Urban Park Elementary Hosts First Parent Conference of 2015

Parents Step Ahead (PSA) held its first Parent Conference for 2015 at Urban Park Elementary School, in Dallas. A campus with the longest consecutive running participation with PSA programs to date, having hosted Parent Conferences since 2010.

This past Thursday, January 22nd two topics were discussed along with a presentation of Parents Step Ahead and its 10 Year Anniversary celebration. Family Communication and College Readiness were the two presentations more than 100 parents from Urban Park enjoyed

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Ms. Jennifer Lewis Johnson of Lifeline of Hope Family Services

Jennifer Lewis Johnson, Executive Director of Lifeline of Hope and Family Services, spoke on the seminar topic Family Communication. Ms. Johnson has 20 years of experience working the human service field and extensive training experience on the issues related to family violence. She has been a trainer for the Family Violence Regional Training Program at the Dallas District Attorney’s Office and is an experienced conference presenter and workshop facilitator in the areas of parenting education, family and teen dating violence, and relationship development. Ms. Johnson is available for keynote addresses, staff development, and training and can be contacted for scheduling at lifelineofhope@live.com.

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College Readiness Coordinator for UNT Dallas, Jalyn Smith

Over the topic of College Readiness, Jalyn Smith the College Readiness Coordinator for The University of North Texas at Dallas, spoke on the subject matter. Ms. Smith, a native of Port Arthur, Texas and received her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Public Relations from The University of Oklahoma. And her Master’s in Public Administration from Texas Southern University. At UNT Dallas, Ms. Smith creates and implements programs designed to help students and families prepare for higher education.

The Community Resource fair featured nine community organizations in Dallas. Including, BeCovered Texas, New York Life Insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Skyline Branch Library, Dallas ISD Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Prevention, North Texas Job Corps, Dallas Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Equal Justice Center and the Dallas Police Department.

Major contributors to the event were the Ford Motor Company, Manuel Garcia and McDonald’s for providing the dinner for the parents in attendance and Pinnacle Technical Resources for providing a brand new computer to the winner of the raffle drawing, Urban Park parent Lizbeth De La Rosa.

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Sgt. Munoz of the Dallas Police Department with the winning recipients of the donated bike.

 

Sgt. Muñoz from the Dallas Police Department and representative of UNIDOS also attended with an in-kind donation of a bike for a winning parent in one of the raffles. UNIDOS is a Hispanic community outreach program designed to provide assistance to Spanish speaking residents in the Dallas area. “We need more of these of programs in all of the city of Dallas.” Said Sgt. Muñoz after the conference “We need to be in contact with the community, because sometimes we are out of touch. Programs like this bring the community together. Whether it is in a school or a church it connects us, and that’s what we try to do with UNIDOS.”

The next Parents Step Ahead Parent Conference will be held in Richardson Independent School District at the Forest Lane Academy campus on Saturday, February 21, 2015.

For more information on this event visit www.parentsstepahead.org or call Fernando Labastida at 214-357-2186.

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