those are great ideas - we are also a low-income school and I agree, it needs to be worth their while to attend. I think I will find out from our local state office of children and families and community college just what sort of classes are available and then construct a program around ones parents vote for. Thanks so much!

We invite knowledgeable speakers to come in and talk about job skills (interviewing, resumes etc.)immunizations (health department) investments and banking (local banks and loan officers), fire safety (volunteer fire department), etc... Most of the speakers came free of charge, so other than light snacks these evenings cost the PTA little to nothing.

Our school is a low-income school so we knew it would be a great sacrafice for many of the parents to attend, so we sent out parent surveys asking what their interests were and what types of speakers they would like to hear from. As a result, we didn't waste time beating our heads against the wall trying to figure out how to make them come -- they came because we gave them what they wanted.

Our Boosters are interested in doing more family nuturing activities this year. I am interested in hearing what other groups have done (besides bingos, carnivals, and mostly fund-raising activities) to bring parents together. We are considering hiring a local Cadette GS troop to do the childcare and then running either a class for parents or a discussion forum of some sort. We'd like to especially encourage our single parents (geez, almost 35% of our students come from a single-parent household) to attend. I don't want to do just another meeting! Thanks in advance for your (always phenomenal) inspiration and creativity!