This article originally appeared in the July-August 2006 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

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Grassroots Snapshot

Bay Area parents win commitments from legislators

By Diana Choksey

When San Francisco mom June Strohlin found out about a forum where parents could ask legislators for action on key issues, she got involved. Strohlin receives subsidized child care and is concerned that eligibility ceilings haven’t been raised to keep up with inflation.

“It’s a form of economic violence,” she says. “Corporations get a tax break for hiring women transitioning off welfare (but we) can’t take a pay raise because we (would) lose our child care subsidy.”

At the forum, which parents organized with support from the Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network (BayPLAN), legislative aides made specific commitments on school, child care, and CalWORKs issues.

Deciding the issues

Before the forum, BayPLAN surveyed 200 parents about their priorities. They called for

• more money for schools

• cost-of-living increases for families on CalWORKs

• higher eligibility ceilings for subsidized child care

• better training for parents on school site councils.

These issues “became the platform,” says Melia Franklin, director of BayPLAN. Holding the forum during the state budget process gave parents “a sense of taking action right then” and insisting that “representatives act on their promises.”

Getting “prepared to tell their story”

With support and training from BayPLAN, parents

• Invited legislators through letters and followed up by phone

• Got the word out to parents through community organizations, mail, and email

• Made packets with fact sheets on key issues, sample questions for legislative aides, and a worksheet to help parents develop their personal testimonies. Strohlin says she was “real nervous,” but the worksheet helped her speak out.

• Organized carpools to the forum

• Arrived early to go over the issues and “be prepared to tell their story in a powerful way,” says Franklin.

BayPLAN provided child care at the forum and a shuttle for Cantonese-speaking parents coming from San Francisco to Oakland.

“Speaking their minds”

“Parents moderated this meeting, speaking their minds and using their experience. They asked questions and checked off who was agreeing to what,” says Franklin.

Ai Zhu Huang, one of the 40 parents present, testified in Chinese about her struggles in dealing with her child’s school and school district.  “I am advocating for the rights of many parents (who don’t speak much English),” she says. “Many have similar struggles and do not know who to go to.”

At the forum, some of the legislators’ staffers agreed to

• Increase money for schools—by looking for a sponsor for legislation to increase per-pupil spending by raising taxes on the rich and corporations. 

• Call for more parent leadership training in schools in a letter to state school superintendent Jack O’Connell. Some of the parents are now drafting the letter.

Later, Assemblymember Loni Hancock cast a deciding vote for updating child care eligibility guidelines—another key demand, says Franklin.

“It was a terrific forum,” says Rachel Richman, legislative aide for Assemblymember Chan. “Parents were really focused on what they wanted for their children. When parents come together they can really succeed.”

Next steps

Parents are following up by meeting with legislators and conducting a letter-writing campaign. “One by one, we’re building a parent movement,” says Franklin, “to bring parents together as a unified voice.”

• BayPLAN, 510-531-7526, www.parentactionnet.org

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