Custom Capacity Building

The Community Engagement and Advocacy Department serves as a statewide technical assistance and regranting intermediary, providing customized advocacy coaching, tools, and training.

Families Improving Education

Families Improving Education (FIE) is a multi-year statewide initiative supporting non-profit agencies in the Central Valley and Inland Empire to engage families in participating in education decision-making and advocating for educational improvements for students of color within their local school district.

Families In Schools convenes a series of 2-day Learning Institutes each year, jointly attended by FIE grantees and their local school board members.  Families In Schools also provides customized technical assistance and training to agencies and board members when needed, specifically geared toward increasing their knowledge of issues of educational equity,  parent engagement, advocacy strategies, and coalition building. 

The FIE Initiative serves communities in Fresno, Lodi, Stockton, Sacramento, Bakersfield, San Bernardino, Visalia, and Coachella.  During the three-year grant period, over 15,000 participants (including parents, students, community leaders, political leaders, and school staff) have been engaged in education advocacy through this initiative.

As a result of FIE, participating districts have seen local policy and administrative practices change, including:

In San Bernardino, parents organized to gain school board support for a district-wide coordinated effort to improve Algebra I success for all students.  This effort resulted in the SBCUSD board of education allocating professional development funds to support coaching and collaboration for middle and high school math instructors in order to facilitate better articulation of instructional practices across grade levels.

In Earlimart, board engagement led by the FIE grantee agency and local parents resulted in the hiring of two dedicated English Language Learner staff members specifically charged with looking at reclassification practices within the district.

In Fresno Unified School District, parents and students developed and presented recommendations to revise a 10-year-old Parent and Student Notifications and Information Handbook.  The revisions to the handbook are the first steps of an ongoing effort to challenge disciplinary practices that disproportionately impact students of color and contribute to dropout among students.

Engagement among Lao and Hmong/Southeast Asian parents in Lodi and Fresno is helping to increase responsiveness to these traditionally underserved populations.  In Lodi, Lao families advocated to ensure Lao representation and participation in both District English Language Advisory Committees (DELAC) and school site English Language Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC).  Parents also successfully advocated to retain 32 bilingual liaison positions at the district and school sites that were in jeopardy of being eliminated due to budget cuts.

School Boards and Community Engagement Initiative (SBCEI)

A parallel work of the Families Improving Education initiative, SBCEI seeks to facilitate strengthened relationships between local education policymakers, parents, and community members to foster policymaking that is responsive to a culturally diverse constituency.

Click Here to Return to Community Engagement and Advocacy Home Page.