This article originally appeared in the January-February 2007 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

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Parent Voices

Knowledge is Power: Coming soon

By Amanda Montague

Knowledge is Power! That’s the name of Parent Voices’ annual training for parent activists, coming up soon this year (see Knowledge is Power!). It’s “a place where parents who know nothing about the (state) budget process can learn,” says Annelise Loe, who attended for the first time last year.

With skills from last year’s training, Loe says, “parents voiced their concerns” in the successful campaign to raise the income ceiling for child care subsidies. “It was really wonderful to see how powerful our voices are!”

Loe, mother to seven-year-old Aponi, became involved with Parent Voices four years ago. “I was going to school to finish my degree,” she says, “when I found out that I was in jeopardy of losing my child care subsidies” because of state budget cuts. “We went to San Francisco with our children to protest.”

Knowledge is Power includes:

Training on state budget and legislation: “The trainings give (parents) knowledge on what’s going on,” says Leah Deas, another Knowledge is Power participant. “You would be amazed to see how many parents come!”

Role-playing: In one of the sessions, Loe recalls, “I was able to role-play how, if I was to (lose) the child care subsidies, it would be a fine line from me being homeless. I just voiced how I would not have my child cared for, and how scary that would be. For me to voice that was very powerful.”

Meeting with politicians: “We go inside and speak to the legislators,” says Deas. “We show them books with pictures of our children and tell them our stories.”

Experiencing results: “I’m not a very good talker,” says Deas, but after the training, “talking to people and telling my story became much easier.”

“The experience changed me,” she adds, “with the knowledge they taught us and also helped me to see how I’m not the only one in this position.”

“You really learn about the power of testifying (when) you actually go to a hearing and tell your story in front of legislators,” Loe says. “It helps you translate that training into practice and makes you feel like you can make a difference.”

Thanks to the San Francisco Foundation for its generous support of this page.

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Knowledge is Power!

Parent Voices annual advocacy training

What: Interactive learning about the state budget and legislative process to support parents in developing ideas and skills for advocacy

When: Late January—early February

Where: Oakland, Southern California, Fresno, and Sacramento

For info: Call Parent Voices statewide office, 415-882-0234

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Parent Voices contacts:

Statewide: Mary Ignatius, 415-882-0234. mignatius@rrnetwork.org

Alameda (Hayward): Jennifer Greppi, 510-584-3111, jenniferf@4c-alameda.org

Alameda (Oakland): Sue Retherford, 510-658-7101, sue@bananasinc.org

Amador: Brenda Bullington, 209-223-1624, ext. 109, Brenda@hrcccr.org

Butte: Jane Haberman, 530-895-1677, jhaberman@valleyoakchildren.org

Calaveras: Cheryl Berg, 209-754-1075, ext. 115, cberg@hrcccr.org

Contra Costa: Candy Duperroir, 925-778-4739, candy@cocokids.org

El-Dorado: Heather Schaumann, 530-541-5848, hscfcslt@pacbell.net

Fresno: Lourdes Hernandez, 559-456-1100, louh@cvcsn.org

Los Ángeles: Catherine Pedrosa, 323-421-1200, cpedrosa@crystalstairs.org

Marin: Leah Benz, 415-491-5776, leah@mc3.org

Sacramento: Virginia Cannon, 916-369-3387, Virginia@childaction.org

San Francisco: Maria Luz Torre, 415-343-3383, parentvoices@childrenscouncil.org

San Mateo: Nelly Puhachevsky, 650-655-6770, ext. 283, nelly@sanmateo4cs.org

Santa Barbara: Rafaela Frausto, 805-963-6631, rfrausto@sbfcc.org

Santa Clara: Mario Del Castillo, 408-487-0747, mariod@4c.org

Solano: Kathy Lago, 707-863-3950, ext. 111, lklago@solanosfcs.org

Sonoma: Evangelina Sund, 707-522-1413, esund@sonoma4cs.org

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