"PEN continues to make a difference to my public education experience by providing me an opportunity to meet other parents and a way to help recruit new families into PUSD."
Each year, PEN helps hundreds of families get the facts about public education, connect with schools and other parents, and become effective participants in public education in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. As a small independent grassroots network, PEN relies on volunteers, members like you who have benefited from PEN's programs and services and want to reach out and stay connected to other families that share your commitment to public education in our community.
How can I support PEN's mission?
There are many ways that you can help, and most of them do not take a big time commitment. Better yet, some of the most important things parents do to support PEN's mission are things you'd probably be doing anyway!
Volunteer Position/Task
Time Commitment
Benefits
Parent Ambassadors: Preschool, Elementary or Middle School
about 2 hours/month
Encourage more families like yours to consider public education; promote interest in your own school; stay informed
Program Volunteers
2 hours/program
connect with parents, learn something new!
Fundraising
Help with mailings - 2 hrs, 3 times/year
Donor Event team - meets monthly Dec-Marchvital to PEN, and event team meetings are fun!
Spanish Translation
1-2 hours, as needed
Help PEN reach a broader audience/td>
Photographer
Up to you!
Promote your school, make our website beautiful!
Word-of-mouth is still the way most families learn about PEN and PUSD schools, and PEN is actively seeking parent ambassadors for area preschools as well as for several elementary and middle schools. Preschool ambassadors play a crucial role in helping us reach out to new families during the fall. If you have a child in preschool or can help PEN connect with parents of young children through your neighborhood association, church, workplace or parent group, contact Susan to find out about becoming part of PEN's parent ambassador network.
Preschool Parent Ambassadors
Being a parent ambassador to your preschool is easy! Here’s what the job entails: 1) Help PEN update our list of preschool director contacts. 2) Post and distribute our fall event flyer to parents at your preschool. 3) Find out if your preschool has any parent information programs for pre-k families or any other opportunity when PEN staff or volunteers can come and make a short presentation about the resources we offer for exploring PUSD.
I can do that! Click here to email Susan for details. Be sure to tell us which preschool you can cover.
Elementary School Parent Ambassadors
If you have a child who is or will be attending a PUSD elementary school this fall, consider becoming a PEN Parent Ambassador for your school. Our goal is to establish a team of 2-4 parents at each school site who agree to be PEN contacts for that school. At the elementary school level, teams of 2-4 Parent Ambassadors will:
With 2-4 Parent Ambassadors at each school, the time commitment will be modest--a couple of hours per month per person at most. PEN staff will support our parent teams with a "tool kit" of information and materials, and regular updates to keep you well-informed. We will create a calendar on the PEN website, where you'll be able to publicize your school's events to the larger community, right alongside PEN activities and other dates and deadlines of interest to PUSD (and potential PUSD) families.
I can do that! Click here to email Susan for details. Be sure to tell us which elementary school your child(ren) attend, or will be attending, in the fall.
Middle School Parent Ambassadors
If you have a child in a PUSD middle school program, and would be willing to serve as a point of contact for prospective families interested in learning more about your school, please contact Susan@penfamilies.org.
I can do that! Click here to email Susan for details. Be sure to tell us which middle school your child attends, or will be attending, in the fall.
Volunteers are needed to help set up and sign people in at each of our five fall and 1-2 spring parent education programs. We are also looking for volunteers who can take detailed notes or produce good quality audio or video of programs for our subscribers.
Programs take place in the evening from 7-9 pm; volunteers are asked to arrive about 15 minutes early. This year our Fall program dates are tentatively scheduled for: Weds., October 6 & 13; Monday, Nov. 8 and Tues., Nov. 9; and Weds., Dec. 1 or 8. Dates and venue will be confirmed by mid-August. In addition to set-up, sign-in and note-taking, we will also be recruiting parents to participate in our elementary and middle school parent panels. Contact Susan@penfamilies.org if you are interested in helping with programs in any of these capacities!
PEN relies on contributions from members and other donors to carry out our programs and services. Volunteers are needed to help stuff envelopes for mailings three times a year (typically November, February, and June).
In December, we will put together the event team that organizes our annual donor event and silent auction. The event itself is a lot of fun, but so are the event team meetings! The event team meets about once a month between December and March, and team members spend additional time as needed to solicit silent auction donations. The donor event typically takes place at the end of March. Contact nancy@penfamilies.org if you are interested in serving on the event team for our 2011 donor event.
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PEN is committed to being a resource for all families who value public education. In addition to offering translation at our programs, we are in the process of translating our web pages and subscriber resources into Spanish. We are looking for volunteer support to help with ongoing translation needs, including occasional web-page edits, event flyers, and other materials.
Contact susan@penfamilies.org if you are able to help with occasional translation needs.
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Our new website will feature photos of kids and parents at school and engaged in school-related activities. Parents who submit photos (with permission/release) this summer will be entered into a drawing for free family movie passes. But we will continue to accept and use good photos throughout the year. Click here for more info and the photo release form, then dive into that backlog of school-year photos to see what you can come up with!
Click here to become a member of Pasadena Education Network.
COMPLETE SCHEDULE
- Looking at Elementary
- Looking at Middle School
PEN is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that depends on your contributions. Please click this button to donate today!
Join a PEN Online Discussion Group PEN offers various online discussion groups to help parents network with each other...
