(FLINT, Mich. Feb. 20, 2025) — Representatives of the Flint Parent Collaborative (FPC), an initiative of the Flint Center for Educational Excellence (Flint Center), will attend the 2025 National Parent Ambassador Institute in Washington, D.C., Feb. 25-28. The Institute is sponsored by the Educare Learning Network.
“Parent advocacy is crucial because it enhances student success, fosters stronger connections between families and schools, promotes educational equity, and allows communities to play an active role in improving their schools,” said Charese McLean, Director of the FPC.
“This is a great opportunity for me to network with other professionals in the field on best practices for bringing parents together in the budding Flint Parent Collaborative,’ said McLean. “I am looking forward to collaborating with seasoned parent advocates and staff as I work toward building our local parent collaborative,” she added.
McLean is an experienced family and child advocate, having served as a Parent Navigator for the Head Start program and a Family Engagement Advocate in the Genesee Intermediate School District for many years. Prior to that, she was a Workplace Excellence Instructor for the GST Michigan Works and an educator in the Flint Community Schools.
The Flint Parent Collaborative plays an instrumental role in amplifying the voices of parents, caregivers and other caring adults, to raise awareness about the issues and opportunities that impact the educational success of Flint kids. It is made up of parent ambassadors from Educare Flint and parent advocates from the Flint Center partner K-12 schools, in addition to community members.
Going with McLean is parent advocate Sheena Moore. Both of Moore’s children attended the Educare Flint school. She said that the parent support she received there changed her life, and she wants to help other parents experience the same level of support.
“At one of the parent meetings Ms. McLean said something that really resonated with me,” said Moore, “she said something along the lines of no parent is perfect, and there are going to be times when things don’t go the way you planned, and that’s okay. I had always thought mothers had to be able to do everything and look good doing it,” she said, “but I learned not to stress about frivolous stuff.”
She recently joined the FPC because she wants to be a part of an organization working toward positive change in the community.
“I truly believe that children are the future, and I wanted to find a place where I fit in and could use my expertise and ideas to develop improvements for children and families,” she said.
Moore is looking forward to the Parent Ambassador Institute and learning from other parents and advocates.
“I’m expecting be in a room full of people with out of the box ideas. Being in a group of like-minded individuals can make you feel inspired and motivated. It gives you a sense of belonging,” she said.
Educare Learning Network is a nationwide network of early childhood champions that increases equity and opportunity for all children. A nationwide network of birth-to-five schools, Educare partners with historically disinvested communities to transform the lives of thousands of young children. Their approach extends beyond the classroom via partnership and innovation around practice, policy and research to help ensure every child can thrive.
The National Educare Network will hold their annual conference in Flint in May 2025.
The Flint Center for Educational Excellence is building an educational ecosystem that works for all Flint kids by providing programs, research, and advocacy that ensure Flint kids, their families, schools, and communities thrive. We accomplish this through a cross-sector partnership to create a cradle-to-career support network connecting people, ideas and resources in tangible ways that strengthen our community through the power of collaboration. To learn more about The Flint Center, visit theflintcenter.org.
