Las Charlas: A case study of culturally sustaining family engagement

This article reports on a year-long qualitative case study of a culturally sustaining family engagement initiative for Latino immigrant families of secondary school students organized by four female educators of color. Culturally sustaining family engagement practices benefitted families and increased opportunities for collaboration, while more traditional family engagement limited these opportunities. This study describes how contextual factors shaped attempts at equitable family engagement, leading to a “tough love” approach that combined culturally sustaining and traditional engagement. The article calls for abandoning approaches to family engagement that seek to fix Latino immigrant families.