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.