DEAR DR. FOURNIER: I was just reading your article on parenting and I agree basically with your approach. With no parenting-qualifying degrees, my late husband and I raised four offspring. We've been proud of them as adults.
I have seen the problems, and the problems are those parents and grandparents who don't have a clue that we should be in charge -- or how to be in charge -- of bringing about responsible adults.
I am currently volunteering on a project here in Little Rock, Ark., with the Children's Defense Fund to host a summit on the "cradle to prison pipeline." As we outline plans, I want to do the parenting piece.
I have been trying to find money for this. What do you know of resources and/or foundations that could be helpful?
Thanks.
WHAT TO DO: First off, congratulations on your achievement. As proud as you are, your success is the result of your capacity to parent by living through disappointments, fear, pain, joy and every other emotion imaginable that every parent knows too well.
A parent is the CEO of the child's education. Or should be. But many parents and grandparents indeed don't even know where to begin.
But about your project: Look at your title. Is this a conference title that says to parents, "Come to a safe place to get the tools to parent your child to success"?
Who is your audience? Is it parents? If so, I would not go. I would know you have already prejudged me and that you think you are saving my children from me! Is your audience the very political agents who must change the laws? If so, is this for self-serving reasons -- let's save ourselves from the evildoers?
You cannot give people your shoes to walk in as the solution to all their ills. However, you could walk in theirs and find out why you were successful and they were not.
Ask yourself if you want a conference to have a platform to tell your success story, or if you want a conference so more parents can have success stories. Organizations will be hard-pressed to fund chatter sessions that make the righteous feel more righteous.
For funding organizations I suggest you research the William T. Grant Foundation and The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. In addition, refer to Education Week, online edition, March 16, 2009, "Education Philanthropy Catching a Chill as Economy Cools Charitable Giving," which includes a table of the nation's 10 wealthiest foundations. By researching each of these you may find the one that funds what you are interested in.
(Write Dr. Yvonne Fournier, Fournier Learning Strategies Inc., 5900 Poplar, Memphis, Tenn. 38119. E-mail her at drfournier(at)hfhw.net)
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