Making A Difference

A Parent’s Guide to Advocacy and Community Action – authored by Diane Charnov with Carolyn Rutsch as editor. Commissioned by Children’s Resource International – a non-profit organization in Washington, DC dedicated to improving the quality of educational experiences for children and their families in the United States and internationally.

Ms. Charnov analyzed hundreds of reports and was tasked with presenting a book that outlined concrete ways to support the needs of children at home, school, and in their communities through a step-by-step “how to” plan that outlined how to be an advocate for one’s child, improve one’s community and interact successfully with local schools, businesses and government agencies to improves services for outcomes. This work outlined specific steps to guide readers to recognize issues such as the importance of taking action, how to get started, collaborating with other stakeholders in the community, forming action groups, sustaining momentum and celebrating successes in order to continue to improve the understanding of needs for additional services and enhanced collaboration among students, their families, educators and administrators for positive community outcomes.