Connecticut Commission on Children - 2007 PLTI Graduation

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PLTI Class of 2007
Diplomas for 150 New Parent Leaders from Across Connecticut

This was one graduation ceremony where the children sat in the audience while the parents received diplomas.

The 150 parents, grandparents, and adoptive parents who gathered on June 20, 2007, at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford took their diplomas from the Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI), a family civics initiative of the Commission on Children.

More graduation photos

More about PLTI

PLTI helps parents become leaders in their communities by requiring them to meet one night a week for 20 weeks. During that time, they:

gain a better understanding of their personal history and its impact on leadership;
become more comfortable with diversity across people and opinions;
hone their communication skills, including public speaking, and acquire media advocacy skills;
learn research, needs-assessment, problem-solving, and planning techniques;
develop an understanding of program budgets, policy and law; and
complete community civics projects that address health, safety, and education issues.

The Commission on Children, state business leaders, and the American Leadership Forum
founded PLTI 15 years ago, after two things became apparent: 1) that too many parents lacked the skills to get involved in civic affairs, and 2) that these parents desperately wanted to get involved.

With the Class of 2007, PLTI has produced more than 1,600 parent leaders across Connecticut. This class also reflects the addition of two new PLTI sites, in New Britain and Windsor, as well as the 10th anniversaries of two others, in Danbury and Bridgeport. Other PLTI sites include East Hartford, Meriden, Middlesex County, Norwalk, Stamford, and Waterbury.

The ceremonies included presentation of the 2007 Robert Haller Memorial Award to the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund.

Photo Gallery
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge

The PLTI Class of 2007 begins its procession into the LOB atrium. Master of Ceremonies Doug Edwards, himself a 2006 PLTI graduate, leads the way. PLTI Director Dawn Homer-Bouthiette addresses the parents. It's not often that children watch their parents graduate.

Commission on Children Executive Director Elaine Zimmerman exhorts the graduates. David M. Nee, executive director of the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, with Wendy Haller, who presented the Robert Haller Memorial Award. It was a proud day for this parent and his sons. Flowers for the graduates.