Redefining Parent Power.
Reimagining Schools.
Where parents lead, schools change.
ABOUT US
Rooted in South LA, and led by parents.
Founded in 2001, CADRE (Community Asset Development Redefining Education) is an independent Black and Brown parent organization rooted in South Los Angeles, led by parents and caregivers whose children attend schools in LAUSD and other schools in the surrounding Los Angeles area. We exist to challenge and transform the systems that have long criminalized and marginalized our families.
Too many South LA parents know what it feels like when the school is not listening. When your child gets suspended and no one explains why. When you try to speak up and get talked over. When the discipline feels targeted, unfair, and personal. That experience is real, and it is not your fault.
CADRE was built for moments like that. We train South LA parents to understand their rights at school, navigate unfair school discipline, and advocate for their children with confidence. Whether you are dealing with a suspension, a hostile school environment, or an IEP that is being ignored, you do not have to figure it out alone.
Our work reaches families across South Los Angeles and South Central, partnering with parents in LAUSD schools who are done watching their kids pushed out and ready to push back. Since 2001, more than 2,000 parent leaders have come through CADRE. That number keeps growing. Every parent who joins CADRE becomes part of a movement over 25 years in the making that has transformed schools across South Los Angeles.
Maisie Chin
Co-Founder & Board Member Emeritus
CADRE began because parents deserved to be heard and to lead the change in their own schools.
Our Mission
To solidify and advance parent leadership so that all children are rightfully educated, regardless of where they live.
We mobilize parents to confront school policies and practices that perpetuate racial inequities, deny dignity, and push children out of school. By centering the lived experience of parents, we change not only education policies, but also the culture and climate of schools.
Our Vision
We envision schools that respect and cultivate the humanity, resilience, and collective spirit of Black and Latino families.
In our vision of South LA, schools are not places of punishment or exclusion, but spaces of healing, justice, and opportunity. Families are recognized as leaders, culture-bearers, and changemakers. Education becomes a force that strengthens solidarity, eliminates racial inequities, and prepares our children for thriving futures. This is what parent power looks like when it is rooted in community, dignity, and love.
Discover how CADRE’s Theory of Change guides our movement.
01
Cultural Respect
Schools embrace and reflect the cultures, languages, and histories of their communities. They create classrooms where students see themselves represented in curriculum and feel pride in their identity.
02
Black & Brown Solidarity
Parents and families stand together, building power across communities. By strengthening unity, they counter attempts to divide, ensuring that both Black and Latino children benefit from collective advocacy.
03
Shared Decision-Making
Parents fully participate in shaping school decisions and priorities. Their voices are not an afterthought, but a driving force in creating policies and practices that impact their children’s futures.
04
Equity & Justice
Racial disparities in outcomes, treatment, and access are eliminated. Schools commit to dismantling systemic barriers so that every child receives the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.
05
Dismantling the Pipeline
The school-to-prison pipeline is ended, and every child has the right to learn in safety and dignity. Discipline becomes restorative, not punitive, ensuring schools are places of growth rather than exclusion.
CADRE began with a simple but revolutionary idea about parent power:
that South LA parents, long blamed and unheard, could transform schools and systems through the power of their collective truth.