MISSOULA — Parents often want the best for their kids, but when it comes to changing policies or laws that will benefit youth, it’s easy to feel powerless.
The Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) is a national program that aims to teach parents and caregivers how to engage with their community to make positive change.
This January will mark Missoula’s third year of participation in PLTI.
The five-minute applications for the 2024 session, which begins on January 13, 2024, are due on December 15, 2023. Applicants will then sit down with PLTI coordinator Sam Duncan to discuss the expectations and commitment of the program.
The final 25 participants will be chosen at the end of December. PLTI — which is part of Zero to Five with United Way of Missoula County — is free of charge.
Duncan says it's meant for anyone who has a vested interest in Missoula’s youth, including grandparents, foster parents or those who work with kids.
“Really, it's just 25 folks who want to prioritize improving the well-being of young people and families– most people are parents, but definitely not everybody,” Duncan says.
The five-month program is composed of 10 bi-weekly classroom sessions, including a full-day retreat on January 13. Every class is held at the Missoula County Public Library. The first half of the sessions are focused on diversity training and learning how to work with people of different backgrounds, including fellow participants.
“Our cohort is intentionally as diverse as we can possibly make it,” Duncan says. “We want to reflect all the different kinds of diversity in Missoula, and so that includes political, that includes racial, gender, diversity, all of these things, you know– economic diversity. It's definitely not partisan, it's just folks who care about kids who want to make change, so you're sure to run into people who have different ideas than you and that's how democracy works, so we think that's a good thing.”
The second half of the program is similar to Civics 101, according to Duncan. Parents learn about how different branches of the government work and how their activism can fit into that. They also learn about localized processes like school budgeting and media coverage.
Duncan encourages anyone with a desire to affect change to apply.
“I would say that there's not one PLTI type of person,” they say. “We have folks who come in who are the president of the PTA and who've been doing state-level advocacy or whatever. And then we have folks who never would have thought of themselves as a leader. But if you have a stake in this game, if you care about young people and if you see issues that are impacting their well-being, then PLTI can be for you. You are an expert in your lived experience, and in the barriers that you and your kids face. and that's who we want in our classroom.”
While PLTI is a five-month-long commitment, Zero to Five is mindful of the participants’ family responsibilities.
To accommodate, they offer free child care during all the sessions, whether it’s on-site at the library, or a stipend for at-home care. They also provide meals for parents and kids during the classroom sessions, plus free transportation to and from the library.
“We do our best to make the program accessible and truly build it around parents and families and children,” Duncan says.
PLTI has been teaching curriculum nationally for over 30 years, but the 2024 session will be Missoula’s third.
Applications can be found here.
