January 2014 Dear Friends, As I sat in my new Bible Study class this week, the teacher began to talk about a simple, yet profound Bible verse. “But do not just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.†James 1:22 NLT I began to reflect on what these words meant and how relevant they are to my life. God calls us to do several things. However, the most important are to use our gifts to spread the Word and help our neighbor. This is exactly where my life has led me over the past few months!! I am excited to report that I am currently in the process of planting a chapter of Parent Initiative, through Second Mile Development, in Montgomery Public Schools. . I have been amazed at how God has led me down this path and opened so many doors in such a short time. Parent Initiative is a program that has worked for more than 20 years striving to involve parents into the education and lives of children in low performing schools. This program began in Huntsville, Alabama by serving in numerous local Title I schools throughout the years and is currently assisting more than 700 schools nationally through it’s newly developed parenting curriculum, Parent Parties. Using the Second Mile Parent Initiative model, it is my desire to promote parent education and increase parent and family involvement in Montgomery schools. The Montgomery school system has over 73% of its students on the free lunch program. The state has an average of 52% free lunches throughout all of its school systems. As a result of this, the majority of schools are Title 1 funded. We are starting with the selection of one Title 1 School in the district and implementing our proven program in the 2014-2015 school year. Eventually, we plan to have our proven program in several schools throughout the Montgomery Public School district. Through this small step, we are striving to reach hundreds of families. Several of the schools in Montgomery do not even have a PTA program. Therefore, family involvement is low. Through Parent Initiative, we hope to foster growth of PTAs, build relationships and create more family involvement in the schools. As a result, we will aid in the creation of stronger public schools for the children of Montgomery. By targeting family involvement, it will directly impact and benefit the students. This task, though at times overwhelming, is what I feel I have been called to do with my gifts. I would appreciate your prayers and support throughout this development process and as we strive to raise seed monies of $40,000. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I would love to share my journey with you! God Bless! Jenny Chou
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 15:35:50 +0000