The award is given by the National Conference for Community and Justice to individuals or organizations promoting principles of respect and understanding among all races and cultures. Past recipients of the award include Debra A. Hensley, Brereton Jones, C.M. Newton, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing. The Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership engages parents from all races, cultures, and backgrounds and helps them become advocates for improved achievement in their children's schools. Reaching parents who have difficulty being involved in their schools is a priority of the program. For me, it has been a powerful personal experience to see all kinds of people learning and growing together.
Many parents have difficulty being involved in their children's education for various reasons.
For some, a lack of information or skills is an obstacle. To combat this problem, the institute builds confidence through its training and then supports parents as they work on reform projects in their schools. And when parents are involved, they are seeing results for their own children, and student achievement improves for the whole school. In 1997 the Prichard Committee launched the Commonwealth Institute, which trains 200 parents each year. After training, parents return to their local schools and work on projects that engage other parents in student achievement activities.