By David N. Roach

During this covid-19 pandemic, one thing is for sure, the earth is small and we are all connected.  But, while we are being advised to “separate,” keep a physical “distance” let us organize governance in our community to increase local development from our communities up.

Local governance from the communities up is the main agenda of Familyhood.

Familyhood defines schools as the center for the communities development.

Familyhood is driven by two motto’s:

1) The Friends of School Motto- Which states, “every school shall have a functioning Student Government Association, Parent Teacher Association and Alumni Association and 2) The Mo’ Better Food Motto- which states, “every school have a garden, a farmers market and a grocery store.”

In essence, Familyhood is the collaboration of the Student Government Association, Parent Teacher Association and Alumni Association. Together, these school based organizations plan, operate and own their schools garden, their schools farmers market and eventually their schools grocery store.

The “do now” strategy for Familyhood is 1st Saturdays.
1st Saturdays defines the 1st Saturday of each month as the official monthly volunteer day at schools. A day, once a month, to volunteer at the schools garden and  share/hear updates from each of schools based organization.

How can you get involved?
You can get involved several ways. From volunteering with us every day, to attending a 1st Saturday volunteer day in your community. The sky is the limit.
To best navigate your involvement  in Familyhood, the first step is to learn more.
I wrote a short E-book called “Familyhood and its “do now strategy 1st Saturdays” to give a general understanding of Familyhood. Please read it. I am offering it as a free download.

After reading  the E-book Familyhood and its “do now strategy 1st Saturdays”, fill- out the on-line form here: http://www.1stsaturdays.com/start/

After submitting your form, we will be in touch with you.

Before I conclude this post, I want to delve a little deeper into Familyhood and how you can get involved.

Familyhood is an inter-generational strategy. Which means, if you are a child, there is a role for you. If you are an adult, there is role for you. if you are an elder, there is a role for you.

In short, the role for the child or student is to join their Student Government Association. The role for the adult and elder are the same, either join the Parent Teacher Association, Alumni Association or Friends of School.

How to join your schools Student Government Association, Parent Teacher Association and Alumni Association varies at every school site. In fact, some schools have these organizations functioning  but still, many schools do not.

To advocate for all schools to have Student Government Associations, Parent Teacher Associations and Alumni Associations functioning and vibrant at their schools and communities we emphasized the need for all schools to have them, by having the Friends of School motto as part of our mission.

As a former high school Student Government / Leadership instructor, I can tell you what communities or rather, schools in those communities that do not have students learning how to meet, how to govern. These communities tend to be the disenfranchised ones. Communities where a group of young folks gathering are called gangs, when they should be called   Councils because the schools trained them to see the value . These communities, often called
After The ones where the people who live there have never been able to govern

In short, If you are not a student, a parent,  nor an alumni of the school in your community, but want to get involved,  on the on-line form  click  ” Friends of School”  to join us in promoting all schools to have their governance functioning and working in collaboration.

In short, Friends of schools are individuals and organizations that function as friends of the school, in particular, the school’s Familyhood. We could argue all day about what a friend is.  The main role of :The Friend of School” is to promote and to protect these school -based organizations to function and thrive.

In theory, the big head image of faces (used with this post)  represents intelligence of a school the school was able to teach and retain. In short, its present and past students, parents and community partners. For example, some of the faces are students. Some are parents. Some are Alumni/ Alumnae. Familyhood promotes schools to expand their role by bringing these three main school based organizations together for the benefit of the school and its surrounding community.

Once these organizations are functioning and in collaboration, The community will benefit economically and socially from the increased engagement of the communities local residents Familyhood promotes. Since, children tend to attend schools close to where they live, Familyhood says, it is a strategy from the children up!

In service, ,
David N. Roach

Co-founder, The Familyhood Connection
Follow:
Twitter.com/familyhood ,
Twitter.com/1stSaturdays
Twitter.com/Friendsofschool
Twitter.com/mobetterfood