After a successful first year piloting SESEC’s Family Navigator program, we are evolving this work into the Family Power Building Initiative.
This next phase reflects SESEC’s growth from supporting families in navigating school systems toward building collective family and community power to shape those systems. By partnering directly with community-based organizations, we aim to deepen cultural and language-specific engagement, strengthen family voice in Seattle Public Schools processes, and create sustainable, community-led structures for educational equity.
We are now looking for community partners (with 501c3 status) who want to develop their family engagement work– the ask is that they have a pre-existing or can put together a family group of at least 10 parents, and have one dedicated staff member who can attend training sessions with us and then lead workshops for their respective family group.
Purpose
The Family Power Building Initiative (FPB), strengthens the power of families to shape and influence Seattle Public Schools systems through organizing and collective advocacy.
FPB partners with two trusted community-based organizations (CBOs), each designating one staff member to be trained as a family organizer. These organizers will develop skills in community organizing, leadership development, and education advocacy.
Once trained, these organizers will lead culturally- and language-responsive workshops with families who receive their organizations’ services. Through these training groups, families will build their advocacy “muscle” deepening their understanding of education systems, developing leadership confidence, and learning how to collectively drive change in Seattle Public Schools.
Program Goals
- Build Organizers, Not Just Navigators: Equip CBOs to transform families from system users into system influencers, at multiple levels of engagement, from school-based leadership to district advocacy.
- Shift from Deficit to Strengths-Based Thinking: Staff and families adopt a mindset that centers family expertise, recognizes systemic barriers, and counters assumptions that families are “lacking.”
- Deepen Cultural & Language Responsiveness: Ensure workshops reflect the lived experiences and identities of each community.
- Strengthen Systems Influence: Families will develop leadership and advocacy skills to provide public testimony at the Seattle School Board, ensuring community priorities are heard and acted upon.
- Sustain Leadership & Engagement: Develop a model that allows CBOs to continue training and empowering families beyond SESEC’s direct support
Program Structure
Phase 1: SESEC-Led Training (Train-the-Trainers)
- 4 sessions for staff from two partner CBOs, 2-3 hours in each session
- Session 1: Meet & Greet with CBOs to understand their family engagement strategies and identify topics to be trained on. Start draft of family engagement plan to resource capstone project.
- Potential Topics: racial equity, authentic engagement, strengths-based facilitation and countering deficit thinking, advocacy, navigating SPS systems, and storytelling.** still being workshopped
- Outcome: Each CBO develops a culturally-rooted family engagement plan and workshop curriculum.
Phase 2: CBO-Led Family Workshops
- Hosting workshops in the community’s primary language to identify and complete capstone project.
- Goals: Build family leadership, gather collective input, highlight family expertise, and prepare families to share their experiences in public forums.
- Outcome: Family groups develop a capstone project to be completed by June 2026.
Capstone Project:
EXAMPLE: Open Letter
EXAMPLE: School Board Testimony
- Families will prepare and present public testimony to the Seattle School Board, highlighting priorities identified through workshops and demonstrating collective power and leadership.
- Staff responsibilities include: coaching families, drafting practice statements, and coordinating logistics.
| Month | Activity |
| February | Recruit 2 partner CBOs |
| March- April | SESEC-led training sessions (Phase 1) |
| March- May | CBO-led family workshops (Phase 2) |
| June | Family School Board testimony (Capstone) |
Expected Outcome
- CBO Staff as Family Organizers:
Two partner CBOs will have at least one trained staff member equipped to serve as a family organizer, capable of leading culturally- and linguistically responsive family engagement workshops. - Family Engagement and Leadership:
Workshops will reach families of color with varying intersections of identity, building their knowledge, skills, and confidence to engage in school and district systems. - Collective Advocacy Capacity:
Families, supported by trained organizers, will actively participate in advocacy opportunities — such as providing public testimony or engaging in collaborative decision-making — influencing policies and practices within Seattle Public Schools. - Strengths-Based Mindset and Systems Awareness:
Families and CBO staff will develop a shared understanding of systemic barriers, recognize and build on family expertise, and approach challenges with a strengths-based, solution-oriented perspective. - Sustainable Community Leadership:
A growing network of empowered family organizers and family leaders will be established, fostering ongoing engagement, collaboration, and influence within schools and the broader district.
Glossary
| Organizing ( CBO Partners) | Building Relationships and collective power to act together for systemic change. |
| Leadership (Families) | Developing the skills, confidence and capacity to guide, influence and support others |
| Advocacy (Collective, 2 CBO Partners + Family group) | Speaking up or taking action to influence decision-makers or policies – can be individual or collective. |