“A leader thrives on purpose, guided by love, strength, and an unwavering commitment to making the world better.” -– Katrina McGriff
We met the McGriff family in February 2019 when dad came in to apply for the program for his then 1 year old, Le’aja, and 2 ½ year old, LE’Roman. Leroy was looking to start them in early education to expose them to socialization and learning. Leroy just retired from his job and Katrina was a stay-at-home mom. Both children enrolled at Westside Early Head Start in March 2019.
When Family Advocate Jamila Abdullah first met with the family to discuss their strengths, needs and goals, Katrina and Leroy’s main desire was to maintain a stable transition from home to school as this was the first time their children were in an early learning environment, and they wanted to help them socialize and progress developmentally. Jamillah provided the family with information on morning and evening routines and discussed effective transitions.
In 2020, LE’Roman transitioned to Head Start and was adjusting well. Their main concern was Le’aja’s language development and struggles with potty training. Jamillah worked with teachers to provide the family with a potty-training checklist and information on best practices. They also helped mom and dad understand what typical language development looked like for a child Le’aja’s age and provided at home learning activities they could do at home with her. Her outcomes in language showed growth at the end of the year, and she successfully mastered learning to use the toilet.
As COVID-19 was on the rise causing changes to our community, the McGriff family experienced similar challenges. They shared their need for financial assistance and budgeting help with mounting credit card balances. They also needed co-parenting resources to help with a custody sharing agreement for older children. Jamillah worked with the family throughout the year to provide information on co-parenting, adjusting to life after a separation from previous family, budgeting, and other financial information. They were invited to Financial Literacy workshops and Circle of Parents workshops, a monthly virtual support group aimed at fostering open discussions, providing support, and sharing resources among parents raising children. Jamillah referred Katrina and Leroy to the Emmett Reed Center’s Parent Café where they were able to learn strategies for parenting, working through finances, and opening a small business. They were able to rise together and started their family business McGriff Salvage Removal in 2021.
When their youngest child Le’xia enrolled in the fall of 2023, her developmental screenings showed some growth could be obtained in the domain of personal-social skills. Her teachers, Gabby and Janae, have been working with Le’xia on making friends and learning to share. She is progressing well, loves to be a class helper, and loves coming to school. While Le’xia was working on her personal-social skills, the family had a desire to strengthen their marriage and improve their advocacy and leadership skills that would benefit the community. After receiving mentoring from her Family Advocate, Katrina accepted the role of secretary on Westside’s parent committee. Later she was nominated to represent the center as their Policy Council representative has been serving in that role for the 24-25 program year. Leroy plays a large role in the male involvement program leading a dad grill off, promoting our “father reading chair” to encourage more dads to come in and read, organizing playground clean up days, helping to beautify the parking lot, and helping to set up and clean up for monthly parent meetings and engagement events.
The family’s leadership is defined by their ability to nurture growth, problem-solve with creativity, laughter and inspire those around them, both at home and in the community. Through working with the center staff and the other community agencies, they have learned that every effort is driven by a mission greater than oneself. Over the years, this family has shown tremendous growth in empathy, patience, adaptability, and follow-through. Katrina and Leroy understand that true leadership is not about control, but about empowerment. This family works to ensure that people feel heard, valued, and motivated to create meaningful change. As Katrina reminds our families during parent meetings, strong leadership doesn’t come from position alone, it comes from the heart. A leader thrives on purpose, guided by love, strength, and an unwavering commitment to making the world better.
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