Parent Leadership Mission Returns

Vimary Parra needed help. Her two young kids were already behind. They had to learn English. She didn’t know how to teach them. Having grown up in Venezuela, she was learning the language herself. Then she saw a flyer at her local library for the Parents Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) — an initiative that’s returning to New Haven.

“It changed my life,” said Parra, of the free 20-week course designed to equip young parents and caregivers with the skills to advocate for their children and become change agents in their communities. To apply, click here.

Thanks to a partnership between United Way of Greater New Haven and Workforce Alliance, the initiative is slated to return to New Haven in February. Parra, who completed the course in 2019, is part of the community design team for the 20 to 25 parents and caregivers between the ages of 18 and 24 that the organizers are seeking for the first cohort.

It will also include, said PLTI site coordinator JoAnne Wilcox of United Way, ​“anyone in that age group that wants to see change in the community for children.”

Founded in Connecticut in 1992, PLTI is available in 69 communities in the United States and abroad. The course begins with an eight-hour retreat to develop group communication, followed by a series of 20 sessions focused on leadership training, civic literacy, and civic participation skills. It includes transportation, child care, and a family dinner, as well as a small stipend at the halfway point and at graduation. 

Parra, who’s a finance and database associate at United Way of Greater New Haven, said the training gave her a roadmap to help her help her kids. 

“There are so many resources in New Haven County that young parents can use for help in raising their kids, but it’s overwhelming how much is out there,” she said. ​“This taught me how to find my way through.” 

For her required community project, Parra chose to advocate for free and mandatory pre‑K. ​“Pre‑K at that time in Milford was two hours, three times a week, and that was not enough,” she said. 

“I did my project and I presented it, and it was too ambitious,” she said with a laugh. ​“But I learned how to do it, and that means I know how to communicate with state officials, the city, the superintendent.” 

Parra’s project is consistent with the revelation of Connecticut Commission on Children Executive Director Elaine Zimmerman 30 years ago, according to Melvette Hill, PLTI state director: When it comes to the interest of their children, parents are an indispensable constituency. 

“Elaine Zimmerman was doing focus groups around the state on a school readiness initiative that looked at what children need in order to be able to enter kindergarten,” Hill said. 

Zimmerman met with teachers, administrators, as well as legislators and local lawmakers, but ​“also brought to the table nontraditional ones, like the school custodian and the children’s librarian and, of course, parents,” Hill said.

She found, Hill said, ​“the best solutions came from parents. They just didn’t know how to engage and how to be part of making productive change within systems and really having seats at the table, and that’s how PLTI got started.

“Sometimes,” she said, ​“people just need to know that this exists.” 

That’s why Wilcox, the site coordinator, and United Way’s Vice President of Community and Belonging Alyson Fox, among others, are leading a vigorous recruiting effort for the first cohort, which will comprise people under the age of 25, including young parents, caregivers, as well as anyone who wants to see change in the community for children. 

“We want this first group to be amazing and full,” Fox said. ​“We want to max out the number of folks that can benefit from it.”

That’s proven to be a challenge, given their status as young parents. ​“They have lots going on, and probably not a lot of bandwidth and time,” she said. ​“But we also know from our PLTI alums the impact of having time to invest in yourself as a parent and a leader and being seen as a leader.”

Wilcox agreed. ​“We feel good about specifically targeting and making sure these young people get this experience early on in their lives because they’ll have it forever,” she said.