El Camino College provided student parents with resources at its first ever community baby shower event “Parents to Bee.”

The event, which took place in the Collaboration Room in Schauerman Library, on Wednesday, Nov. 19 from noon to 2:30 p.m., connected student parents with a variety of different support programs on campus and around the community, as well as hosted giveaways and items new parents can utilize.

“It’s not lost on the college that our student population is getting older, so we have to continue to meet the emerging needs of students,” Assistant Director of EOPS and CalWorks Kristen Johnson said.

FamilyU Fellow Maria Lopez hosted the event.

“This event brings student families together to build connections, access helpful resources, and feel celebrated, whether you are expecting, already parenting or supporting someone who is,” Lopez said.

Among the community organizations that participated in the event was El Nido Family Center, which educates parents on their Early Head Start program that offers home-based services to young families.

“Our staff goes to the home once a week to help support the child’s development, like motor skills, language, conceptual and cognitive skills, and we also provide socialization groups at our facility twice a month,” Ana Valladares, an eligibility, recruitment, selection, enrollment and attendance specialist at El Nido, said.

Director of Public Information Kerri Webb hopes to make it an annual event.

“We want to address the fact that we see them…We see you, we support you, and whatever we can do to help soften or lighten the load for our students, for our parenting students, we hope to show that here,” she said.

Student parents that came loved what the event had to offer, and took the time to visit the multiple organizations tabling.

“It really helps…it helps us not go into our own pockets,” child development major Amber Anderson, who is the mother of two, said.

The event was held in partnership with FamilyU Cohort, a program that works with institutions of higher education to “improve student parent success,” according to their website.

The program spans over two-years, and hopes to improve data collection, resources, enrollment, completion rates and awareness for student parents.

El Camino is finishing up its second year with the program, and has had success with implementing FamilyU goals.

“We’ve been able to add in our Student Services dashboard, a way to collect parenting data on parenting students,” Johnson said.

Discussions of after-care programs are in the works with the two groups, as the team is currently working with facilities, doing an inventory of what could potentially be a space on campus where the college could host that kind of service, according to Johnson.

“Our goal is to uplift, empower and remind every parent here that you are not alone and your goals are absolutely achievable,” Lopez said.

Editor’s note:

• Headline updated Monday, Nov. 24, at 4:40 p.m.