TEDNA

Here.  An excerpt:

The program is gaining momentum around the country, but Wind River is the first reservation to host the program. Harris, who was a participant in the reservation’s first session, said: “PLTI gives us a voice; we learn to use our voice, we learn to speak up. We don’t express ourselves publicly a lot of times, and in this class we had to speak in front of the group on a subject near and dear to you. I have taken speaking classes in college, but this was different,” Harris said.

The program originated 25 years ago, when Connecticut’s Elaine Zimmerman was given the challenge to improve childhood education in that state. After a year of interviews and study groups, Zimmerman found that parents had great ideas for improving education but didn’t know how to put those ideas into action. Always working interracially and with underprivileged parents, Zimmerman said, “We removed barriers like childcare and held dinner meetings with parents. Parents were predictably shy, but when they began to see the event was safe, they came forward with really exciting ideas.”