Summarize a conversation when it starts feeling messy or bogged down. To re-energize a group, change something in the meeting. Take a break, circulate the cookies, work in pairs or independently for a while, move on to another agenda item and then come back to the item. Raising the money was important but even more rewarding to Ofelia Sanchez who assisted the project was the jovial interaction between parents, families and the school administration. As a PCRC community developer attached to the Healthy Start program at Taft, Ofelia's primary job is helping to connect parents with the school to enhance children's learning.
Mothers work in the home, teachers work in the school.
A case in point is a Saturday communication workshop at Hoover that gives parents the skills to support their children's self esteem. Working with parents is a slightly different perspective which she also enjoys. Her own parents came to California from Mexico and Panama. Before her current position, Ofelia worked in the Healthy Start program at Hoover school. No stranger to the neighborhood, she attended Woodside High School after moving here from Mexico.