Annually PPS organizes and hosts an evening of recognition (The Extra Mile Award Ceremony) of parents, school staff, volunteers and community organizations that go above and beyond to strengthen our public schools. Public School supporters look forward to nominating deserving recipients for this prestigious award each year.
In 2002, PPS organized and implemented a “Parent Involvement Taskforce” (PITG), where 120 parents and community members developed a plan to make CPS “the most friendly district” in the nation. Among several recommendations adopted by the school district was the creation of a Customer Help Center.
PPS leads the parent engagement component in Cincinnati’s GEARUP collaboration. Led by the University of Cincinnati, GEARUP is a federal college awareness and readiness program for first generation, economically disadvantaged youth. As a GEARUP partner PPS is “guiding over 4,000 Cincinnati Public School students and parents step by step to college”.
In 2006, the Cincinnati PPS began to collaborate with the Prichard Committee to bring the Parent Leadership Institute (PLI) to Cincinnati. This professional development program is designed to empower parents to be effective advocates for Ohio’s children. The PLI prepares parents to collaborate with other parents, teachers, and administrators to develop / implement action based projects that will increase academic achievement.
The Cincinnati chapter launched their first PLI class in Cincinnati Public Schools in 2007. With funding from the United Way-led Parent Information Resource Center, the program was disseminated statewide.
To date, 249 parents have completed the PLI in Ohio. Fellows’ projects range from math, science, reading and robotics, with the common goals of increasing student achievement while also increasing parent involvement.