About Us

Over the past 20 years Padres Unidos has developed a unique, participant driven curriculum. We partner closely with local schools, churches, and other communities to create programming that works for their members. The result is effective, relevant programming the community members love.

Our work begins when a community organization (i.e. schools, community organizations, county programs), or an individual reaches out requesting support from our organization. From there, our approach is designed to most effectively engage the community and provide programming that most effectively meets their needs.

• Step 1 – Outreach

  Following identification of a community need, Padres Unidos goes into the community to introduce our approach and determine how we can best serve their needs. Often this takes place via community meetings, which is promoted within the community via fliers and other community resources.

• Step 2 – Program Design

  Following the initial community outreach and engagement, the Padre Unidos leadership team designs custom programs, taking into consideration the timing of classes and the appropriate curriculum. Cultural and linguistic needs are taken into consideration to most effectively work with the community, working from our library selecting from our catalog of programs,

• Step 3 – Recruitment

  Here we reach back out to the community with details of the program, securing commitments to participate.

• Step 4 – Program Delivery

  This is where classes begin and relationship building continues. The community’s needs are constantly reassessed throughout the sessions as well as individual support is given to parents who present needs during the classes. At the beginning and end of the module there are 3 instruments used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program:

  1. Attitude assessment
  2. Satisfaction survey
  3. Pre-post questionnaire

• Step 5 – Ongoing Support

  To support program participants, they are called each week. The goal is to maintain their active engagement in the classes and continue establishing trust in order to best support their needs.

• Step 6 – Graduation

  At the completion of the module, we celebrate the participants’ participation/completion of the program with graduation. It is an opportunity to thank the parents for their engagement, remind them of the tools they are walking away with, and spend some time together in a social environment with some yummy food!

Two decades of working with Orange County families Padres Unidos is a unique participant driven organization that provides parenting and youth classes in community centers, churches, and elementary schools. Padres Unidos has more than two decades of working in the Santa Ana and broader Orange County community to develop culturally and linguistically appropriate programming.

We are successful because we base our services, classes, and outreach on the interests and needs of families across Orange County. Our community-based education draws from local knowledge to develop curricula that cover a range of topics from mental health to early education and parenting classes.

Our community workers are the heart and soul of Padres Unidos. These dedicated workers lead programming, teach classes and work directly with community members. And while we attribute much of our program’s success to our worker’s direct community experience, it is bolstered by a unique certification program. In 2010, Chapman University’s Attallah College of Educational Studies (ACES) joined forces with Padres Unidos to develop the curriculum for Chapman’s 2-year Community Worker Paraprofessional Certificate program.

During the first year, students are required to take seven core courses designed to prepare them to work with the community and the many challenges faced in today’s age. During the second year, students take their specialization courses with an emphasis in one of the following roles: Child & Adolescent Educator, Case Manager, Parent Educator, or Group Facilitator. In addition to coursework, students are required to complete 2 years of fieldwork and successfully pass comprehensive exams and submit a Professional Portfolio.

In their second year, students have the opportunity to intern as part of the Community Worker Award. To date, over 100 students have received the Community Worker Award and following graduation have been employed in the following roles: Community Liaisons, Community Workers, Parent Educators, Program Coordinators, Intake Coordinators, Case Managers, Support Group Facilitators, Pre-school Assistants, and Classroom Support to name a few. The award recipients have been employed by the following entities: Healthy Tomorrows, SAUSD, AUSD, Padres Unidos, Choc Clinics, UCI, MOMS, Boys and Girls Club, and the Probation Department to name a few.

The collaboration was recently commemorated with the release of our co-authored book Let’s Chat: Cultivating Community-University Dialogue- A Coffeetable Textbook. Through a joint effort between our administrative staff, organizational strategist and a strategic partnership with researchers from Chapman University. The book explores how to create, maintain, and leverage partnerships between university members and community organizations (i.e. NPO’s or service orgs.) We worked with Chapman University to conduct a well-attended panel discussion on Community/University partnerships that was moderated by the University President Daniele Struppa. The event highlighted our multitalented agency and brought our NPO into a new space and the potential for exciting new community partners.

We believe that all families have something to contribute, and that our organization benefits from local community input. To best serve our families we utilize a democratic organizational model. All programming planning and decisions are made in discussion with the board and department leaders. This same model is employed in our classrooms and with our partners, where facilitators encourage fair contribution. We have been able to implement this model because we train all of our volunteers and staff and practice every day!