Training

We provide training that equips families with the knowledge, skills, and practical tools needed to advocate confidently for a high-quality education. Our trainings cover rights, effective communication, navigating school systems, and strategies for organizing and influencing decisions that affect students.

Through the training process, families join networks of family advocates, parent leaders, and community partners who offer ongoing support during and after advocacy efforts. These connections foster peer mentoring, resource-sharing, and sustained engagement so families can continue to defend and improve educational outcomes for their children.

Trainings/Workshops

• Know Your Ed Rights

  • Overview of student and family rights in public education

  • How to address discrimination, bullying, and privacy concerns

  • Steps to file complaints and request investigations

  • Practical tips for advocating with school staff and administrators

• Read To Lead Workshop

  • Strategies to support early literacy at home and in the classroom

  • Classroom and community reading initiatives

  • Tools for measuring reading progress and setting goals

  • Family engagement techniques to build lifelong readers

• Know Your ELL Rights

  • Explanation of rights for English Learner (EL) students and families

  • Identification and assessment procedures for EL services

  • Information on appropriate instructional placement and accommodations

  • How to request language assistance and challenge inappropriate decisions

• Solutions Not Suspensions

  • Alternatives to exclusionary discipline practices

  • Restorative justice principles and implementation steps

  • De-escalation techniques and trauma-informed approaches

  • Building school policies that reduce disparities in discipline

• What is Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

  • Plain-language summary of ESSA’s purpose and key provisions

  • How ESSA affects accountability, assessments, and funding

  • Family and community roles under ESSA (reporting, planning, and engagement)

  • How to use ESSA to advocate for equitable school practices

• What is an IEP

  • Basic explanation of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)

  • Eligibility, evaluation, and development processes

  • Rights and procedural safeguards for students with disabilities

  • Tips for preparing for IEP meetings and monitoring progress

• Organizing and Mobilizing

  • Community organizing fundamentals for parents and caregivers

  • Building coalitions, running effective meetings, and campaign planning

  • Communication strategies: storytelling, media, and public testimony

  • Sustaining momentum and measuring impact

• What Does A School Board Do?

  • Roles and responsibilities of local school

Partnerships

• We believe we cannot address education issues for families without addressing the needs of the whole family. We build and sustain authentic partnerships with nonprofit organizations that serve families across the social determinants of health so children can thrive both in school and at home.

• Our partnership areas include:

• • Healthcare: Connecting families to primary care, behavioral health, dental services, and preventive care.

  • Emergency assistance: Coordinating supports for gas, medications, phone bills, food, hygiene products, and essential household items.

  • Housing: Linking families to stable, safe, and affordable housing resources and advocacy.

  • Employment: Referrals to job training, placement services, workforce development, and income supports.

  • Early childhood: Collaborations that ensure access to high-quality early learning programs and resources for caregivers.

  • Birth–3 supports: Services focused on early developmental screening, family supports, and home visiting programs for infants and toddlers.

  • Prenatal care: Partnerships that promote access to prenatal services, maternal health supports, and education for expectant families.

• We prioritize relationships with community organizations that share a commitment to equity, cultural responsiveness, and measurable impact. Through coordinated referrals, joint programming, and shared data where appropriate, our partnership network helps remove barriers so families can fully engage in their children’s education.

We believe education can be transformed to serve all children by building and joining coalitions that advance racial and social equity across Minnesota’s public schools. Collaboration amplifies local voice, shares knowledge, and drives policy and practice changes that center students who have historically been marginalized.

Coalitions we work with and support

• Minnesota Literacy Coalition — Expands equitable access to high-quality literacy programs and resources for English learners, multilingual families, and adult learners, recognizing literacy as foundational to academic success and civic participation.

• Solutions Not Suspensions — Promotes alternatives to exclusionary discipline by advancing restorative practices, bias reduction training, and policy reform so students remain engaged in learning and school communities.

• Voices and Choices For Children — Elevates family and youth leadership in decision-making to ensure education systems reflect the needs, cultures, and aspirations of children and their households.

• Community Impact Note Coalition — Brings together stakeholders to measure and address the social determinants affecting student success, using community-centered data to guide interventions and resource allocation.

• Ramsey County Appropriate Response Initiative — Works to ensure school safety strategies prioritize de-escalation, culturally responsive mental health supports, and minimized reliance on law enforcement for student behavioral incidents.

• Ignite Your Heart — Supports youth empowerment and leadership development, particularly for students of color and those from immigrant and low-income families, nurturing pathways to academic and civic engagement.

• Dignity in Schools (DSC) — Advances national and local campaigns to end pushout and to implement restorative, dignity-affirming practices that keep students in school and connected to learning.

• YJT Youth Justice Transformation — Focuses on reducing youth criminalization through policy change, diversion programs, and supports that address trauma and systemic inequities impacting students.

• United Parent Leader Action Network (UPLAN) — Builds parent leadership and organizes families across communities to influence school governance, budgeting, curriculum, and discipline policies.

• Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) — Defends policies that protect immigrant students and families from punitive immigration enforcement, and promotes access to education, services, and safe school climates.

How coalition work advances equity

• Centers lived experience: Coalitions amplify the voices of students, families, and educators most impacted by inequity, ensuring solutions are informed by those experiences.

• Aligns resources and strategy: Collaborative efforts coordinate funding, training, and policy campaigns to produce scalable, sustained change rather than fragmented efforts.

• Changes practice and policy: Working across coalitions creates the political and community power needed to pass district- and state-level policies on discipline reform, inclusive curricula, multilingual services, and supportive school climates.

• Builds capacity: Coalitions share tools, research, and training to help schools implement restorative practices, bias-aware instruction, multilingual programming, and trauma-informed supports.

• Measures impact: Coalition partners develop shared metrics and accountability systems to track progress on disparities in discipline, achievement, access to advanced coursework, and student well-being.

Call to action

Schools and districts, family leaders, educators, and community organizations should join and strengthen these coalitions to scale approaches that keep students safe, supported, and learning. Together, we can reimagine public education in Minnesota so every child—regardless of race, language, immigration status, or zip code—has the opportunity to thrive.