Rethinking How Organizations Engage Student Parents in Policy Strategies and Initiatives

New America: Before we talk about advocacy efforts around student parents, let’s start with your advocacy origin story. What piqued your interest in advocacy? Did it start early or later in life?

Dana Weekes: It definitely started early in life, although my interest wasn’t fully formed.

I was the first in my family to be born in the United States. Both of my parents are from Barbados and immigrated here in the late 1970s. As a child, I remember my parents talking about politics and what mattered to them, especially around the dinner table. Their voices were warm, yet honest. It felt like a safe space for all of us to think, question, and dream. I guess this is why I’m a curious learner.

But outside of our home, I noticed my mom and dad’s voices often changed. Many times, they would be silent, and, at times, silenced. This observation made me incredibly intrigued about voice—when people use their voice, how, and when their voice is absent.

New America: Your mom was a student parent. What was your experience of being a child of a student parent?

Dana Weekes: When I was in 7th or 8th grade, my mom enrolled at Howard Community College to pursue a nursing career. While the importance of education was drilled into me at an early age, my mom modeled this for me. I was the child of a student parent.

I remember when she participated in the Federal Work-Study Program and worked for the college’s career counseling center. You could find me under her desk reading the Babysitters Club or a book for class while my mom worked as the receptionist. I’ve got to say, I felt really special when I could sit in an empty office. I would pretend to be some fancy person who worked at a desk as I did my homework.

When my mom would study and dad had to work, I would lean over and listen in to her study group. I wanted to be a part of that group so, so much, except when they had to dissect a cadaver. That time, I was right outside the classroom’s door but still in my mom’s line of sight through the door’s window.

As a child, I did not realize how much responsibility both my parents took on when my mom enrolled in college. I never thought about how my parents could not afford child care. I never thought about what it was like to primarily live on one salary for our family. I never thought about how my dad never called out sick, even when he was sick. I never thought about the time it took to show up to all my school events. I never thought about the pressure my mom felt not to mess up or, worse, fail.

I did not think about how joyful I was as a child. With all their demands, my parents protected and invested in my childhood amid everything.

New America: Is being a child of a student parent one of the reasons you have engaged in higher education policy?

Dana Weekes: The short answer is yes, although my explanation is longer.

Although I felt it deeply, my younger self couldn’t articulate that I was witnessing my mom grow into herself. My mom gained a greater sense of self-ownership. She had come to this country in her early twenties with lots of dreams and barely any resources.

Enrolling at a community college and pursuing nursing created a stability that I don’t think my mom had experienced in a long time. It was also life-changing for our entire family and broke some generational cycles.

My mom’s experience also taught me that I was not destined to be a nurse. The cadaver got me. But, noticing how my mom’s voice evolved more into a confident and commanding one, especially outside of our home, deepened my fascination with voice.

I think this is why I have spent a significant portion of my career in higher education policy, including issues related to community colleges, adult learners, and student parents.

New America: How do you think student-parent voices are positioned in policy conversations?

Dana Weekes: I think there are strong, meaningful efforts to tell the stories of student parents and advocate for key changes that address and go beyond higher education policy. Voices like Carrie Welton’s must be heard, and the work she is doing at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) should continue to be respected by policymakers. She is a force.

At the same time, it is important to reevaluate how student-parent voices are being heard and entering policy conversations. Said differently, advocacy efforts that only elevate and center the stories of student parents in policymaking can unintentionally gatekeep this community. Advocacy efforts must move in a direction where student parents are co-collaborators in the policymaking process from concept to completion.

New America: What do you mean by student parents becoming co-collaborators in policy efforts?

Dana Weekes: This means a few things.

One is to create and execute policy efforts based on student parents’ firsthand understanding of issues, rather than only using student parents for their stories or as a data source.

Another is that for student parents to be co-collaborators in policy initiatives, they must receive education and training at a nuanced level on how policymaking works. They must also understand how the existing laws and policies have been written, implemented, and enforced. To be more direct, we need to position student parents as key decision-makers in our policy efforts, rather than a go-to resource to enhance certain tactics within a policy strategy.

I also want to add that working with student parents as co-collaborators means they will need to receive the necessary resources so as not to disrupt or delay their priorities and day-to-day responsibilities.

I recognize that what I am sharing is a heavier lift for organizations, but one of my theories of change is that organizations become co-collaborators for the communities they serve instead of intermediaries or representatives of them. Communities must truly be centered in the work.

New America: Why are you focused on the theory of change you described? How would this approach to the policy work change how the field looks?

Dana Weekes: About six or seven years ago, I had this “ah-ha” moment. I had come to a full-blown belief that it is my personal and professional responsibility to build platforms to help people assert their own voices. Before, I thought it was my responsibility to amplify voices.

What I have realized is that amplification is a gatekeeping practice because it can still leave out directly impacted communities from being fully engaged in policy conversations. Advocates become the intermediaries and often the decision-makers for these communities.

When policy efforts position the student-parent community as co-collaborators, the narrative and infrastructure for policy conversations and policymaking will shift significantly. The stories and, most importantly, the understanding of student-parents become prioritized over interpretations of “what is best” by intermediary advocates, which is a common model.

While positioning directly impacted communities, like student parents, will mean more investments in resources and more time to execute, the policies resulting from these efforts will be better. Further, these communities can better hold accountable elected officials (not just during elections) and the advocacy organizations that represent them.

We shift away from a performative culture around policymaking that has sowed a lot of distrust in this country’s ability to govern.