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‘Time for parents to really assert their power.’ How Kilolo Moyo-White puts parents first

  • January 13, 2021
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‘Time for parents to really assert their power.’ How Kilolo Moyo-White puts parents first

Adria R. Walker, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Kilolo Moyo-White believes in centering parents’ voices.

After moving to Rochester from Pennsylvania last August, Moyo-White joined ROC the Future’s Parent Engagement Collaborative Action Network (PECAN) as a parent leader.

A year later, she joined ROC the Future’s staff as the family and community engagement specialist.

In this capacity, Moyo-White has already facilitated multiple programs and events.

Most recently, the organization held a celebration of parents. The event featured a trivia game, music and was a celebration and acknowledge of all of the work members put in last year.

With all that 2020 encompassed, it was not an easy year for most parents and families. A bright spot was PECAN’s ability to both connect parents and families with each other and with resources.

“We do see a lot of great community resources where the community is coming together and supporting those people who are in need and having struggles,” Moyo-White said. “We just have to reach out and be able to access those resources. We share a lot of that on our PECAN Facebook page and (by) tapping into other parent networks.”

When RCSD was online last semester, and with social distancing being the safest and most responsible thing for people who are able to do so, Moyo-White said that parents relied heavily upon their various networks. She said that some created learning pods with their neighbors, while others worked through the art centers and others still utilized library book-share programs. PECAN shares ideas and opportunities with parents and caregivers.

In her role as family and community engagement specialist, Moyo-White continues to serve and work with PECAN, the first organization she joined in the city. She makes sure to point out that, even in this new capacity, she is not PECAN’s leader.

PECAN’s vision and goals are guided, she says, by the priorities and needs of the parents, while Roc the Future supports them. For instance, when parents set and form public meetings, Moyo-White supports them by facilitating, coordinating the meetings or ensuring that fliers and resources are distributed. She says that about 50% of her role is to focus on PECAN as a support staff member of Roc the Future.

“I don’t have a strategic plan (for PECAN) because it’s not about what my plan is. I’m not the director of PECAN… I am a parent leader, now a ROC the Future staff member, that is supporting the initiative that PECAN pushes,” Moyo-White said.

Kilolo Moyo-White

This doesn’t mean, however, that PECAN doesn’t have a strategic plan. It does. PECAN’s plans and goals are simply guided by the parents as a collective, and not by one individual.

According to Moyo-White, one of PECAN’s goals is to insure that parents, and often youth, are involved in all discussions about what impacts children. She said that every meeting about children’s futures or about things that impact children should include parents so that parents’ needs and wants for their children are taken into consideration.

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