Research shows that when Black families have resources and support, their children perform better both inside and outside the classroom in K-12 schools. Research also shows that the effects of systemic racism — from redlining to segregated schools to the lack of Black teachers — contributes to stubborn academic disparities between Black children and their white counterparts.
Bridging that achievement gap, experts say — and ensuring their kids get the best possible education — often comes down to whether Black parents can advocate on behalf of their children in a public school system that’s often stacked against them. It can be a tough ask, though, for households in which one or both parents have substance abuse issues, if violence is commonplace, or if there’s just one parent at home, struggling to make ends meet.
That’s where Dr. Bahia Overton, executive director of the nonprofit Black Parent Initiative, can help.
“People think that everybody starts from the same place,” says Overton, a social worker, facilitator, researcher and expert on the Black family. “Some people think everybody has an equal opportunity just to raise your children well, and unfortunately, it ignores disparities and historical policies, practices, laws, and things that have been discriminatory that put people where they are.”
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Based in Portland, Oregon, BPI works to support and empower Black families, from pregnancy through their child’s school years and beyond, with a simple but effective approach: strengthen parents and children through specific, targeted, “culturally relevant” education and support programs based on the Black American experience.
Founded in 2006, BPI was initially centered around strengthening education in Portland. Overton became executive director in 2020 and since then continues to build Black families up to be the best caregivers they can, from birth all the way to getting your child through college.
“We believe that the children and families we serve are inherently capable, brilliant and beautiful, though social service systems have historically neglected to center on their strengths, wisdom, promise and expertise,” according to the organization’s website. “At BPI, we are inspired by our love for our families, and the communities we serve. The key to our success is how effective we are in deepening our relationships with them.”
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When Black families have to navigate systems and bureaucracies like schools and social service agencies, it’s not uncommon for some to lack a clear idea how to push for what their children might need. But that knowledge can be important: studies show educators and school administrators often view Black children negatively — more likely to declare them discipline problems or intellectually disabled — when compared to their white peers.
“I think they’re quick to label our children as ADHD,” Overton says. “There are a lot of children of color who have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder that is misdiagnosed. (FAS) also mimics the symptoms of ADHD, and so they provide them with ADHD medication” rather than seek out a more detailed medical diagnosis.
Other kids may be struggling with problems at home, like poverty, neglect, living in an unsafe neighborhood or in an unsafe household, Overton says. And if a child’s family is not on solid ground, she says, it could be difficult for a parent to effectively go to bat for them at school.
“Families have to be stable in order to come from a place of being able to be advocates,” Overton says. “There’s so many other factors that go into becoming an effective parent, and then also an effective advocate for their children to thrive in school.”
BPI programs can help parents get the skill or knowledge they lack, such as classes to sharpen parenting skills to a template for parents to write an effective letter to school officials on the best way to interact with their child.
“We created the letter for parents to send to teachers so that they could set the tone for their expectations,” Overton says. A simple letter, she says, not only helps educators better understand a child’s needs and set realistic expectations but also helps set students up for success.
“Sending a letter to the teachers and cc’ing the principal” gives them insight on a child that they may not get from classroom interactions alone, Overton says. The letter, she says, can include tips like “how your child is to be reminded when they’re off-task and how they wouldn’t like to be reminded when they’re off-task.”
The letter, she says, could even serve as a way to divert children from the schools-to-prison pipeline by “identifying that your expectation is that no school resource officer or any other law-enforcement will be engaged with your child without the parents consent or presents,” Overton says.
Building Education Advocates
While the BPI understands that it’s common for Black women to head single-parent households, Overton wants to dispel the narratives about absent Black fathers disengaged from their child’s education.
“I recognize this organization, and others like it, has historically been very mother-centric as most social service agencies are,” Overton says. “We’ve partnered with three organizations, Black Men in Training, Black Men’s Wellness and We Are 4 Fathers” to help Black men become more present, engage with their children’s education and advocate for them when necessary.
“Our kind of philosophy is that we have everything that we need to thrive,” Overton says. “Except the fact that we have barriers that have been put in front of us.”