ACC offers parent educational opportunities throughout the school year including summer parent education courses.
ACC engages parents in various ways to support them and empower them with tools to help their children at home. This year ACC is working with Cargill grant monies to support an Early Child Nutrition program. ACC has partnered with the University of Minnesota Health and Nutrition Programs SNAP to provide parent workshops. This year we continued with the theme “Cooking Matters.” Maria Thorsten is the lead educator who has been working with parents to support their learning. ACC hired a Health Coach to work with Maria to teach him how to carry on with these classes after the grant period is over. ACC offered 3 sessions covering 5 workshops on the following topics:
- The importance of good nutrition for your children
- How to plan healthy meals on a budget?
- How to make healthy choices when eating out?
- Appropriate serving sizes
- Groceries store field trip
Parents who participate and complete the 5 workshops will attend a graduation celebration and receive a certificate of completion. Sixteen parents attended the first session in the fall. The University of Minnesota requires keeping small class sizes to ensure that all parents are provided the attention and support needed. Two more sessions will be completed in the New Year. In addition to parents, ACC is providing staff health and wellness classes and training from community partners.
ACC was awarded a $50,000 grant by Ramsey County to engage the Latino community in active living and healthy eating. This grant promotes parent and scholars participating in similar physical and nutrition activities. PE with parent was a new activity implemented last year. In addition ACC opened its doors to engage the Latino community at large by providing opportunities to participate in physical activities at ACC such as Zumba classes, soccer and walking club. On Saturdays, the Health Coach led nutrition classes.
Comité de Padres y Comunidad (ACC Parent Committee)
Last year the Committee de Padres y Comunidad met monthly. The Committee set new goals to partner with student council and to fund raise and support school programs. The committee worked with student council to organize movie nights, valentine dance and support other cultural events at ACC. At the end of the year the CPC raised $3309.20 in 2017 and $1840 in 2016.
The CPC committee members provided help for the Annual Meeting and helped to collect and organize food for the Thanksgiving food baskets that are distributed to families. Representatives of the committee had a display table during the November conference. This was a strategy to show visibility and an opportunity to recruit new parents. The committee also provided teachers with dinner at one of the conference nights. In December, they helped to organize costumes for the holiday program, they decorated the stage, and helped to serve Mexican sweet pastries and Hot Mexican chocolate to guests. They also volunteered hours to organize the items that were collected for the families that applied for holiday help.
Community Resource Center
The Community Resource Center is a beautifully decorated space for families, staff, Community Based Organization and Partners to use for meetings, and providing services for ACC’s families. ACC’s Community Resource Center is a safe space used weekly to accommodate family’s needs in a culturally and relevant manner. ACC partners with other organizations to bring resources and support onsite. We believe that providing educational programs and connect families to resources and services build a strong community.