PEP Engaging More School Communities

In 2004, SVPP decided to "pep" up the Portland school community by creating the Parental Engagement Program (PEP). PEP represented a new investee path for SVPP – rather than taking on a finite project within an ongoing nonprofit organization, PEP's mission was to create a replicable model for fostering parental engagement within schools of low income and multi-cultural families. SVPP partnered with two "test schools" and Impact Northwest (formerly Portland Impact) to achieve this aim.

Was PEP successful? We'd say so! SVPP and Impact Northwest together created a parental engagement model to be leveraged at other schools in Portland and beyond. This model employs AmeriCorps volunteers and site coordinators of the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) programs and services. So far, PEP has been replicated at eleven other Portland schools where Impact Northwest administers SUN programs.

How did PEP's two test schools (Kelly Elementary and Clark Elementary, now Clark@Binnsmead) fare in this grand experiment? Two words: sea change. The school leadership and SUN coordinators at both schools reported that incorporation of PEP led to a "sea change" in parental involvement within the classrooms and other areas of the schools. The number of parent volunteers at Kelly tripled over the three year SVPP investment period. The evolution of PEP at Clark led to a school reading night with local children's book author Eric Kimmel as well as a school science night at OMSI.

The benefits of PEP have not ended with the retirement of SVPP's three year investment. The School Advisory Boards for both test schools continue in full swing, as do SVPP Partners Les Soltesz, Alan Crouch and Ralph Leftwich, among others. The continued benefits of PEP are also felt at the replication schools and in the homes of Portland’s diverse working families.