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Our Start |
Our Founder |
Our Board |
Our Supporters
How We Got Started
When ParentsWork founder, Rhonda Present, became a mom, it was as if she had the best of both
worlds - the ability to care for her daughter at home while also continuing her career with a
respected nonprofit organization. But, even with a family-friendly employer and a job that
offered a flexible, part-time schedule and the ability to work from home, Rhonda found herself
dealing with many of the pressures today's parents face in juggling work and family life.
Finding quality, dependable child care, having to miss work when her child was ill, and making
ends meet with less income are just some of the challenges she and her family faced.
Rhonda knew from her experience as an advocate for low-income parents, that they had a lot of
the same frustrations. But, like middle class moms and dads, they had to struggle on their
own to figure out a solution. What if parents had a way to come together and voice their
concerns? Could they get the time and resources they need to be good parents? These were
the questions that led Rhonda to start ParentsWork.
She was also inspired by a book, The War Against Parents, which talked about how different
forces - in our society and economy - are making it harder for us to raise our children and
called for a parents' "movement" to bring about change. Based on a poll that was taken to
learn more about parents' political priorities, the book also reported that the majority of
parents were in favor of creating an organization, similar to the American Association of
Retired Persons (AARP), to give them a collective voice.
Rhonda discovered that there were already many wonderful support networks for parents (like
mothers of multiples, stay-at-home dads, or home schoolers), advisory councils and
parent-teacher organizations at public and private schools, social service agencies dedicated
to helping parents with everything from employment to child care, and advocacy groups pushing
for policies to improve the lives of children and families.
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