Proposal Idea and Outline

We would like to organize a "Back to School Block Party" at a Strong Community elementary school where parental involvement is low. Our desire is to increase communication between parents and school officials which would increase the amount of time parents spend involved in their children's lives. We would like to focus on the parents of the younger children because we believe that it is important to target those people who can have the most impact. We are not in any sense giving up on the older children's parents, but we believe that the younger children's parents can be influenced the most. There will be a "pot-luck" style lunch, and different school officials will speak about the importance of being involved in a child's development.

We have come up with the idea of passing out fliers to promote Strong Communities, and we are in the process of collaborating with another group to use their fliers at our event. The goal is to get the word out about Strong Communities, and we feel like we can accomplish that best by working together with other groups.

Minutes from February 26, 2008 Meeting

Team Members present: Ann Hughston Davis, Larkin Shaw, Sarah Hayward, Leigh Amrhein, and Michael Wade

Agenda
Topics of Discussion
1. Target Audience (30 minutes)
2. Purpose (20 minutes)
3. Event (30 minutes)
4. Details (20 minutes)

1. Target Audience: The parents of children in an elementary school located in one of the cities in which Strong Communities is targeting
2. Purpose: To inform parents of the importance of being active in their child’s school work.
3. Event: Back to School Block Party
4. Details: Saturday in August before school starts
Teachers and Principal from school present to talk to parents
Hand out flyers for PTA to encourage parents to join. Remind parents that learning doesn’t just take place in the school; it continues to the home.
Importance of being involved and having contact with teachers.
Inform parents of before and after school programs and tutoring programs. Promotion
Deliver flyers from door to door flyers and personally invite people to come.
Sign up at the community center.
Hand out “Strong Communities Block party” pencils in order to promote the organization
School supplies
Have supplies donated and make packages for students.
Food
Have food donated or ask parents to bring one dish for a covered dish lunch.
Research we did to determine which Elementary school to use.
Location: Park in Fountain Inn
Target Audience: Fountain Inn Elementary (subject to change)
Looked at the Fountain Inn Elementary website
Population (4K-5th)-850
Could break up into two age groups or just focus on the 4K
Mascot-Firecrackers

Tasks to complete
Michael- posts minutes on team blog
Ann Hughston- Look up cost of pencils
Larkin- email Mr. Charles about a potential elementary school
Leigh- design a flyer
Sarah- check progress next week

Introduction of Team Members

"Strong...Clemson Strong" was formed when our group members happened to sit near each other on the first day of class. We had no idea we would form together to try to help create a "buzz" about volunteering for Strong Communities. Our team consists of the following:

• Leigh Amrhein
• Ann Hughston Davis
• Sarah Hayward
• Larkin Shaw
• Michael Wade

We hope to be able to join together as a group to help Strong Communities accomplish their goal of creating networks of support for parents of young children in hopes of preventing child abuse.