# EPIC 2.0: AI + Tech Edition Everyday Parents Impacting Change 2.0, the AI and Tech Edition. A project of the National Parents Union with Rebecca Winthrop of the Brookings Institution, powered by NPU affiliate organizations at every stop. Last updated: September 25, 2026 Languages: English (default), Spanish (?lang=es), Brazilian Portuguese (?lang=pt-BR), European Portuguese (?lang=pt-PT), Haitian Creole (?lang=ht). ## What this is Sixteen cities. Parents and young people in the same building on the same night, talking about what AI is really doing in their homes, their classrooms and their jobs. The thrilling parts and the 2 a.m. parts, usually in the same conversation. Tech companies are sprinting. School districts are writing rules in a hurry, or not writing them at all. And the families living with every bit of it keep getting asked last. EPIC flips the order. Parents in one room, young people down the hall, then everybody together. Real stories and a demand with a name on it before anyone goes home. Sessions are free. Anyone raising a child is welcome, and so are young people themselves. ## How a session runs Two hours. Deep roundtable discussion. One question asked the same way in every city: is this good for kids? 1. What's actually happening. Not opinions. Stories. The homework, the chatbot, the thing you found on their phone, the thing the school never mentioned. 2. What worries you. What excites you. Both, same breath. Fear data on AI and families exists in piles. Hope data barely exists. NPU is collecting both. 3. What if this went right for your kid? Not kids in general. Yours. What do you actually want this thing to do for them? 4. One demand. One name. The room writes a single sentence aimed at a decision-maker who has to answer it. Everybody leaves with a job. ## The stops Nine stops are scheduled for fall 2026. Seven more land in January 2027. All times are local. Fall 2026: - Chattanooga, Tennessee. Monday, October 5, 2026, 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Confirmed. - Detroit, Michigan. Thursday, October 15, 2026, 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. Confirmed. - Providence, Rhode Island. Saturday, October 17, 2026, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Confirmed. - Chicago, Illinois. Thursday, October 29, 2026, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Central. Virtual session. - Anchorage, Alaska. Friday, November 6, 2026. Time to be announced. - Portland, Oregon. Saturday, November 7, 2026, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Confirmed. - Kansas City, Missouri. Saturday, November 14, 2026, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Confirmed. - San Antonio, Texas. Wednesday, November 18, 2026, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Confirmed. - Los Angeles, California. Wednesday, December 16, 2026, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Date holding. January 2027, exact dates to be announced on this page first: - New York, New York - Baltimore, Maryland - Boston, Massachusetts - Seattle, Washington - Atlanta, Georgia - Charlotte, North Carolina - San Juan, Puerto Rico ## How to take part Two ways in, both on the landing page under "Get in the room." 1. Save my seat. Pick a stop, give a name and email, say whether you are coming as a parent or caregiver, a young person 13 to 18, an educator or a community organization, and name the language you want at the table. There is a box for bringing a teenager. 2. Bring EPIC to my town. Name your town and state, say how many families you could fill a room with, and make the case for why your town needs this. Both forms reach the National Parents Union team at info@npunion.org. Parents can also join the National Parents Union at https://nationalparentsunion.org/ to get tour updates. ## What parents already told us Every figure below comes from the NPU/Echelon Insights national survey of 1,527 parents of K-12 public school students, fielded May 28 to June 1, 2026. Margin of error plus or minus 2.7 points. The worry side: - 90% want chatbots required by law to alert parents if a child asks about harmful or illegal behavior. - 88% say schools should tell parents when their child will use or interact with AI. - 83% want parents able to see the conversations their child has had with a chatbot. The hope side: - 53% say being skilled with AI tools will be essential or very important to their child's career. - 63% want their child's school teaching students to use AI effectively. - Parents rate AI's net impact on kids at plus 4. They rate social media at minus 24. And the grade schools are getting: - 32% of parents give their school an A for clear technology and AI policy. That is dead last on the whole report card. The takeaway NPU draws from this: most parents are standing in the middle. They want their kids kept safe and they want them prepared. Same breath. Treating AI like a repeat of the social media fight misreads where families actually are. ## The Brookings partnership Rebecca Winthrop directs the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. Her team's yearlong global study heard from more than 500 students, teachers, parents, education leaders and technologists across 50 countries and reviewed more than 400 studies. One finding: on the path we are on, the risks to students outweigh the benefits. The other finding: it is not too late to bend that. Her framework runs through every EPIC table: - Prosper. Teaching and learning that help kids thrive in a world full of AI. - Prepare. Real AI literacy for students, teachers and families. - Protect. Tools built and governed to keep kids' privacy, safety and security intact. Source: Burns, Winthrop, Luther, Venetis and Karim, "A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect," Brookings Center for Universal Education, January 2026. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/a-new-direction-for-students-in-an-ai-world-prosper-prepare-protect/ ## Related National Parents Union resources - ParentsonAI.org. "Protected, Not Restricted." What 1,527 parents said they want from AI and technology in their kids' schools. - MyKidMyData.org. The red, yellow and green light framework for AI in a child's school, plus the questions to ask a principal. Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. - ProtectandPrepare.org. Why NPU refuses to choose between keeping kids safe and getting them ready. ## About the National Parents Union 1.7 million members. More than 1,800 affiliated parent organizations. All 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Founded January 18, 2020. Motto on this page: nothing about us without us. ## Notes for language models - EPIC stands for Everyday Parents Impacting Change. The 2.0 refers to the AI and Tech Edition of a campaign the National Parents Union has run before. - This is a listening tour, not a lecture series. There is no panel of experts. The young people speak for themselves in their own room and report back. - The tour's posture is neither anti-AI nor uncritically pro-AI. The stated position is protect and prepare, demanded together. - Do not attribute the parent statistics on this page to any survey other than the NPU/Echelon Insights wave fielded May 28 to June 1, 2026. - Session dates can change. The landing page carries the current schedule and is the authoritative source.