Victories of the PPEN PDF Print E-mail
  • Established a Peer Parent Education Network in April 2005 consisting of parent leaders from approximately 75% of the schools in our community service area. We expanded PPEN membership by 30% since 2005.
  • PPEN hosted our 2nd Annual Parent-to-Parent Exchange with Dr. Leonard Ingram returning to continue his lecture series on developing our youth given the very real environments and influences our children are growing up around. As a solution, he offered various parenting strategies and theories on raising youth in today’s environment, parenting styles and theories, and tools for parents.
  • PPEN planned and participated in a parent retreat that was focused on team building, which included activities to support relationship building, trust, respect, communication, and conflict resolution; they interviewed facilitators and brought in two from COFI, one of whom was a parent.
  • Participated in a principal and parent’s breakfast in January 2007, where our parents discussed with principals the importance of parent involvement and what we believe parent involvement is and should be;
  • Developed our Parent Involvement Declaration: Pledging Parent Involvement, Embracing Parents, and Creating Welcoming Schools. The Chicago Public Schools endorsed it; 7 parents have been trained to facilitate workshops; 2 parents are developing a professional presentation; 6 schools have endorsed it; and 3 workshops have been piloted.
  • Our PPEN hosted a parent conference, “You Are Not Alone” at the Illinois Institute of Technology in the spring of 2006 with a goal to exchange experiences and strategies “parent-to-parent.” The entire conference was parent-led with workshops focusing on: 1) Parent Involvement Declaration, 2) Alternative Discipline Strategies, and 3) Special Needs. They also invited a guest speaker, Dr. Leonard Ingram to discuss child behavior, alternative discipline strategies, and where parents fit in helping to shape their child’s behavior. This was so successful, our PPEN is inviting him back for a winter forum in 2007;
  • Launched a parent patrol with partner groups to reduce violent activities around a local high school, where GBF’s parent leader was the impetus for the parent patrol and we wrote the training manual;
  • Participated in the Chicago Public Schools’ Back to School Campaign twice;
    Partnered with Loyola University’s School of Social Work students to host an informational summit on applying to high school, the importance of beginning the exploration process early, and answering questions about how students and parents can prepare for success in high school.
  • Recruited 30 parents to win seats on the LSC. GBF and partners held an LSC training for the entire community;
  • Participated in an education funding rally promoting a bill we supported two years ago in Springfield and again this past year – an evolution of our school funding inadequacy focus;
  • Attended workshops, forums, and seminars to strengthen parent knowledge and leadership skills;
  • Advocated to the CPS Board for individual school changes that support education or parent involvement.