How do we reach parents? How do we get their feedback? These are questions that many organizations in our partnership have struggled with. For this reason, over 35 people (parents and community partner representatives) joined together at the Eastside Pathways Community Café orientation on Saturday, Oct. 11 at Stevenson Elementary to learn tools for how to better engage families and lead discussions that will ultimately improve the success of Bellevue’s children.
“I feel parents are the ultimate partners in everything each community based organization does to support student achievement and individual growth,” said Michelle Williams-Clark, youth development education specialist at the Bellevue Family YMCA. “The parent voice is key to moving our process as educators, community leaders, engaged partners forward. The youth voice is crucial, too. Their input about their future is a must. Reaching out to them in a more intentional way and having events at the schools would be amazing.”
During the Community Café, parents sat with community organizations and talked about what it means to strengthen families and build better relationships with parents of all different backgrounds and ethnicities in Bellevue.
Natalie Davis-Eltahir, a Bellevue School District parent and Eastside Pathways volunteer, explained that there is a need for Community Cafés so that parents can share stories and find inspiration within other cultures.“Saturday’s Community Café orientation was very important to me because someone felt that I was important enough to ask to come and be with them in their community. As a parent leader, I learned that I’m always a learner, how we are alike, and we all have some of the same fears,” Davis-Eltahir said.
She explained that she hopes that the cafés become a new trend of how separate groups of communities can turn into a family community. “This will help relieve some of the disconnect between people of all ages, hunger, stress, and support the need for clothing, neighbor care, education, and so on,” she said.
Williams-Clark explained that she enjoyed that the café brought people together to share their ideas and perspectives in a safe environment and allowed people to share in small groups, in addition to speaking to the larger group if a participant felt comfortable. “I feel that the cafés are a great tool to bring different voices together. It is also a wonderful first step to how best to collectively serve the community and solve issues, concerns that face the city of Bellevue,” she said.
Alma Gonzalez, a leader and parent who also is part of the Eastside Latino Leadership Forum, also agreed and said that the orientation reminded her that all parents want the same thing, which is a “good and safe environment where we can raise our family.”
“It was very important for the representatives of the community organizations and parents to come together in this particularly informal environment, where a friendly conversation can express, naturally, the needs and opportunities that our community has for a long time been working on finding solutions for,” Gonzalez said.
Eastside Pathways Board Member Susan Sullivan explained that before the event there was some anxiety about how it would go and if people would come, but in typical Eastside Pathways fashion, the team was willing to try something new and courageously and thoughtfully moved ahead and hosted the event.
Sullivan was surprised and amazed at how comfortable people felt talking about themselves and their experiences.
“The orientation allowed us to experience a Community Café so that we are more confident hosting them ourselves,” she said. “It gave us the opportunity to build relationships with other people that want to work to strengthen our community and to help Bellevue’s kids succeed. We practiced active listening and learned how it helps the listener connect with and validate the speaker.”
Sullivan said that she would recommend that parents, community members, and Eastside Pathways partners participate in the next Community Café orientation. “It is a great opportunity to build relationships with the people who provide youth development programs and those who use them. Creating this trust and these avenues of communication will allow us to better serve Bellevue’s youth.”
Article written by Charlotte Anthony, communications and admin. associate at Eastside Pathways