Agent’s effort assists local school

LISA ADAMS/The Acorn GIVING TO THE COMMUNITY-JoAnn Tattersall with Active Real Estate has enabled Hillcrest Christian School in T.O. to communicate from school to parents through a service called PACE.

Westlake Village resident JoAnn Tattersall of Active Real Estate has stepped up her efforts to promote School-Team, a grassroots organization that creates, manages and builds relationships between leading real estate agents and their local kindergarten through 12th-grade community.

Specifically, Tattersall’s partnership with School-Team has provided the Hillcrest Christian School in Thousand Oaks with a valuable school-to-parent communication service called PACE.

PACE currently is being used by schools throughout the nation to improve crisis communications, parental outreach and student attendance.

Tattersall also started the Hillcrest Growth and Public Relations Committee, a volunteer group that helped increase the school’s enrollment by 25 percent.

"As both a parent at the school and a community conscious business person, I know how important community involvement is," Tattersall said. "The difficult part was getting the word out. We had to let the community know what our school has to offer and get local businesses involved in supporting the school."

Trying to get other businesses to help as well, the committee started a networking group. Hillcrest families, friends and local businesses pay $25 to join the group. Members print an advertisement every other week in the school newsletter.

When a member of the group receives business from a Hillcrest Christian family or referral, the business in turn makes a donation back to the school. The committee has raised about $10,000 for the school since September.