Celebrating Black History: Michael O’Neal’s decades long commitment to Parent University
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Since 1999, Parent University has been providing resources to families with the goal of parents becoming their children’s first teacher. And the program has had an impact.
Before two decades of community change with parents educating themselves as a way to prepare their children for school, something else had to happen in Savannah.
“Floyd Adams got elected mayor,” said Parent University founder and executive director Michael O’Neal.
Parent University, the community-building, family empowering program that started here in 1999 and is now a model for similar programs nationally, was the most lasting impact of one of Adams’ first acts as mayor, when he called together an advisory board from varying segments of the city.
“To stay abreast of some of the racial challenges that might come up. You know, he was the first black mayor, and I think the election was a little, as you might expect the issue might come up. I was a member of the Bahia faith and he had come to several of our unity picnics, race unity picnics and he wanted us to send somebody. So I was sent to be part of the mayor’s Human Relations Commission.”
And from those early discussions, O’Neal became the guiding force of Parent University - first as dean, eventually as executive director, always as the man molding the concept from a background far outside of early education.
“I had been working as an electrician for 20 plus years at International Paper. So, what I brought to the conversation was, whenever I didn’t know something whenever I was in a dilemma, we got extra training. That’s kind of how I think.”
And that’s how Parent University evolved to offer dozens of self-help and early education classes at every session and more than 50 unique events, large and small, every year.
“It’s a wonderful thing when your child or your grandchild looks up to you and has that look in their eye,’’ said Johnathan Wimbush, who attended Parent U events as a parent and grandparent and now volunteers for the organization. “You know that what you’ve learned from Parent University is why they’re looking at you that way, because you’ve implemented the things you’ve learned.’’
"I think it fundamentally changes the dialogue in these houses. I believe it changes the community,’’ says O’Neal. “What actually happens is families come out of there feeling better about themselves, feeling more powerful, feeling like they have a voice. And if you do that to people, you change the environment.’’
Since retiring from International Paper, O’Neal now has only one full time job instead of two, but puts more cumulative time into it.
He now travels to cities across the country that want to implement Savannah's model, his model, of Parent University.
"It's unbelievable that this has happened, that we're there,’’ he said. “And when I say these communities are ready, they are ready. They are ready to offer the resources. It's like they roll out a red carpet for us to come and do what we do. because they know how important it is for us to replicate this experiment.’’
It’s an experiment Michael O’Neal has been seeing benefits of for 20 years.
"There was a general feeling of powerlessness on the parents’ side and inability to effect change, which created a parent who was defensive not the best advocator for their children, who thought education was someone else’s job,’’ O’Neal says of before Parent University formed. “I think the best thing that came out of this is, our parents now recognize that they are the first teachers.’’
O'Neal just returned earlier this week from Pensacola, Florida, where they are trying to implement Savannah's model of Parent University.
Other cities that have asked for his assistance include Chicago, Flint Michigan and Atlanta.
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