PECAN is working with parents and will be meeting monthly as parents identify key issues and actionable steps related to improving educational outcomes for children in the city of Rochester. We welcome parents to our next information session on Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at Hillside, 1 Mustard Street, from 5:30pm – 8pm. Our topic for February is trauma and its impact on our children. Also, we will provide information on our new direction to date and next steps! Dinner, childcare and transportation will be provided. For more information contact Tanishia Johnson at tjohnson@thechildrensagenda.org or 585-262-2620 ext. 2607.
As PECAN continues to work with parents, our new direction is being supported by a model created by Charles McDonald, Executive Director for Community Engagement Partners. From Tokenism to Partnership is a family and community engagement model, which provides a framework for leaders to reflect on how they take into account the values and needs of grassroots stakeholders in their decision making. To view more information about this model please click here: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED586954.pdf. It is important to note that while our goal is authentic partnership in our work with parents, we believe that parents can decide how they would like to be engaged. In essence, we hold in high regard, our work with parents and in how they decide that looks for them, given their preference of engagement.
We also encourage organizations to review the new toolkit provided by the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement, partnered with the FrameWorks Institute. This communications toolkit will also help us all rethink the way we communicate about family and community engagement. More information on this toolkit may be found here.