RENO — AT&T and United Way Worldwide (UWW) announced this week that United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra (UWNNS) has been awarded a UWW/AT&T Family Engagement for High School Success grant of $50,000. This funding is part of a new initiative designed to help parents and caregivers get more involved in their child’s education. AT&T has contributed $2 million to the program through AT&T Aspire, a $100 million initiative focused specifically on high school success and workforce readiness.

UWNNS has partnered with the Washoe County School District (WCSD), the Nevada State Parent Information and Resource Center (PIRC), the Education Alliance and Ready for Life Washoe County to work collaboratively on implementing a plan to improve student achievement and increase graduation rates for at-risk students in the Washoe County by empowering their families with the knowledge they need to support their children’s academic achievement.

“By supporting innovative strategies that connect families with their children’s education, we can ensure Washoe County’s students achieve their best future,” said Hal Lenox, AT&T Nevada president. “We look forward to working with United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra on this initiative.”

The research-based best practices that will be used to outreach and engage parents include strengthening home-school relationships; enabling families to understand student data so that they can better track and monitor student attendance and grades; linking family engagement to student learning; and building the capacity of schools and teachers to engage family involvement in the community.

United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra is one of 15 local United Ways receiving a matching grant through this initiative to identify best practices for family engagement to boost high school graduation. The 15 sites will use funds to increase family-community-school partnerships to build successful learning in high school. An additional five local United Ways will receive capacity-building support for family engagement work.

“The Washoe County School District is committed to making the district accessible to all parents,” said Heath Morrison, superintendent of schools for Washoe County. “We know parents are a child’s first teachers. We are pleased to be partners with United Way and the Education Alliance to assist parents with understanding how schools work so that they may fully support their children’s efforts to achieve academic excellence.”

For more information, call 322-8668 or visit uwayreno.org.