Organizing Networks of Resilience for Black Parent Leaders

Social support networks

Applying a proven solution to a new issue or sector (using an existing model, tool, resource, strategy, etc. for a new purpose)

Research shows students thrive when families are involved in their education, and schools benefit from community ties. However, throughout Los Angeles, particularly in LAUSD Local District South, which encompasses 130 schools and serves 12,251 Black students (15% of all students), parents and caregivers often lack the skills and resources to ensure their children's needs are prioritized. While LAUSD has funding for the Black Student Achievement Plan (BSAP), this work risks stalling without parent advocacy.
We see a parents’ rights movement strengthening that is only interested in protecting White, affluent students. We are reclaiming “Parents’ Rights” to include Black families. Innovate Public Schools’ Black Parent Network (BPN) builds the leadership of Black parents and caregivers in Los Angeles, strengthening community-powered institutions, and sustaining community infrastructure that supports Black parents as they become leaders who organize to hold the education system accountable.

The Black Parent Network (BPN), is a community of Black parents and caregivers from various Los Angeles school districts who have organized to address the unique challenges and experiences faced by Black students in the education system. Even before the learning loss caused by the pandemic, Black students have faced many barriers to success, including the lack of comprehensive and targeted campaigns and resources. The BPN is an emergent countervalent parent institution that is working to shift power away from the existing systems that govern education, which have been historically oppressive and exclusionary, especially for Black families.
Through grassroots organizing and deeply engaged leadership development, the BPN seeks to increase literacy instruction for Black students; maintain and support a community-based oversight committee that will regularly and independently audit, and report on literacy assessment data and programs; maintain and increase school/parent partnerships and family engagement; and increase funding for Black student literacy programs. Through Innovate Public Schools, the BPN receives organizing and advocacy training, and invests in building the capacity of parents to alter the power dynamics in the education system and their communities. Currently the BPN includes 20 parents from three districts in Los Angeles County (Los Angeles Unified, Compton Unified, and ABC Unified).

If our work is successful, Innovate’s BPN will grow its social network of support for Black L.A. County families, becoming a prominent parent-led institution developing the leadership of Black parents and caregivers. BPN’s advocacy will lead to policy wins that improve education outcomes for the 40,000 Black students across L.A.
Community organizing strengthens communities, addressing the deep political and social isolation that has become the post-pandemic norm. When organizing around education, mutually supportive relationships grow between families for years as children move through school. Other shared interests evolve out of those deepening relationships, creating the possibility for engaging in broader community work together. BPN will cultivate a community of belonging for Black families in L.A. County, fostering community resilience that creates fertile ground for grassroots movements to thrive, enriching lives through deepened relationships and political self-determination.

We measure BPN’s individual-level success through semi-annual surveys, gathering data on social impact through questions like How connected do you feel to other parent leaders?, Has your involvement with BPN helped you feel more self-confident?, and Has your participation in Innovate helped you take a more active role in your child’s education?
We measure BPN’s community-wide impact through quantitative data on 1-on-1 relational neighborhood meetings and community-wide research meetings with district leaders or other elected officials. BPN continues to work with LAUSD to monitor the progress toward targets from the Validated Plan, the first ever measurable academic plan for Black students in LAUSD, which was originally committed to at an event led by parent leaders from the BPN in December 2019. These include goals for identifying more Black students for the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program and increasing participation in classes that prepare Black students for college.