We are united in the mission to help our kids succeed through parent engagement.
Our History
Sparked by a parent engagement grant from ARCO in 2005, The Parent Organization Network was founded with a mission to connect, empower, and mobilize parents and parent organizations across the greater Los Angeles area to improve academic outcomes and the quality of education. Already deeply committed to parent engagement, the network started as a joint program of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (now Asian Americans Advancing Justice | LA), the Los Angeles Urban League (LAUL), and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). The three organizations believed in a collaborative multicultural approach to assessing educational issues, planning, and executing solutions.
Our Vision and Mission
PON envisions that in every public school, parents truly are equal partners and decision-makers in ensuring that opportunity and achievement gaps are closed and that all students have a high-quality educational experience that promotes diversity and inclusion, is tailored to their needs, and prepares them for success in school and in life.
We foresee achieving our vision by uniting the power of underserved parents* to break through barriers in public education, so parents and educators can effectively partner to ensure equity and excellence for all students.
*PON defines “parent” broadly to include birth, adoptive, foster parents, and legal guardians, as well as grandparents, adult siblings, aunts and uncles, and other relatives and non-relatives who are involved with raising and educating a child.
Our Core Values, Approaches, and Strategies
Our work is anchored in our values and expressed through our approaches and in our strategies.
Equity: We believe that an equitable, high-quality education for all children is a legal and human right. We are committed to the elimination of opportunity and achievement gaps for every student.
Empowerment: We believe that parents and families, as the primary advocates for their children, play a major role in driving transparency and accountability to effect the changes needed to achieve our vision.
Diversity and Inclusion: We believe diversity is a strength. We promote and prioritize diversity and inclusion at all levels of public education.
Commitment, Trust and Respect: We believe that parent-educator partnerships achieve their full potential when relationships are based on mutual commitment, trust and respect to share leadership and accountability for educational outcomes.
Approaches
• Dialoguing with parents and grounding the work in their perspectives
• Building common ground among PON members and other stakeholders
• Being solution- and outcomes-oriented
• Promoting evidence-based strategies
• Creating authentic partnerships
Strategies
Policy advocacy and monitoring
Capacity-building
Growing and sustaining the PON network