Family Engagement and Leadership Initiative (FamELI)

Inner-city schools, where the majority of students come from low-income homes, need extra services for families to empower them to access the variety of community supports available to them, navigate the educational system, become more comfortable engaging with teachers and principal, and participate fully in their children’s learning.

OSF sponsors a nine-school collaborative — FamELI now in its third year — which helps schools develop their on-site Family Resources Centers (FRCs) managed by paid Coordinators. FamELI hosts quarterly meetings for the Coordinators where they develop tools for the FRCs, create strategic plans and systems, learn about managing family workshops, and build their professional capacity.

The objective is to ensure there is infrastructure at the site that helps parents and guardians be fully engaged in the educational process. OSF hosts quarterly joint meetings for Coordinators and Principals, and is currently implementing plans to involve Faculty Liaisons in the FamELI project. OSF manages the FamELI project and hosts meetings, collects data, documents practices, and produces and disseminates a toolkit for participants and schools across the district. Use Your Voice surveys reveal the participating schools to have among the best results for parent/guardian involvement and satisfaction.

OSF is funded by the Zellerbach Family Foundation, S.D. Bechtel, Jr, Foundation, and the Elise and Walter Haas Foundation for family engagement programs. In addition to the schools, OSF is proud to partner with UC Berkeley’s School-University Supports program which has developed the college-going initiative curriculum incorporated into the FamELI practices. OSF also partners with the Community-Based English Tutoring program which supports the project’s family literacy component.

The participating schools are:
Think College Now Elementary (K-5)
International Community School (K-5)
ASCEND (K-8)
Coliseum College Prep Academy (6-12)
Manzanita Community School (K-5)
Manzanita SEED (K-5)
EnCompass Academy (K-5)
Acorn Woodland Academy (K-5)
PLACE @ Prescott Elementary (K-5)