History
The Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network (PLAN)
emerged out of a two-day conference, Parents
Leading the Way Toward Stronger Communities for Children held
in Oakland in October 2003. Attracting 175 diverse participants
from throughout the Bay Area, the conference sparked a dialogue
between staff and parent leaders working in many different issue
areas—education reform, family support, child care, immigrant
rights, and other issues—about the dreams and desires, challenges
and strategies associated with achieving social justice through
parent power.
To build on the momentum generated by the conference, the conference
committee embarked on a three-month strategic planning process
to determine the need for an ongoing effort to build and support
a regional parents’ movement. The vision for the network grew
out of this process, and PLAN became a fiscally sponsored project
of the CIF
of the San Francisco Foundation in March 2004. Founding partners include Action Alliance for
Children, Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, Northern
California Citizenship Project (now Partnership for Immigrant
Leadership and Action), and Parent Services Project.

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