Padres in Acción/
Parents in Action

Founded in 2009, Padres en Acción is a parent-led grassroots program designed to empower ethnically diverse parents to engage in school wellness policy advocacy, leadership, and communication skills. When the parents identified the need for more physical activity in their schools, KID HEALTHY partnered with Santa Ana Unified School District to pilot an innovative, parent-led structured recess that provides moderate to vigorous physical activity for students.

The Padres en Acción sessions are taught by Promotores, parents who are trained and are working and living in the same community.

• The first three meetings provide an overview of local school wellness policy requirements, how to play a more active role in the school system, and a four-step advocacy approach to pursuing policy change.

•The second two meetings focus on hands-on structured recess training- how to lead organized physical activities during recess, playground management, and how to motivate students to actively participate in the games.

•The program ends with a celebration ceremony that includes a graduation certificate and a healthy potluck meal for the parents.

Padres en Acción has been implemented in three schools and is expanding to two more schools the 2011-2012 school year. The program is currently seeking funding to expand to all 36 elementary school campuses within the Santa Ana Unified School District. KID HEALTHY has developed a curriculum that can be replicated and the training manual and parent workbook will soon be available for other school districts. KID HEALTHY staff will be able to train and provide technical assistance.

Our goal is to empower parents to be the ones encouraging students at their local schools to have fun, be active and make the most of their time at recess!

Testimonial
"The Padres en Acción program has been the best new initiative that our parent volunteers have implemented at King Elementary. The most positive outcome of implementing Padres en Acción is that the number of office referrals during the lunch period has been reduced significantly since the program began. We look forward to expanding this program next year"
-Eleanor Rodriguez, Principal Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary