Moms Graduate from the My First Teacher Program in Southeast L.A.

WHAT: Parent leaders in southeast Los Angeles had much to celebrate on Mother’s Day. Last Thursday 32 parents, 31 of whom are mothers, graduated from the 4th cohort of the Advancement Project’s My First Teacher program in an uplifting celebration at Escutia Primary Center in Bell, CA.

Research by Weiss, Caspe, and Lopez (2006) shows that the achievement gap begins before preschool and the home environment of a child from birth to age three is a major determinant in their academic success. My First Teacher, as the name implies, builds on the skills of parents preparing them for the myriad challenges that face monolingual, Spanish-speaking, low-income parents of color.

Parent leaders were joined by friends and family as they received certificates from the offices of Supervisor Hilda Solis and LAUSD District 5 Board Member Dr. Ref. Rodriguez, who sent a representative to hand them out. Graduates were cheered on as songs like Mc Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” ushered each graduate to the stage.

The celebration was an emotion-filled event that left some parents speechless and tearful over what they accomplished in just 10 weeks.

WHO: Since its inception in January 2015, the program has graduated 68 parents from its 10-week leadership training that leverages and builds upon the birth-to-eight awareness and advocacy skills of parents in southeast Los Angeles. We are supporting families to realize their respective individual and community strengths, increase their early learning education awareness, develop tangible advocacy strategies, and come together to advance their children’s academic success.

The 10-week training and graduation ceremony were co-planned by three alumni parent leaders who graduated from the first cohort of the program last year. Genoveva Castrellon, Maria Chavez, and Veronica Gonzalez, are all mothers who have committed themselves to being advocates for their children and becoming strong community leaders.

The program equipped them with leadership skills, community building, political process knowledge, and effective advocacy skills, which they used during legislative visits this past March. Most recently, Maria and Genoveva were nominated by Assemblymember Cristina Garcia for the Pride 58 Award, which recognizes service and dedication to the betterment of the community in her district. And Genoveva spoke eloquently to an audience of over two hundred supporters and community partners at our Champions for Equity Awards last month.

WHY: We think these super moms deserve to be acknowledged for their leadership both at home and in the community.

VISUALS: We have photographs and video from the training sessions and the graduation.

SPOKESPEOPLE: We have staff and parent leader spokespeople.

Parent Leaders (Spanish-speaking only) can talk about the importance of early learning in their child’s educational attainment and their experience in the program:

• Genoveva Castrellon
• Maria Chavez
• Veronica Gonzalez

Staff (English and Spanish-speaking) can talk about the curriculum and the success of the program:

• Jessenia Reyes
• Ernesto Saldana

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