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Sandra Kessler HamburgCommittee for Economic Development, NY

James HinchliffPeople's Energy Corporation, IL

Mary HoltMG Holt & Associates, IL

Alice KingFormer First Lady of New Mexico, NM

Christian C. KjeldsenJohnson & Johnson, NJ

Rebecca K. LeetRebecca Leet & Associates,VA

Luba H. LynchA.L Mailman Foundation, NY

Helen NissaniNorthwest Regional Educational Laboratory OR

Bea RomerFirst Lady of Colorado, CO

Anne L.TuohyGlenview, IL

Khatib WaheedCaring Communities Program, MO

Sylvia YeeEvelyn & Walter Haas. Jr Fund, CA

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