"If a partner or family member is not supportive of the learner increasing
skills, or is suspicious of the learner being part of a public activity on a
regular basis, transportation and child care cannot address these
obstacles."

That is indeed very true and it seems that research and discussion seems to
leave situations like that out. I wish I had an answer, but, like most
problems with at-risk populations living in poverty, there is no easy
answer. There are so many factors involved in getting people to come to
meetings.

I am new to this profession and, thus, have many more questions than
answers. I am currently working in Compton and South Los Angeles, running
workshops designed to provide parents with knowledge that can help them to
become more involved with their children's education.

I think every program needs to utilize a multi-stream approach to outreach:


After reading that parents (especially Spanish speaking parents) are more
apt to go to an event if they hear it by word of mouth, I utilize personal
phone calls inviting parents to come to an event. This is very time
consuming, as I am the only person dealing with parents in my organization.
I would very much rather have parents calling parents, but, it is next to
impossible to get parents to come often enough, or use their free time (of
which most parents have little or none of) to make these calls and do
outreach.

I also utilize each school's automated phone system.

I make flyers and have them sent to every child's home in the school. One
thing I learned from a Parent Coordinator here in Compton- She will print
the same flyer on several different colors of paper and send home each
color, with the same information, to each home. This way, she kind of
"tricks" parents and students into reading the same flyer multiple times.

My workshops are also displayed on the marquees outside of the schools. When
one does this, you need to hope that the information is right- one time I
looked up with pleasure to see my workshop digitally running across the
night sky, only to see it advertised, (in the Spanish part only) as being on
a night a month previous.



With all of these methods of outreach, I still manage to get, depending on
the school, between 0 and 19 parents. 


Incentives, I think, can be very powerful in getting parents to come. This
might be gift certificates, food, or any number of things. Some of the
parent coordinators I work with in Compton suggest that holding an event in
which the student may receive something- points toward a prize, extra credit
etc. is a powerful incentive for parents to attend workshops. 

I know this is long winded.

I would love to hear from you all as to other things I can do. I was told
parent involvement is extremely difficult to get here in Compton and that is
no joke. 

Daniel



-----Original Message-----
From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 2:49 PM
To: povertyracewomen at nifl.gov
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 1818] Attendance and women

I would like to contribute to the discussion on attendance and focus on
Shannie's program which is geared towards women, is in a secure environment,
and provides transportation and child care. She is wondering what can be
done to increase attendance over and beyond these issues. One aspect that
needs to be considered is domestic violence. Fortunately, this is not an
issue for all female learners, but it is an issue for too many. If a partner
or family member is not supportive of the learner increasing skills, or is
suspicious of the learner being part of a public activity on a regular
basis, transportation and child care cannot address these obstacles.
Daphne

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