#104: Reflections on the 2023/24 School Year Supporting Family Empowerment Efforts

As I take a deep breath and conclude my second full year leading our family empowerment efforts, I am delighted to reflect upon my journey during the past school year. Our innovative approach continues to surprise me as we build more robust family partnerships with our school and nonprofit partners. Our model continues to prove effective, and I am excited to share some reflections and anecdotes with our community.

High-Level Data. In the 2023-24 school year, we partnered with 20 schools/organizations (18 Title I schools in Charlotte, another Title I school in Durham, and a non-profit organization based in Charlotte) and supported approximately 18,000 students and their families. We cohosted 82 family-focused events and brought out 9,678 attendees. 78% of families who completed our post-survey feel more comfortable advocating for their child – this grew from 26% at the beginning of the school year.

Win! One of our most significant accomplishments this year was expanding our work to support GenOne, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting first-generation students in their journey to and through college. This collaboration allowed us to adapt our model to a new context, showcasing its flexibility and effectiveness for any organization that supports families from underserved communities. Together, we ensured that our comprehensive approach could seamlessly integrate with GenOne’s mission, broadening our impact and reaching more families and communities in need.

Things Work Out. This year also brought unique challenges and growth opportunities. We’ve seen an influx of Hispanic families and immigrants from Latin countries in Charlotte, with Latino students being the second-largest and fastest-growing segment of the student population within Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools¹. I sincerely appreciate a Spanish-speaking teacher from one of our schools who stepped up to help us with interpretation efforts at a few family-focused events. In January 2024, we grew our team; we hired an Associate who was not only fluent in Spanish but also deeply connected to the immigrant communities around Charlotte through her lived experiences and mutual aid efforts. This addition has been instrumental in bridging communication gaps and fostering trust within these communities.

Getting Scrappy. In the past year, I’ve gotten more scrappy. With one school partner, we increased our efforts to tackle chronic absenteeism. We know that students are missing school due to various barriers, including not having updated immunizations, lack of understanding of attendance requirements on families’ ends, lack of time for teachers to make communication outreaches, the occasional bus not showing up, and more. Here are some snippets of our efforts:

• The school’s original plan was to immunize students through a provider, but that fell through within a week of the scheduled date. 
  • Almost immediately, I contacted providers to understand their capacities with clinic appointments, then connected families to these clinics and provided them with transportation vouchers when necessary. 
  • Quickly, I realized that this was not enough and not fair for the families: parents and caretakers were not able to take their children to these free clinics due to their work schedules. Through community connections, I organized a vaccine clinic with a medical service provider at the school to ensure that all students’ immunizations were up-to-date. This clinic took place during school hours, and parents and caretakers signed permission slips for their children to be immunized, so this was the least disruptive for families’ day-to-day schedules and responsibilities.

• We also know that students were missing school due to their parents’ or caretakers’ lack of understanding of attendance requirements and the lack of time for teachers to communicate these expectations with families. Each week, I would spend two hours at the school, going from classroom to classroom, to provide each teacher with a list of students who had unexcused absences the past week and to cover their classes so that each teacher could contact families. This open line of communication is crucial not just for addressing attendance issues but also for updating families on their children’s academic progress and behavior. When teachers can regularly engage with families, they build stronger relationships, foster trust, and create a more supportive learning environment. By ensuring that families are informed and involved, we help students succeed both academically and personally.
• Here and there, families would contact the school about a bus not showing up. Though this happened less than a handful of times, having direct contact with school administrators allowed them to share with me in real-time the need and I was able to provide these families with transportation vouchers. 

These efforts not only address immediate barriers but also demonstrate our proactive and responsive approach to supporting our partner schools and organizations with their family engagement and empowerment efforts. By continually adapting to the needs of our community and finding innovative solutions, we strive to create an environment where every student can succeed. Our goal is to work together with schools and organizations to ensure that all students, parents, and caretakers have the support they need to thrive academically and beyond.

Some Highlights: 

One of the many times the Charlotte Community Health Clinic (CCHC) came to our schools to provide free health screenings and share resources about its services. CCHC provides primary, dental, and behavioral health services to children and adults in Mecklenburg County. Specifically, they’re focused on healthcare services for low-income and other underserved individuals to support their vision of a healthy community where all people have access to comprehensive, coordinated, affordable, quality healthcare, regardless of their ability to pay.

DreamKey Partners, another amazing community partner, sharing information about their organization. DreamKey Partners provides affordable housing options through rental properties and homeownership educational pathways. Qualified individuals and families can be matched with up to $95,000 in downpayment assistance.

A BIG Win! Building and maintaining relationships with families is crucial to our success. A standout story from this year involves Keiba Young, a parent we worked closely with during the 22/23 school year. When I caught up with Keiba in April, she shared her memorable experience with our organization: “‘We’re planning this event, are you interested [in this topic]? What are your thoughts on it?’ …This has never happened to me as a CMS parent!” Her words highlight the unique, inclusive nature of our family empowerment efforts. With many of our partner schools and organizations, we build a Family Empowerment Committee to spearhead our efforts, but we really form these committees with our partner organizations to continue to solicit feedback and honor the voices of families.

Keiba, along with other parents and caretakers, attended Innovate Public Schools’ Leadership Institute, a national three-day organizing workshop focused on advocacy and power-building. This year, 26 parents from our partner organizations completed this transformative training. The impact of this program was profound, as Keiba reflected, “Never did I think I could run for office to affect change… this gave me the energy to do more.” Since then, she has attended more community events and is now present where policymaking is happening. Her journey from participant to advocate underscores the power of our work in empowering parents and caretakers to take on leadership roles and drive change within their communities.

More Wins! In addition to our efforts and work around advocacy, we supported families with their upward mobility journeys: 250 attended a financial education session and 176 adults took advantage of workforce development opportunities.

Looking Ahead. Next year, we’ll have to do more with less. Schools are facing budget cuts, so not only will they have less money to support family engagement and empowerment efforts, but fewer staff also means a diminished capacity to support day-to-day family engagement work at the school level. Despite this, I am determined to continue our mission and find creative ways to maximize our resources and impact. Family engagement is crucial for any school, especially for Title I schools, where students and families often face additional challenges and barriers to success. Our family empowerment work from this year and previous years is a testament that strong partnerships between schools and families will lead to improved student outcomes, higher attendance rates, and more supportive learning environments. By working closely with families, we address issues early by providing any necessary resources and support to help not only the child but the whole family thrive. 

And as we always like to say… More to do, More to come!® 

Suggested Action Items:

• Are you a school or district leader who needs support with your family engagement and empowerment efforts in the upcoming school year? Reach out to jia@schermcofoundation.org to learn more! 
• Check out Keiba Young’s podcast episode here!
• Check out DreamKey Partner’s work and feel free to register for their upcoming homeownership classes!
• Check out some of the work that the Charlotte Community Health Clinic is working on!

¹Town hall in Spanish helps CMS reach a growing segment of the community.