The Parent Empowerment Program was established in 2004 through a grant from the California Student Aid Commission. Its primary purpose is to empower parents to clearly understand how to help their children navigate the many issues related to financing higher education and attending a college or university.

The Parent Empowerment Program has allowed the Center for Educational Partnerships to fulfill its goal of supplementing student and school-centered activities with parental engage- ment that influence the extent to which parents support their student’s enrollment at baccalaureate-granting institutions. The Parent Empowerment Program is based on an eight-session curriculum focusing on higher education matters.

Since its inception, the Parent Empowerment Program has served 8,054 parents at 57 San Joaquin Valley schools. Program evaluations show that 6,260 surveyed parents nearly doubled their knowledge about higher education after participating in the program.