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(JACKSON, MS, Jan. 12, 2022) Parents for Public Schools® (PPS) is pleased to announce that it is a 2021 recipient of a Women’s Foundation of Mississippi grant. The $5,000 grant will be used to fund PPS’s Parent Engagement Program-Graduation Ready (PEP-Graduation Ready).

PEP-Graduation Ready is one of three curricula offered by PPS. The others being PEP-Parent Leadership and PEP-Early Childhood Development. The goal of the Parent Engagement Program (PEP) is to provide parents information and guidance to help them become more effective advocates for their children’s education.

PEP-Graduation Ready is a dual generation program for middle school students and their parents/guardians. The focus of the program is to raise awareness of the various pathways to high school graduation and to ensure alignment between the students’ post high school plans and the courses they take.  PPS National Executive Director, Joann Mickens, says, “We are very pleased that the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi recognizes the value of the work we do to promote parent engagement. Parent engagement really is the key to student success.”

About Parents for Public Schools

The mission of Parents for Public Schools is to advance the role of families and communities in securing a high-quality public education for every child. Its network of community-based chapters works to address public education issues at the local, state, and federal levels. Located throughout the country, PPS chapters are responsible for grassroots advocacy that ensures parents’ voices are included when education decisions are made. At the present time, PPS has 12 chapters in nine states. Four chapters are located in Mississippi where PPS was founded, and other chapters stretch from Hawaii to New York state.

For more information about PPS, contact Joann Mickens, Executive Director, at 601-969-6936, or jmickens@parents4publicschools.org; visit our website, (www.parents4publicschools.org), or follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/PPSNational/), Twitter (@PPS_National) and Instagram (@PPS_National).

About the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi 

The mission of the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi is economic security for women. Originally a fund housed at the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson, the Women’s Foundation has been an independent 501(c)(3) since 2008. In that time, the Foundation has awarded more than $5 million in grants benefiting nonprofits, programs, and educational institutions across Mississippi. Learn more about the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi by visiting our website at www.womensfoundationms.org.