The Parent Leadership Project was created to support parents whose children receive early intervention services. The Project's main goal is to promote lifetime advocacy, leadership skills and the development of an informed parent constituency, which will encourage early intervention services to be increasingly family centered. The Project is a parent driven endeavor, which continually seeks family involvement and input regarding the needs of families enrolled in Early Intervention and is implemented by parents whose own children have received EI services.

The Project staff consists of a Statewide Director, a Communications Coordinator, an EI Program Focused Monitoring Parent Coordinator, Education/Training Coordinator and Collaboration and Outreach Coordinator, all of whom have received Early Intervention services for their own children and families. They work to inform families about the variety of opportunities to actively participate in the Early Intervention system, either at their local program, within their region, and/or at the statewide level. Some of these opportunities include:

• Developing, supporting and participating on Parent Advisory Councils (PAC's) at local Early Intervention programs
• Attending workshops and training programs
• Attending the annual statewide Massachusetts Early Intervention Consortium (MEIC) Conference and parent dinner
• Participating on the Interagency Coordinating Council (ICC)
• Receiving the statewide parent newsletter, the Parent Perspective.