Over the past few months, the IRC has been highlighting teachers working with multicultural, multilingual students who are going above and beyond. This is part of our companion series celebrating parent and community leaders who are advocating for multilingual students. Meet Adriana Bravo, a parent and BPAC member from Minooka District 201.
Adriana Bravo has been building community alongside other multilingual parents since her daughters were in preschool. Now, her oldest is beginning her first year of high school, and her motivation to advocate for parents is as strong as ever.
“I love to be involved,” she says. “It’s very important for parents to be involved in their kids’ school. We have to make sure not only that they’re successful by getting ourselves involved in their schools. As a parent, I always make time to attend school events and BPAC workshops. I am a small business owner and am a very busy mom, and this doesn’t stop me from getting involved in my daughter’s school and making sure my three kids are successful and supported.”
Bravo and her family moved to Joliet two years ago, but prior to that, she collaborated with CPS schools and principals to help families in need and empower newcomers to get involved with their children’s education. She worked with principals around the Belmont Cragin community to ensure newcomers received what they needed to thrive, including setting up drives and donations for essential items for the families like clothes and school supplies, and inspiring parents to get involved in their children’s schools. “I am passionate about connecting families and school communities,’’ she says. “It started small, but then got bigger.”
Now in Minooka, Bravo is continuing her outreach with newcomers, donating clothes, working with the BPAC to create school supply kits and mentoring newcomer parents so they feel welcomed and affirmed in the school community. She says the BPAC hosts workshops for newcomer and long-time district families about topics that are important to them and their kids’ education. The BPAC community sends out surveys so that parents and community members can share what kinds of programming and support would be beneficial to meeting their needs and their families and communities.
“The kids not only get a better education, but the families get informed, and when they get involved, they can make a difference in their children’s education,” Bravo says. “We provide them with whatever they need to make sure their kids are successful in their schools.”
Bravo encourages her fellow parents to get and stay involved by attending school activities, and stresses the importance of educators and administrators keeping the lines of communication open. She says she understands that there are safety concerns that limit access and that administration has limited capacity during the school day, but that creating those connections and building that understanding is important
“We want to help principals to understand and be able to communicate what they really expect from parents,” she says.
