Venture Description: Our purpose is to further immigrant parents' awareness of their rights to translation and interpretation services in NYC public schools, in order to provide greater opportunities for meaningful involvement in their children's education. Through collaboration with individual schools, we hold community educational outreach events to inform parents of the availability of language access services, which enhance their ability to navigate the public school system. With the minimalization of language barriers, parents/guardians are better equipped to monitor their child's academic progress and to more effectively advocate on his or her behalf.

Venture Origin: We became united in our deep commitment to education issues through our Immigrant Rights course. Each of us has experience working in NYC public schools through the America Reads program. We have all witnessed the challenges faced by English Language Learners and their parents, and thus, felt compelled to contribute a solution to this issue.

Innovation: Through our hands-on approach of detailed surveying, we are able to address the needs in a specific school community, regardless of demographic differences. We let our target population shape the needs of our program and the focus of our workshops. We seek to involve the community at every level, from parents, to volunteer teenagers, to youth partipating in our arts workshops.

Impact: Even though we have very recently received our seed grant, we have already gathered the committed support of over 100 college-age volunteers, a donated office space, and community contacts, from which we are currently building relationships. We are beginning by proactively seeking out a single school to initiate a pilot program. We hope to find in our periodic surveying an increased awareness and use of language services in the individual school.

Engagement with the community: We have established a number of vital relationships. NICE, another CBO has provided office space and the expertise of their director. We also have the support of Words Beyond Borders, Queens College and committed student volunteers, all of which will provide translation services. Our fundraising will involve the entire community, through projects led by local artists and youth.

Impact and engagement progress since launch: We have already established the foundation from which we will begin our work within our pilot school. We are in the process of developing ideas for our community workshops, which will educate immigrant parents on their legal rights within the education system. We are also developing our surveying method, which we will use to gauge our progress and the ever-changing needs of a given community.

Impact and engagement strategy: We have recognized the need to recruit high school volunteers, who either are interested in immigrant rights or a future career in education. These volunteers will potentially serve as staff as our initiative grows. In addition, we believe that our mission will expand through community networks of participants in our program, which will eventually maximize our community impact.

Awards: We have not won any awards at this time, due to a very recent start.

Money raised: We have already received donated office space and materials from NICE. We also are actively seeking methods to appeal to city agencies and corporations to match our seed grant.

Creative ways of raising resources: Our main fundraiser will be a gala, at which artwork of local artists and youth will be auctioned to sustain our finances. We are also accepting donations at our community workshops for child care and refreshments. In the future, we may offer ESL classes supported by member fees.

Expansion plan for next 6 months: We will begin by visiting our pilot school and establishing relationships with administrators, parents, teachers and parent coordinators. We will determine the school's need for language services based on surveys, and will begin holding workshops.

Plans for sustaining the project: The aforementioned funding strategies, collaborations and volunteer database will all contribute to PIVE's sustainability. Through detailed recordkeeping of our success, we hope to apply for future grants that will enable us to expand even further.

Vision for three years from now: In three years, we hope to have expanded to other schools in other communities and to have empowered hundreds of immigrant parents to become involved in their child's education through language services. This will inevitably lead to greater immigrant participation in the educational system, lower drop-out rates and greater enrollment in higher educational institutions for immigrant communities.

Project impact: Our initiative creates a crucial step toward the success of New York City's new immigrant families and their children, who are the first to be educated in America, by nurturing the relationship between parents and the educational process. Because parents will have confidence in their ability to effectively communicate their needs for language access in an academic setting, they will be able to more actively participate in the educational process while still working to attain English fluency. Their children will then feel empowered, supported and have the strength to dream bigger and reach higher because barriers caused by language will no longer inhibit their path to success.

Youth Venture movement - what it means and how you can contribute: Youth Venture's mission to promote social entrepreneurship among young people will ensure continuation of social justice into future generations. We are honored to be a part of this movement. We also believe that engaging our peers is essential to the future of community activism. For this reason, we will strive to engage youth of all ages in PIVE's work. This will allow young people of all backgrounds to participate in a movement that fights for equal access to one of our most important societal institutions, our schools. This corps of volunteers will obtain valuable experience that will help them shape a successful future. We will also encourage and assist our volunteers in applying for Youth Venture grants to fund their own initiatives. Whether they choose to bring PIVE's message to another school or community, or wish to explore another interest, we would gladly serve as allies and advisors to their efforts.