Parents for Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati is part of a national organization of community based chapters that advocates for excellence in public schools. We exist to develop and sustain constructive parent and community involvement so that all students will achieve. We believe that Parents for Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati will be successful when our efforts have resulted in empowered parents and families who have a strong voice and are active partners in creating high achieving public schools. PPS leads the parent engagement component in Cincinnati’s gearUP collaboration. Led by the University of Cincinnati, gearUP is a federal college awareness and readiness program for first generation, economically disadvantaged youth. As a gearUP partner PPS is “guiding over 4,000 Cincinnati Public School students and parents step by step to college”. In 2006, the Cincinnati PPS began to collaborate with the Prichard Committee to bring the Parent Leadership Institute (PLI) to Cincinnati. This professional development program is designed to empower parents to be effective advocates for Ohio’s children. The PLI prepares parents to collaborate with other parents, teachers, and administrators to develop / implement action based projects that will increase academic achievement. The Cincinnati chapter launched their first PLI class in Cincinnati Public Schools in 2007, and has since graduated over 300 participants.