Dr. Andrew Kennedy

Director of the Head Start/State Preschool Program for the Los Angeles County of Office of Education

“Partnering with SMC was excellent. They took it as a challenge to help these parents become more empowered in leadership. And they delivered.”

The “challenge” that Dr. Andrew Kennedy and SMC undertook together was an enormous one. “As Director of the Head Start/State Preschool Program for the Los Angeles County of Office of Education, I have 20,000 volunteer parents serving in our programs throughout the county. And what we’ve created in partnership with SMC is a program to train parents in policy-making positions—within our office—in leadership, and in business skills. We’re taking the volunteer, parenting and involvement experience of these people and converting them into academic credit. But most important,” he continues, “these parents will be enormously strengthened in their leadership roles as Policy Council members of Head Start.” And at a recent award luncheon honoring those who have received this unique training, you could see the sweet smiles of success in evidence everywhere.

“These people that we honored at the awards ceremony are learning the skills they need to go on as entrepreneurs, or possibly be enabled to enter into early childhood education,” says Dr. Kennedy. “They have enhanced their abilities—on many levels—to create their own successful careers. But as members of our Policy Council,” he continues, “they’ll also have large responsibilities. They’ll be involved in reviewing grant applications, approving the budget and program options that we design, and selecting sub-contractors to provide services to preschoolers throughout our county. And the course that we’ve developed and taught here at SMC—with the help of people like Dr. Piedad Robertson, Robert Adams, Elmer Bugg, and so many others—will ensure that the policy decisions made about child care will be made by people eminently trained and qualified to do so.”

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