Ontario is helping more parents play a vital role in public education and get involved in their children’s education through its Parent Reaching Out (PRO) grants.Applications for the 2010-11 school year are now available and will be accepted until June 11. This earlier application period compared to previous years means more projects can start at the beginning of the school year.

Last year, the government funded over 1,600 projects that:

• Identified barriers to parent involvement and found local solutions to help more parents get involved
• Translated materials to help make information more accessible to parents when English is not their first language.
• Increased parent engagement in isolated communities.
• Used workshops to show parents why engagement is important and how they could become more involved in their children’s education and school.

As part of the government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, a portion of this grant is also focused on reducing barriers faced by parents in low socio-economic areas such as language, childcare and transportation.