As President of the Parent Policy Council, Stephanie has learned more about the behind-the-scenes strategy, policies, and management of child development centers at Peninsula Family Service. She has engaged in a few initiatives that she is proud of: approving a cost-of-living raise for teachers, creating solutions to improve the rooftop playgrounds, and creating parent workshop topics that are relevant and helpful to our families.
“I really like my position on the Parent Policy Council. It has been a great way to give a voice to our families who otherwise wouldn’t be heard. Many of them speak Spanish only, and I’m bilingual, so I can listen and take their concerns and suggestions back to the Council and make changes based on their needs.”
Stephanie was also invited to join the Peninsula Family Service Board of Directors to represent the Parent Policy Council in organization-wide matters. She has learned a lot of organization governance and budgeting, and has been participating in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) trainings at the Board-level, an initiative she’s really excited about.
“At a recent board meeting, there was a presenter talking about our DEI activities at Peninsula Family Service. I’m really proud to be part of an organization that’s working to improve things internally to be an inclusive place to work.”
When Stephanie passed her LVN exam, she told Claudia and the Early Learning team before anyone else. They rallied together to support her job hunt, helped her find new interview clothes and prepare her resume, search for open positions, and practice interviews.
At the time of this writing, Stephanie has her first interview next week –fingers crossed!
Perla is one of 12,000 individuals Peninsula Family Service works with to open doors of opportunity and change lives for the better. This is the third part in a series of blogs focused on how our wraparound services directly impact our families and program participants through our support and resource tools that help to build financial stability, and to realize the potential of living healthy and stable lives.
The Parent Policy Council at Peninsula Family Service is a parent-led committee which provides oversight to our child development centers. Committee members work with management to plan for and implement long and short term goals, ensure we’re meeting our fiscal requirements.