Translate
The National Parent Leadership Institute brought the Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) weeklong training to Merced on Jun. 23, 2019. The training began with an evening event full of speakers and Merced community members who spoke about the importance of PLTI and the effects it has had in their respective communities. Participants from 10 states came to Merced for the training.
-
- The National Parent Leadership Institute kicked off the Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) at Merced’s Gateway Gardens on Jun. 23, 2019.
-
- Building Healthy Communities Merced hub manager Sol Rivas addresses the participants at the kick off dinner.
-
- Posters of Merced PLTI alumni were hung on the walls of Gateway Gardens with quotes that highlight what they learned from the training.
-
- Merced District 2 Supervisor and PLTI alumni Lee Lor spoke to participants about her experiences as a PLTI alumni who ran for office.
-
- A participant raises their hand when a speaker asks the crowd who came from states outside of California for this training.
-
- Lori Wilson, mayor of Suisun City, Calif., was one of the speakers of the evening. “Most people say tomorrow’s leaders are youth,” Wilson said to the crowd. “But if you’re alive and breathing and not already a leader, you are one of tomorrow’s leaders.”
-
- Poster board presentations of past trainings highlighted the back of the room.
-
- (L-R) Patti Keckeisen and Donna Thompson-Bennett, co-directors of the National Parent Leadership Institute, introduce the organization’s staff.
-
- Elaine Zimmerman, founder of PLTI and a board member of the National Parent Leadership Institute, tells the story of how PLTI was founded. Zimmerman went to different parent groups in Connecticut school districts to see what the system setup was at the time and what recommendations parents had. One parent, she recalls, spoke up about the different changes they wanted to see, but then said, “but I’m just a parent” and the whole room stopped. Zimmerman said she saw that parents internalized that they should not be part of the discussion and she set out to change that.
-
- Merced PLTI alumni coordinator Alejandro Romo Carrillo talks about the growing number of alumni in Merced and their impact on the community.
-
- Merced PLTI alumni created a folklorico dance group that involves the community. The group started with 14 students and now has 70 students. Members of the group performed a traditional folklorico dance routine for the event.
-
- Merced PLTI alumni created a folklorico dance group that involves the community. The group started with 14 students and now has 70 students. Members of the group performed a traditional folklorico dance routine for the event.
