Education Conference planned to organize for school reform

The group is looking for a more collaborative effort on education issues.

YOUNGSTOWN — ACTION, an alliance of 25 congregations and community groups working to address social justice issues in the Mahoning Valley, will hold an Education Conference at 7 p.m. Monday at Choffin Career & Technical Center, 200 E. Wood St.

Some 200 parents, teachers, faith and community leaders are expected to participate.

The conference is designed as an attempt to better link faith institutions with schools, increase parent involvement and look at some of the overarching problems facing public schools.

This is a new initiative for ACTION based on a national model of community organizing for school reform.

The group believes that a more collaborative effort is needed in the Valley to raise the bar of education achievement.

“In our experience, you can’t change the quality of a school without changing parental expectations,” said Kirk Noden, lead organizer for the conference.  “This conference is about bringing together grass-roots people and investing in their development as leaders.”

The conference will be broken into two parts — a panel discussion on some of the challenges facing public education, and a series of workshops with education leaders from the Valley and across the country on such topics as: creating a safe school environment, 21st-century learning centers, organizing a parent association and accessing funds for programs and projects.

The conference will be preceded by a cultural performance and refreshments at 6:30 p.m.

ACTION’s mission is to build a multiethnic, multiracial, interfaith organization of congregations and other organizations to develop strategies to reduce poverty, create safe and stable neighborhoods and improve the quality of life in the Mahoning Valley.