Chris Volpe/ NHPS Photos
Amistad parent Jennifer Rivera-Parker picks up her children Kyla Parker and Jason Parker at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School where child care was offered for parents who attend Parent University.
The following account of Day 1 of “Parent University,” a project associated with New Haven’s school reform drive, wsa submitted by Cara Rosner of United Way, one of the event’s organizers.
Parents arrived early Saturday morning at the New Gateway Community College fired up ready to learn. They weren’t there to prepare for a new career in medical radiography or information technology. They were there to participate in the city’s first Parent University, a day of workshops, forums and classes geared to parents and caretakers of students in New Haven public schools.
With courses on addressing the needs of urban boys, the importance of saving money for college and techniques for reading to children, the curriculum was quite different than the classes typically offered there.
Buzzing with energy, about 200 “students” took part in more than 35 workshops offered throughout the day on a wide range of topics that included how to eat healthily on a budget, job search strategies, how to discipline children without abuse, fatherhood’s contributions to child development, how to start a business, and dozens more.
Davis Street School parent Mayda Paz gets some help at sign-in from volunteer Tirzah Kemp.
A collaboration led by the schools, New Haven Promise and United Way of Greater New Haven, the event was free for attendees and offerings largely were available in English and Spanish.
“The goal of Parent University was to bring parents in and truly engage them on issues that matter to them and help them find new ways to support their children in school,” said Susan Weisselberg, chief of Wraparound Services for New Haven Public Schools. “The day was a huge success. Parents were so energized and engaged in the workshops and the discussions.”
Parent University was modeled on similar programs in Boston and Philadelphia but was unique in that courses here focused not only on how parents can help students, but also on how they can improve themselves.
“Probably the most important thing in a kid’s school success is how involved parents are in what they’re doing,” said Laoise King, United Way’s vice president of Education Initiatives. For parents to become involved they need to be treated as real partners in their children’s education, she added.
Celia Solano and Maria Jaramillo get some help during the financial literacy workshop from translator Bianca Sgrignie.
Throughout the year, the schools and United Way’s Boost! initiative, which helps coordinate supports and wraparound services for 10 New Haven schools, have a renewed emphasis on engaging parents as partners, an effort that will continue on school-wide and district-wide levels, King said.
Many attendees declined to give their names or identify themselves, but several said the day provided not only a chance to learn from experts from also from each other.
In a session focused on college planning, for instance, one mother shared her strategies for motivating her first-grade daughter who wants to become a doctor when she grows up: she tells the young girl often that becoming a doctor takes a lot of school and a lot of money, so it is important she starts getting good grades in school early on to reach her end goal.
Another participant in that session, a father who went to college and earned a master’s degree, said he tells his daughter, who will be in college next year, “It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be hard; you need to work hard.”
Having parents reinforce the “college going” message at home that students hear in school is essential, said Betsy Yagla, New Haven Promise’s communications and research coordinator. She led the session on college planning along with a co-presenter who spoke about CHET, Connecticut’s 529 college savings plan.
“If you talk to (students) early and often about college, they’ve already got that goal in mind,” Yagla told attendees. “We want students to say ‘Where will I go to college?’ not ‘Will I go to college?’”
At the same time, in a Gateway cafeteria nearby, dozens of women were taking part in a community conversation about the need for affordable housing in the city hosted by Mothers for Justice, a grassroots advocacy organization of Christian Community Action Inc. Among the topics they tackled, the women addressed the difficulty parents with disabled children have navigating the public housing system; they encouraged each other not to get discouraged to keep advocating for themselves.
Other classrooms were devoted to discussing cyber bullying and social networking and strategies for teaching students how to study. Throughout the day a room was devoted to helping parents access resources such as the HUSKY health care plan, energy assistance and rental assistance.
Among its goals, the day aimed to “connect some dots that are already out there,” making parents aware of resources available in the community and work that is already being done, said Veronica Douglas-Givan, a consultant who worked with the school system to organize Parent University.
“This was community engagement at its best, and bringing together people for a common cause,” said Douglas-Givan, who helped promoted the event at schools, churches and businesses. “Everyone brought their gifts to the table.”
Feedback from attendees has been “extremely positive,” echoed Weisselberg, adding plans are under way to expand Parent University with more workshops and to more neighborhoods in the coming months.
New Haven Public Schools, New Haven Promise, United Way, Gateway Community College, and more than 100 volunteers brought the event to fruition. “This is a truly collaborative success,” Weisselberg said.