Partnerwith with Parents
Liz Pearce leads Commonwealth Parenting to double workshops, outreach, as 25th anniversary approaches
 As a special education teacher, Liz Pearce worked hard to be positive and consistent in her classroom, but often watched as her students went home to parents who felt overwhelmed and ill equipped. Some parents began asking Pearce to help them with behaviors and situations they could not handle.
“I just really became tired of being at the bottom of the waterfall,” said Pearce.
Her desire to be proactive led Pearce to begin teaching parenting classes in Nashville, Tenn., in 1990, three years before her first child was born. She even teamed with her husband, who has a background in family therapy, to share helpful advice with parents.
“All the things I was doing in the classroom could be done at home,” Pearce said. So she began sharing those techniques — positive correction, consistency and communication — with parents.
When she and her husband moved to Richmond in 2002, Pearce immediately looked for an organization where she could continue that passion for parenting.
She soon began working as a parent educator for Commonwealth Parenting, a non-profit education and resource organization “committed to helping parents with the challenges of raising healthy, happy children from infancy to adolescence.”
In 2004, Pearce, who has a master’s degree in special education from Vanderbilt University, became Commonwealth Parenting’s executive director. Since then, workshop attendance has doubled, and outreach services in the community have grown to include all surrounding counties.
A year to celebrate
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Commonwealth Parenting has served about 40,000 families since 1984 and currently averages 3,200 families per year. Pearce credits community partnerships, including an affiliation with Bon Secours Richmond, for playing a significant role in her organization’s growth in recent years.
“This strengthened our base of support and cultivated new collaborative relationships,” she said.
To commemorate their 25th anniversary, Commonwealth Parenting held a Family Celebration in May at the Children's Museum of Richmond, is planning a Sept. 25th Anniversary Event, and has lowered prices to $25 a class (though classes are based on ability to pay — so no one is turned away).
“We reach out to parents at whatever stage they’re in, whatever neighborhood they’re in, whatever age their kids are,” Pearce said. “We’re really trying to fill a gap.”
Many families who call Commonwealth Parenting have a question about their child’s development that doesn’t warrant long-term therapy, but may be more complicated than answers provided online. Classes vary from one to three sessions, lasting 60-90 minutes each. Commonwealth Parenting also offers one-on-one private parenting sessions and a telephone support and tip line (545-1928).
‘Knowledge that nurtures’
Commonwealth Parenting classes address issues for everyone from the expectant parent to the parent of a teen with “knowledge that nurtures.” Family educators lead both general classes on communication and positive discipline and specific classes on topics as varied as cyber safety, bullying and eating disorders.
“Our family educators give solutions that you can take home that night,” Pearce said.
Topics change often, based on requests from parent participants and the organization’s Parents Council. Pearce said the organization makes every effort not to duplicate other community resources.
Pearce also learns about needs by participating on a number of area task forces and boards. She serves as a board member for the City of Richmond Early Childhood Development Initiative, Smart Beginnings Greater Richmond Area, University of Richmond’s Institute on Philanthropy, and the Better Business Bureau. She is also a national council member for the National Parent Education Network.
Knowing the answers
Even armed with all of her knowledge and experience, Pearce, the mother of three daughters — ages 15, 12 and 2 — said parenting is not easy.
“Parents are so hard on themselves because they think they should know how to do it. There’s still a stigma in asking for help,” she said.
Pearce said no parent is perfect. But Commonwealth Parenting helps parents to find answers.
“I love being a parent and I feel like I want parents to realize that there’s help out there,” she said. “It’s OK to not have all the answers.”
For more information about Commonwealth Parenting, visit www.commonwealthparentingcenter.org.
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