The high poverty rate, lack of employment, low educational attainment, high proportion of single-parent families in Louisiana all contribute to the need for the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Center's Parents Preparing For Success Program

There is an overwhelming need for early, continuous, comprehensive training for parents with limited resources in the areas of basic parenting and money management. This program helps these parents develop the necessary skills to provide positive and effective parenting and money management practices to meet the needs of their families. This culturally sensitive parent-training curriculum provides parents with educational information that will enable them to become self-sufficient and successful citizens. The required five-week training, which is offered multiple times throughout the year, helps parents understand effective parenting practices necessary to create a safe and nurturing environment for their children as well as effective money management practices to meet their family's financial obligations. The five classes are entitled, Caring For Your Baby/Handling Cash Crisis, Keeping Your Baby Safe/Making It On Your Own-Transitioning Into Work, Understanding Your Baby's Development/Overcoming Transportation and Childcare Challenges, and Family Strengthening/Effective Communication.

Upon completion of the five-week training, parents are equipped to plan developmentally appropriate activities for their children, organize and pay their bills, recognize the importance of safety in the home and in the car, plan activities within the family budget, evaluate symptoms of sickness their baby is showing, manage unexpected emergencies, identify good and bad communication techniques, and demonstrate techniques of positive guidance with their children.

The Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center provides its Parents Preparing For Success Program in the following parishes: East Baton Rouge, St. James, St. Tammany, Washington, Tangipahoa, Morehouse, East Carroll, West Carroll, Avoyelles, St. Landry, St. Helena, Livingston, East Feliciana, and Orleans.