Parent Leadership Initative

  

 

 

 

About the Program

 

The Parent Leadership Initiative Long Island is a program designed to help parents become leading advocates for their children. Parents' opinions often go unheard. They have the motivation and will to change their children's lives, but they face challenges in the advocacy skills needed to take action. PLI LI provides parents with the knowledge to create a caring community for children.

 

Mission Statement: PLI LI is based on the idea that the family is the heart of the community. Parents can be their children's most important teachers. They are the strongest supporters in handling the needs of children and families. Parents have the ability to bring about change, but often do not recognize their abilities, skills or power. PLI LI gives parents the opportunity to come together to share experiences, ideas and concerns. They can bring about positive change in their communities.

 

Goals:

• Give parents the opportunity to come together to share experiences, ideas and concerns
• Prepare parents from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds to assume leadership roles in their communities
• Build self-esteem and self-confidence in order to improve leadership skills
• Increase involvement in, and knowledge of, the community and its resources
• Provide participants with a better understanding of how the government works and how to navigate through the system
• Enrich partnerships and community partners to build networks
• Create a thriving community where parents have more resources, access, and opportunities for interaction and support

 

More times than not, our self interest connects to the needs of where we live. We are often not the only ones facing the problems affecting our children and so we need to come together to strengthen our entire community. With PLI LI, communities will thrive due to the rising number of parents and community members that learn how to navigate through systems. 

 

The Parent Leadership Initiative program began more than 20 years ago in the Town of Huntington. It has since then been successfully implemented in the Towns of Southampton, Islip, Babylon and Brookhaven, and expanded into Nassau County in early 2015.

 

Additional Program Information:

• PLI LI is designed to prepare parents from different ethnic and economic backgrounds to assume leadership roles in their communities.
• Parents come together for a 16 week program. They explore interests, strengths and ideas. Then, they work together to develop interpersonal and public communication skills. They also gain an understanding of how to work with government, media and civic groups.
• Parents guide the program. They take part in deciding what to work on and evaluating their progress. Each graduating class then guides the next class. This creates a growing group of parents who work to improve their communities. 
• PLI LI addresses important child care issues such as health, quality schooling and neighborhood safety.
• Dinner and child care are provided for all participants. 

 

 

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PLI Graduation 2019