This landscape analysis shows that parent leadership groups are widespread throughout the U.S., in all 50 states plus Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. They range in scope from neighborhood-based to national. They engage a racially diverse population, most commonly Black and Latinx parents, and many engage parent leaders whose first language is not English. Findings from the landscape analysis point to important and unique strengths of parent leadership organizations as well as areas for growth, noted in the implications below.

Implications for Practice, Policy, Philanthropy

This landscape analysis shows that parent leadership groups are widespread throughout the U.S., in all 50 states plus Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. They range in scope from neighborhood-based to national. They engage a racially diverse population, most commonly Black and Latinx parents, and many engage parent leaders whose first language is not English. Findings from the landscape analysis point to important and unique strengths of parent leadership organizations as well as areas for growth, noted in the implications below. 

• Robust leadership development includes multiple forms of support.
• Parent leadership organizations are a critical part of racial justice movements, and must be resourced accordingly.
• Opportunities exist for parent leadership organizations to engage more youth, men, and LGBTQ+ communities.

• Parent leadership development should continue to be recognized and resourced as a movement led by women of color.

• Authentic parent leadership requires more flexible funding opportunities.

Robust Leadership Development includes multiple forms of support

Importantly, parent leadership organizations do much more than leadership development. For example, they offer parenting support, advice on supporting children’s academic development, and support with basic needs, finances, and mental health. These findings reinforce existing qualitative literature illustrating how parent leadership organizations not only strengthen civic engagement and democracy but also strengthen families (Cossyleon, 2018; Geller et al., 2019). The findings also align with a broader literature on the importance of community organizing to be “healing- centered,” (Ginwright, 2018; Jimenez et al., 2019) or “transformative” for participants beyond explicit policy goals (Cossyleon & Geller 2022; Ito et al., 2014).

The data presented in  this  report  provides  further  evidence  of  how  parent leadership organizations, across the U.S. and across issue areas, are meeting   individual and family needs while  also  strengthening  communities  and  building power. Too often, scarce resources in the nonprofit sector pit community organizing groups against service providers (Garcia et al., 2020). Community organizing proponents sometimes argue that service provision is merely a bandage that does not get to the root of needed systemic changes. Others argue that people cannot be civically engaged unless their basic needs are met. Our findings instead illustrate the scale at which parent leadership organizations exercise holistic engagement, meeting basic needs while also organizing for structural and systemic change.

Parent leadership organizations are a critical part of racial justice movements and must be resourced accordingly

The overwhelming majority of organizations reported intentionally emphasizing racial justice. Systemic racism, particularly anti-Black racism, permeates every facet of life in the U.S. It undermines basic human rights, including rights to housing, healthcare, a high-quality education, safety, and even clean air and water. By focusing on racial justice, parent leadership organizations can build power to dismantle racist systems and imagine new possibilities for justice. However, organizational racial justice work is challenging and often comes with both intragroup conflict and external resistance (Chen & Gorski, 2015; Ito et al., 2014). Through a racial equity peer learning community we facilitate with four parent leadership organizations across the U.S., we learned that effective racial justice work takes ample time, resources, skill, and constant relationship- and trust-building (Perez et al., 2022). These efforts thus need adequate funding, time to take root, and support and training for those leading them.

Opportunities exist for parent leadership organizations to engage more youth, men, and LGBTQ+ communities

Focus groups and open-ended survey data illustrate a strong desire to engage young people more in parent leadership and organizing activities, as well as beliefs that doing so would yield benefits. However, obstacles included not having staff with the skills for youth development, lack of funding, possible bias toward adult voice, and the lingering effects of Covid on engaging young people to meet in person. When feasible, partnerships between parent leadership organizations and youth leadership organizations can help to address these barriers. In the next phase of this research, we plan to document lessons from organizations that build intergenerational power.

Additionally, the overwhelming majority of organizations reported engaging only a few men. Women are under-represented in elected office and political careers, as well as in leadership roles in academia, business, law, religion, etc. (Kawashima-Ginsberg & Thomas, 2013). Parent leadership groups offer women opportunities to gain civic and political skills, confidence, and networks. They also can offer welcoming spaces for women who have felt marginalized in traditional organizing spaces. On the other hand, women disproportionately engage in unpaid labor at home and in the organizing field (Cossyleon & Geller, 2022). Meanwhile, fathers often feel excluded from school or community spaces designed for parents (Davison et al., 2017; Doucet, 2011). Black and Latinx men in particular are dangerously stereotyped as uncaring fathers. Thus, deliberate efforts to engage father leaders can work to ensure they feel welcomed and also alleviate the burden on mothers.

Finally, the majority of organizations noted that they serve either no or only a few parents who identify as non-binary or transgender. Furthermore, sexual orientation justice and transgender justice were two of the three least common issues addressed by leadership development programs. Given the ubiquity of dangerous anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, policies, and violence— particularly toward LGBTQ+ communities of color —providing safe spaces for LGBTQ+ communities and building allyship is a critical next step for justice-oriented organizations. 

Parent leadership development should continue to be recognized and resourced as a national movement led by women of color

Many community organizing and parent leadership organizations are linked in national coalitions and alliances through organizations such as the United Parent Leaders Action Network, Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, and Faith in Action.

Networks and coalitions allow organizations to focus on local issues while learning from one another and building power on national issues. Still, there is eagerness for further connections and for groups to learn from one another (Perez et al., 2022). Survey respondents noted they wished to connect with other parent leadership organizations on general networking, creating systems of support for BIPOC families, campaigns related to their issue areas, base building, or fundraising/ development and more.

The Parent Power Map and Directory we created with portions of the survey results enables searching groups by state, issue area, key word, demographic information, and organizational name. We hope that the directory will encourage parent leadership organizations to connect across these areas. We also hope that funders and policymakers will use the directory to find organizations that align with their geographic foci and issue areas. As Mike White from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation mentioned in a focus group: “what philanthropy doesn’t know about doesn’t get funded.”

For parent leadership to grow into a truly national movement, our findings suggest that deeper geographic representation is needed. While we acknowledge that not all parent leadership groups took the survey, and we likely missed many grassroots groups in particular, some states seem to have fewer organizations than expected based on their population, while some have more. For example, Connecticut has 17 organizations despite being the 29th most populous state, whereas Texas has only 9 parent leadership organizations despite being the 2nd most populous state. Arizona, Tennessee, and Georgia also have much smaller representation compared to their populations.

Authentic parent leadership requires more flexible funding opportunities

Parent leaders shared that they would like the freedom to work on the issue areas that matter most to them, rather than being bound to funders’ priorities. Families’ experiences transcend narrow issues and siloed systems, and parents often find that when their community organizing begins with one issue then quickly ripples into other related issue areas (Cossyleon & Geller, 2022; Hong, 2011). For example, Malia Ramler from the Heising Simons Foundation, which focuses on early childhood education, discussed how grantees shared that “one of the barriers to being funded by a foundation like you is we’re always going to follow the lead of our parents, so the issues that matter to you may not necessarily over time be most salient for our parents.” She went on to describe the Foundation’s response:

"So that sort of tension required us make our peace with the idea that if an organizing group had a constituency that included parents who were in whatever way that made sense to them acting in the interest of their children, that unrestricted funding that strengthened the sector and strengthened parent priority voice, whatever that priority voice was, was going to be in a bigger picture good for communities, therefore good for families, and in some way that we couldn’t really tie a direct thread to, good for educational outcomes, and just really make our peace with that.”

They now aim to listen less for “what the agenda is and more for what that process is.”

Read Directions for Future Research Section