| Dear friend, It’s been a busy year! As we enter the last quarter of 2023, we wanted to catch you up on some of the goings-on in the FAST community and hope this message finds you well. This school year begins the second year of the FAST Institute at Milwaukee Public Schools with our outstanding and dedicated group of MPS parent coordinators and their FAST coaches, thanks to renewed funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. |
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| ICYMI: The FAST Institute of Family Engagement is our newest program offering that prepares, supports, and trains educators, teachers, and school staff to engage with families – learn more in our latest blog post. Over the summer we held the annual Training of Trainers conference in Independence, Ohio. It was a great week, and we wish all of our trainers a great start to their program cycles! Also, thank you to our partners at the Office of Family and Children First Council for hosting the event and for helping to make it a success. |
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| In March, we welcomed Dr. Nicole Lopez Purkapile, Ed.D. as the new Executive Director/CEO of Families and Schools Together, Inc. “The next chapter of FAST will be about building from our strengths, facilitating future engagement from birth through grade 12, and re-imagining our impact on children, families, and schools,” she stated. Read more. And some acknowledgements… |
| 🎉 Congratulations to Evaluation and Database Manager Sandy Plisch on her retirement in September after nine years at FAST! 🙏 Thank you to Cathy Couture, Dianne Greenley, and Merideth Trahan for their years of service on the board of directors and their dedication to the organization. 👋 Welcome to new board members Leon Dixon, Marilyn Mazzi, Jenna Finley, and Andrea Droessler! |
| Finally, we’ve started fresh with a new official Facebook page, so be sure to give it a “like” to stay up to date on the #FASTcommunity! 👍 Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/familiesandschoolstogetherinc Sincerely, Nicole Lopez Purkapile Executive Director/CEO Families & Schools Together |