Kara Georgi, MSEd

Lead Senior Associate of Parent Partnerships

Kara supports the Alliance’s work related to building partnerships with parents including the Birth Parent National Network (BPNN), Birth Parent Advisory Committee (BPAC) and Birth and Foster Parent Partnership (BFPP). In addition, she served as the co-chair of the Alliance National Parent Partnership Council (ANPPC). Kara uses the knowledge she has gained from these experiences to help inform the work she does with the Alliance building and supporting parent advisory councils. Most recently, she worked collaboratively with Chloe Corrion and the Alliance team to create a parent-friendly book club guide for What Happened to You? by Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey.

After obtaining her master’s degree and teaching in the public schools, Kara stepped out of the classroom and began teaching in a new way. First, Kara completed Early Intervention Parent Trainings and New York State Partners in Policymaking to better educate herself about disability policy and how to share her testimony in a meaningful way. She uses this knowledge and her classroom experiences to raise awareness and support for families who have children with Sensory Processing Disorder.

Kara’s husband and two children support her as she continues to train and connect with communities about the Community Café approach and the protective factors. They often attend and help implement the work. She has presented at the New York State Child Abuse Conference on the power of conversations in the cafés and how to partner with parents and at the NYSPEP annual meeting. She serves on many committees and works to try to help find bridges between programs so parents can gain skills as leaders in their communities. Some of the work has included her local ABC Cayuga initiative, New York State PTA and her work with her school district with their fix-it or fund-it initiative.

Kara is an Alliance Certified Trainer for the Bringing the Protective Factors Framework to Life in Your Work. She has incorporated the protective factors training into her home school district work with the PTA and into a schoolwide Community Café with staff and students and café nights for families. Currently, Kara is looking at ways she can bring the training to her local police department and doing more with the Office of Mental Health. She is passionate about the protective factors and working in a strengths-based way. She truly feels it is essential to see the value of the work in the everyday moments of everyone’s life as we all work together for strong communities.