This article explores the emergence of La Familia Initiative, a Latino parent-organizing project at a public middle school. Motivated by their urgency to improve their children's schooling and enhance their opportunities for a better high school experience in the future, the participants organize to establish a more inclusive partnership with the school. The paper examines the foundation of the project's success, as well as the dynamics of participation taking place as these parents begin to organize independently of the school, with the goal of achieving a more active voice in the education of their children, and thus in the school community. The paper also investigates how families and communities, who have been traditionally under-served by the educational system, can participate effectively in the education of their children when the conditions for their involvement are facilitated, and their culture and particular ways of participating are validated and developed. Parent empowerment projects open symbolic spaces of leadership and participation in school and in society and have the potential to become valuable exercises in grassroots democracy and community self-determination.

This study examines the process of parent engagement at three community and school-based parent participation projects involving Latino immigrant families in California. Through the participants' testimonios, the study investigates the motivations and interactions contextualizing their leadership development, participation, and organizing activities as well as the significance of their emerging school activism on other aspects of their lives. Specifically, the study explores the notions of tequío and women-led activism, seen as critical to understanding the participants' engagement process and to increase the level and quality of Latino parent participation in schools, maximizing its positive impact on their children's education and life prospects.

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