In a pilot designed by COFI leaders, parents reached 475+ families about the importance of early learning. Above, Adrienne Stewart (left, with grandson), the Parent and Community Engagement Director for the CPS Office of Early Education, congratulates them on this success.
Just this month, COFI released “Parent Engagement that Builds Leadership and Power” the third brief in our How We Got Johnny and Jada Into Preschool series.
This brief takes an in-depth look at COFI’s unique model of leadership development and organizing, what works in engaging low-income families and the impact this engagement is having on the early learning field.
COFI-trained parents are using their newly developed leadership skills to conduct peer-to-peer outreach to connect families to early learning opportunities and are informing and changing systems and policies in order to better serve low-income families.
COFI’s innovative Family Focused Organizing model links personal transformation with larger community and policy change – helping low-income parents create change in their lives, families, communities, and in public policies and systems for nearly the last twenty years. While this brief looks specifically at how COFI’s model has been used to engage parents and caregivers in early learning efforts, COFI’s model can be successfully applied to a number of fields, including health, education, and anti-violence work.
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