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Amplifying Parents as Partners
to
Achieve Equitable Education, Policies & Practices
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The Challenge
In today’s educational system, diverse learners with social/emotional needs, especially those impacted by trauma from immigration, incarceration and violence, typically do not have access to equitable educational outcomes.
Many educators and administrators are not proficient in understanding, supporting, and engaging families-particularly those traditionally left behind.
Although many schools and districts have worked to improve family-school relationships, many parents feel they do not have the ability, expertise, or authority to advocate for equitable educational outcomes for their children, or to question practices and policies.
INFORM
COLLABORATE
SUPPORT
INFLUENCE
INSPIRE
Student-centered and parent-driven, CPLAN seeks to transcend divisions:
We hold district, charter, parochial, and Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) systems accountable to ensure equitable educational outcomes.
The Solution
CPLAN strives to create thriving self-reliant parents in their advocacy for their children through training, coaching and community building.
CPLAN believes that in order to create necessary change in the education system in a meaningful and sustainable way it requires a diverse coalition with a common goal, shared values, effective communication, and strong backbone organization between parents, community members, school staff and the support from the department of education.
The Work
CPLAN is the only organization led by parents of color using lived experience to work across sectors. The work CPLAN does with Black, Indigenous and people of color helps them recognize and use their power, build relationships, develop public speaking and presentation skills to understand larger systems’ policies, practices, and budgets.
Inform
CPLAN is working to change this by bridging gaps to shift how teachers, policymakers and administrators engage students and families. CPLAN creates opportunities for parents to step into their power, to put all students on a path toward lifetime success.
Inspire
CPLAN seeks to inspire progress toward better solutions, and inform stakeholders through training and information sharing, so they can influence others to create positive change.
Collaboration
CPLAN’s model is parent & educators as partners. This is built upon a foundation of active leadership roles for parents, and ensures that all members have a shared voice in decision making.
Support
CPLAN members attend retreats and events regularly to support each other, and exchange wisdom and resources. They also create affinity groups- self-directed efforts incubated by CPLAN to develop parent voice and leadership around issues like social and emotional learning.
Announcements!
Needs Assessment
The Massachusetts Statewide Family Engagement Center (MA SFEC) is conducting their annual survey to learn more about the needs of schools from all sides (parents, teachers, ESPs, and school’s administrators).
This survey asks about your experiences and will inform efforts to help increase family engagement in schools.
Your answers will be kept confidential by the MA SFEC team; no school or district personnel will see your responses. The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete.
Contactus
Dr. Gayl Crump Swaby of New Generation Consultants & Associates offers a workforce development program pilot that trains individuals on how to have mental wellness discussion by pouring into this combined curriculum on the teachings of mental wellness, clinical mental health, mindfulness, embodiment, and racial healing/decolonization that replicates their respective holistic approaches to mental wellness and dialogue.
Our Response to COVID-19
CPLAN is dedicated to enriching the lives of community members in underserved, communities of color. As a response to COVID-19, we worked extra hard in order to meet the essential needs of families. We believe in a whole-child educational experience. In order for our children to achieve self-actualization we must first ensure we meet their psychological, social, health and safety needs.
As a response to COVID-19 where families are experiencing housing, financial and food insecurities we have bridged the gap between families and resources available to them for food access, financial assistance, mental health hotlines and educational support. There are a variety of resources available for families, and we’re happy to have centralized them by category for your convenience. We hope that you find them helpful!
Bodega Project
The CPLAN Bodega Project was created to provide access to culturally responsive food in Boston & Brockton's diverse communities, while also supporting their small local businesses. Selected families receive a CPLAN food voucher to purchase food and/or other essential items such as diapers, feminine hygiene products, medicine, from a local participating Bodega (grocery store) in their neighborhood.
So far this funding has helped over 600 families (and counting) shop with dignity in a local, familiar grocery store for fresh food!
What Our Members Say
"At my kids’ IEP meeting, I felt like I was on the same level as them for the first time and that’s because of CPLAN."