Promoting Awareness
Serve the People assists our communities by providing education tools, information and support for its families to build a better life for themselves and future generations through education.
Purpose
- For parents to become more effective advocates for their children, particularly when it comes to their education.
- Help identify and improve systemic gaps by partnering with representatives from all three sectors - private, public and non-profit.
- Use a variety of communication, education and mentoring methods.
This work is rooted in the following three principles:
1. Neighborhood-based.
2. Align and leverage existing programs without creating new ones.
3. The program is not interested in "fixing" anything; instead, the objective is to help existing efforts become more powerful.
Goals
Goals for Parents
Increase parent awareness of the importance of school for their children's future. Help to give them the tools to be able to execute the high expectations they have set for their children. Parents will learn how to navigate the educational system and become effective advocates for their children's education.
Goals for Schools
Assist schools to be receptive of parents and their needs. Guarantee that school administrators are aware of the existing community resources available to help them interact positively with parents.
Goals for Existing Programs and Community Groups
Extend existing programs' reach and impact by being in alignment with each other and by speaking a common language about the importance of education.
Goals for Business
Raise awareness of business executives about the need for long-term investment in improving the education of students. We envision business providing mentors and other resources to support parents, schools, and community groups.
Goals for Students
The overarching goal of this program is for students to reach the highest level of academic achievement possible with the encouragement of the educational systems, service agencies, business, and the constant support and dedication of parents in their children's education.
- 100% High School Graduation
- API Scores > 900
Curriculum
Serve the People is using a curriculum called "The Ten Education Commandments for Parents", developed by the Latino Educational Attainment Initiative. This initiative was sponsored by six major corporations in Orange County to help fill the gaps left by education in our current school systems. This is designed to educate parents to be advocates of their children, and spark the importance of education in our neighborhoods. The program strives to unify the community, students and parents to increase the percentage of high school graduates and API scores of school districts.
Facilitators are selected from elementary or middle schools to train other parents, who in turn train other parents who sign up for the program. The program consists of six, one and a half hour sessions a week, where information is provided on how to commit a family to school, helping a child study, understanding the grade system, understanding how schools are ordered, student requirements to graduate successfully from high school, preparing students for college, realizing the affordability of college, supporting the learning of math, science and English, encouraging the students to take honors and advanced courses and promoting hope to visualize a better future for the students and families. The following are some of the LEA accomplishments since 2005:
LEA Accomplishments
1. Created and printed 30,000 copies of their Ten Education Commandments for Parents.
2. Trained over 9,000 parents.
3. Coordinate the expansion of 17 parent coalitions in the cities of Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Laguna, San Juan Capistrano, Westminster and Garden Grove.
4. Wrote the 10-week article series on the Ten Commandments Education for Parents, published by the Orange County Register (January 10 - March 17, 2006).
5. Participated with the White House initiative on approving educational achievement amongst Hispanic, students.
6. Received the support and cooperation of the Santa Ana Unified School District to train every school principal on the Ten Education Commandments for Parents.
Used by Coalitions in the Following Cities:
- Fullerton
- Anaheim
- Santa Ana
- Costa Mesa
- Huntington Beach
- Laguna Beach
- San Juan Capistrano
- Westminister
- Garden Grove
LEA Funding Partners
- AT&T
- Chevron
- Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, The Waltos Group
- Orange County Business Council
- Orange County Department of Education
- Orange County United Way
- Orange County Register/Excélsior
- Time Warner Cable
- Wells Fargo Foundation
