Parent Information & Resource Center

Be the Change You Want To See In The World!

Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs)

were conceived by Congress under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to provide parents, schools, and other organizations working with families with the information and support (including training and technical assistance)needed to understand how children develop and what they need to succeed in school.

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PIRC (Parental Information and Resource Center)—the federal grant program authorized by NCLB to help implement effective parent involvement policies, programs, and activities intended to improve student academic achievement and to strengthen partnerships among parents, teachers, principals, administrators, and others to meet children’s education needs.

The Parent Information and Resource Center of A Work of Faith Ministries, Inc., is offering an opportunity to help parents in your community as part of the Parent Information & Resource Center’s (PIRC) program component of the Parent Information & Training Initiative (PITI), a comprehensive effort to reduce youth violence and increase adult engagement and leadership here in the Chicago area. We train Chicago-area parents to conduct parent-to-parent education and community outreach as Parent Leaders.

As Parent Leaders, they will be holding important dialogues about how we can “take back the village,” begin to recover from decades of violence, and save our youth from the negative influences on the streets, by surrounding them with caring adults. Parent Leaders will form teams of ten to design and implement service projects which will contribute to building protective factors in their community. Service projects will be designed with an eye toward making a positive contribution to the community well beyond 2025. If you know people who have been “through the fire” in dealing with their own issues and have recently navigated the tricky waters and challenges of raising an adolescent, The Parent Program training and membership may be an opportunity for you to refer family, friends and community residents!

A Work of Faith will identify and train, part-time Parent Leaders (serving evenings and weekends), in your neighborhood. The training and community service positions would be a great way to help parents struggling to raise children in these challenging environments and times. Contribute to a unique effort dedicated to making our community stronger and better connected to its resources through leaders like you.

AWOFINC's Parent Information & Resource Center (PIRC) offers a full training program to develop Parent Leaders as an effective, “go-to” community resource for other parents in your neighborhood. We provide leadership training, background on the project’s outreach messages, and training on violence prevention strategies and other protective factors. If you or someone you know is interested in joining the PIRC: Parent Program team, they are first required to attend an orientation session to learn more.

AWOFINC: PIRC

Focusing on building trusting collaborative relationships among teachers, families, and community members;
Recognizing, respecting, and addressing families’ needs and any class and cultural differences;

and

Embracing a philosophy of partnership where power and responsibility are shared.

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Engaging Parents as Education Advisors

Although PTA is a common household term, recognized by most parents in the United States as the parent-teacher association, less is known about parent advisory councils (PACs). PACs are parent-led organizations that function at the state, district,school level to give parents more clout regarding their children’s education. PACs promote parent influence in multiple ways, including polling communities to better understand parents’ needs and wants, recommending policy, and advocating for the rights of parents to be involved in the education of their children.

Key Roles for a Parental Information and Resource Center (PIRC)

As defined by the Department of Education, the funding agency for PIRCs, key PIRC roles include:

• Providing leadership, technical assistance, and support in the implementation of successful and effective parent involvement policies, programs, and activities intended to improve student academic achievement;
• Strengthening partnerships among parents (including parents of children from birth through age 5), teachers, principals, administrators, and other school personnel in meeting the education needs of children;
• Developing and strengthening the relationship between parents and their children’s school; and

• Providing a comprehensive approach to improving student learning, through coordination and integration of federal, state, and local services and programs.

Key stakeholders include:

 Youth

 Policymakers

 Researchers

 Providers

 Consumers, including families and youth

 Schools

State/local affiliates of youth-serving organizations

 Others, depending on the topic to be addressed

Join Our Team of Parent Leaders and

serve your community!

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What's Good In The Neighborhood!

ICVPP

Parent Program

We envision a world of “parenting communities” where everyone living in a community is invested in the safety and strength of its families; where support manifests itself through the local businesses, community service providers, resources, and neighborhoods within it. Your support is critical in creating the conversation in communities across the globe and supporting the leadership that will emerge when families take the lead. There is a lot of work to be done to spread the message across the globe and develop new resources that support families in strengthening themselves by getting real, living the protective factors, and waking up to their potential.

Our Parent Leaders will engage you in how you can support the violence prevention efforts of your community. They will create conversation and dialogues and assist you with creating and implementing solutions to the issues that affect you daily.

Parent-and family-based interventions are designed to improve family relations. There is growing evidence that these interventions, especially those that start early and recognize all the factors that influence a family, can have substantial, long-term effects in reducing violent behavior by children. Parent-and family-based interventions combine training in parenting skills, education about child development and the factors that predispose children to violent behavior, and exercises to help parents develop skills for communicating with their children and for resolving conflict in nonviolent ways. This type of intervention is ideal for families with very young children and for at-risk parents with a child on the way.

Many parents whose children have already displayed antisocial behaviors or have committed delinquent acts live in a stressful and isolating environment. Such parents may be economically distressed and socially cut off, with little access to financial or psychological support. The common belief is that it’s extremely difficult to implement effective parent-training programs for disadvantaged parents, particularly low-income single mothers. However, this perception is misleading. Interventions that involve parents in planning, recruitment, group leadership, and priority setting have successfully enlisted and retained low-income participants, have positively influenced parenting behaviors, and have enhanced family and community support networks

Now creating community service projects for Freeport, Evanston, Calumet City, Chicago Heights, Homewood, Lynwood, Lansing, Sauk Village and more!

Parent Cafe Results / Impact

Be Strong Families/Strengthening Families Illinois has been evaluating Parent Cafes for the past three years and developed a post-event evaluation for parent cafe participants in collaboration with Tamara Fuller, from the Children and Family Research Center at the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana and the Strengthening Families Illinois Evaluation Workgroup. The evaluation measures customer satisfaction with the cafe itself as well as intent to change behavior based on their participation in the Parent Cafe in relation to the Protective Factors. As a result of the sharing that takes place in the Parent Café, parents recognize the value (and rich resource) of being in relationships with other parents. Additionally, the insights garnered through the Parent Café experience aid in building resilience against stressors that threaten to abolish the family unit.

More than 4,000 parent participants have been included in our evaluation results thus far. Based on post-event evaluation results received and anecdotal data gathered Parent Cafes:

Reduce stress / increase peace and well-being
Increase parenting knowledge & skills
Build protective factors
Facilitate meaningful relationships and bonding / community-building
Provide opportunities for parent leadership

Cafe evaluation summaries indicate:

99% report the café was helpful
98% would recommend Parent Cafes to a friend and family member
97% plan to attend a future café.
60% followed through on a commitment from a previous café
Over 85% report an increased awareness/knowledge of the Protective Factors overall as a result of their participation in the cafe

Youth Cafes

Parent Cafes

Family Resilience Protective Factors

As parents, we’ve all had one of those never-ending days full of stresses, messes and fussy kids. Even those seemingly perfect parents face temper tantrums, spills and sleepless nights. Parenting can be even more challenging when you throw in the extra challenges of frequent relocations and deployments. There are a few simple things you can do to help alleviate that stress and make sure your family is happy, healthy and safe.

Protective Factors

Protective factors are conditions in families and communities that, when present, increase the health and well-being of your family. They can help you create a great family environment that promotes healthy child development and reduces the headaches of parenthood. These six protective factors build on your family's strengths and can easily be incorporated into your everyday routine:

· Nurturing and attachment. We all know that kissing a scratch or a big bear hug can go a long way to turning a frown into a smile on our children’s face. Research has shown that simple acts of affection, such as hugs or loving words, have a significant impact on the positive growth and development of your children. With our older children, this can also mean taking more time to listen to their worries or be involved with after-school activities. Nurturing children of any age encourages healthy physical and emotional development.

· Knowledge of parenting and of child development. While you are an expert in understanding your children's personalities and unique behaviors, you might not always know what to expect of them in terms of typical developmental milestones. Knowing what your children are capable of and setting realistic expectations for their behavior can take a lot of stress and frustration out of parenting on a day-to-day basis. That’s why keeping up with the latest information about parenting techniques and child development is so important.

· Parental resilience. Life comes with ups and downs. When the downs seem like they outnumber the ups, it’s important to know how to deal with the stress in a way that doesn’t affect your parenting. As a parent, you have inner strengths and support systems you can tap into, such as your faith, sense of humor or relationships with friends and family. The ability to identify stress and deal with it in a healthy way not only increases your well-being, but it also shows your kids a model for positive ways to cope.

· Social connections. There is truth in the adage, "it takes a village to raise a child." Having a solid group of friends and family to offer assistance and give you advice can take the edge off of a rough day, and allow you to enjoy your family even more.

· Concrete supports for parents. There are lots of things that can greatly affect the stability of your family, such as financial insecurity, lack of adequate housing or employment issues. That’s why it’s important to have support measures in place, both in the community and at home, to help you overcome these challenges. Reach out to your Family Support Center to learn about programs and services on your installation or in the local community that might be able to help your family. You can also speak with a Parent Leader by calling 872 216 7058.

· Social and emotional competence of children. Your children's ability to connect and interact with the world around them has a positive impact on their relationships. Whether it’s playing with the neighborhood kids or expressing emotions, your kids are learning different ways to connect. However, they will always make mistakes, and their behavior can be challenging at times. Understanding this, and being able to identify developmental delays, can make challenging behaviors easier to deal with. Early work with children to keep their development on track helps keep them safe and fosters healthy development.

For more information about protective factors and how to strengthen them in your family, visit the Parent Information and Resource Center.