Maria Mayorga is a promotora, a member of the Hispanic community in Hillsborough County who helps others in the community tap into services they need, from finding a church to getting help for their children in school to mental health counseling.
“We have a lot of issues, different ones, starting with people who do not speak English, so they are really lost when they come here,’’ says Mayorga, who works with Successful Families, a program of Success 4 Kids & Families, a nonprofit agency that is merging with the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay on January 1st, 2025.
Most families seek help with educational needs such as tutoring, she says. Behavioral therapy is another need that brings people to the program.
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Photo by Philip MorganMaria Mayorga, a promotora for Success 4 Kids & Families' Successful Families program.Mayorga is one of four promotoras and two behavioral therapists working with Successful Families to serve people, many of them migrant farm laborers, in east and south Hillsborough. Plant City, Dover, Seffner, Wimauma and Ruskin are several communities the program reaches.
“One of the most amazing things about this program is we actually can provide therapy to those who do not have health insurance. So that is the best thing ever,’’ Mayorga says. “They come here, they don’t have health insurance, but they can still get therapy for parents and the children.’’
Navigating the school system is a big need of these families, says Success 4 Kids & Families Executive Director Pam Jeffre.
“It could be anything from how to register my kid for school to ‘My kid’s this age, where should I start?’” Or, “‘My kid is really behind, how can we get him back on track?’’’ she says. Or, ‘‘‘He gets in trouble at school and I don’t know what to do.’ So the promotoras can go to school meetings with them, help them figure out that system and teach them how to appropriately advocate for themselves and their child.’’
The promotoras serve about 20 clients each, says Jeffre. The two behavioral therapists each have about 20 patients at any one time.
“I would say our best promotoras have come through word of mouth,’’ Jeffre says. “(Maria) meets someone that she knows, or we are out doing our work and we run into someone who maybe works at the library down there and wants to do more.’’
Nurturing parents, helping families
Successful Families also provides parenting classes and one-on-one parenting counseling using what’s called the Nurturing Parenting Programs. Nurturing Parenting teaches parents about various aspects of raising children, from what kids go through at various stages of growing up to positive methods of correcting bad behavior.
The Children’s Board of Hillsborough County funds the Successful Families program. Classes and therapy sessions are provided to help the communities near the Children’s Board Family Resource Centers in south and east county.
At meetings, facilitators urge parents “not to spank, not to yell at them in the supermarket,’’ which can be quite an adjustment for many, says Jeannette Soberal, program manager for Successful Families. Many parents come from homes where “mom spanked them and grandma spanked them,’’ she says.
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Courtesy of Jeannette SoberalJeannette Soberal, program manager for Successful Families
“And they are here in Florida, and (they say), ‘I can’t spank my kids?’ It’s a culture shock as well,” Soberal says.
Soberal says they hear positive feedback from parents who take the class, which is held weekly for six weeks. They enjoy getting together with other families and discover that the alternative methods of discipline they learn do work.
“You hear it from the stories that these clients are telling us, when they’re like, ‘Oh, I used to do this with my child and now I’m putting them in time-out,’’’ she says.
“It’s not just spanking,” Soberal adds. “It’s understanding the development of the child and what they’re going through.’’
The parents apply the lessons to everyday life and share their stories with others in the parenting class.
Working alongside parents
Mayorga, who also conducts Nurturing Parenting classes, says some parents don’t want to attend and are offended by the suggestion.
“Because they might think, ‘Oh, you want to teach me how to be a parent?’’’ she says.
She meets with them one-on-one and makes it a conversation.
“‘So how was your day today? Are you stressed out?’… They might talk to you about how (the kids) are acting up. ‘So what’s going on? What are you doing? How are you approaching the situation?’ And that right there is parenting class,” Mayorga says.
Jorge Villada, director of case management for Success 4 Kids & Families, was the first manager of the Successful Families program when it started seven years ago. He has conducted parenting classes as well.
“One of the things that we want to make sure is very clear from the beginning is that the parents are actually the experts,” Villada says. “When we first started our group, one of the first questions – and I get a lot of laughs – is, ‘How many of you were given a book when your child was born that says, if you read this, you’re going to be a perfect parent?’ They all laugh and say, ‘We didn’t get one.’ I say, ‘Guess what, I didn’t get one either.’”
“We’re just reinforcing that they’re already good parents,” he says. “It’s just that this is learning different mechanisms, interventions, tips in order to acclimate to the norms and laws here in the United States, but at the same time strengthen what they’re already doing.”
When parents successfully finish the course, they receive a graduation certificate. Some parents are overcome with emotion, Villada says.
“Sometimes we have parents that may have a second or third-grade education, so part of our program is that when a parent or guardian successfully completes the program they receive a certificate, and we’ve had parents cry when they were receiving the certificate, saying, ‘I’ve never received anything in my life. This is the first time I get recognized for something,’’’ he says.
Some parents write to say thank you.
“I want to start off with how excellent the presenters were during our parenting group,’’ writes one. “Initially, I kept telling myself what was I going to learn, but boy was I wrong. I’m not from here and I was raised by my sister, who was just a few years older than me. I was never taught the right way to be a parent. I was so excited to attend the weekly groups. I like the chance we got to discuss our own views and how we are parenting vs. other parents. All the presenters were knowledgeable and I loved them all. I don’t want the groups to be over.’’
For more information, go to Success 4 Kids & Families services