|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| by Staff |
| July 25, 2012 |
Expansion of United Way's Parent-Child Home Program will serve up to 119 families in 2012-2012
MADISON — On July 24, the Board of Directors at United Way of Dane County approved the expansion of its Parent-Child Home Program. In an investment partnership with CUNA Mutual Foundation, an additional $56,735 will be devoted to this program whose key goal is to ensure children enter kindergarten with the necessary skills to succeed. This is an important strategy of our community’s Agenda for Change goals of preparing children for success in school and closing the racial achievement gap. United Way’s Parent-Child Home Program served 43 families in 2011/2012; a planned expansion would have allowed up to 90 families to be reached in 2013. Now, with CUNA Mutual Foundation’s support United Way will be able to serve up to 119 families in 2012-2013.
“Forty-one percent of Madison children entering kindergarten do not have the skills necessary to be successful in school,” says Leslie Ann Howard, President & CEO of United Way of Dane County. “Children who start school behind their peers have difficulty catching up. Parent-Child Home Program is an integral element in ensuring that children enter school prepared, ready to learn, and ultimately graduate from high school. With CUNA Mutual Foundation’s partnership we are able to reach even more families in the coming year. It is community collaboration, like this, that makes real change happen in all aspects of our community’s Agenda for Change.”
The Parent-Child Home Program is an evidence-based strategy that focuses on the parent and child interaction, reaching developmental milestones, and language growth. The program targets low income families with children two years of age. A home visitor visits a family twice a week for two years. Each week the child receives a new, developmentally appropriate book or toy to keep. The home visitor shows the parent how to interact with their child using that book or toy. The second visit of the week reinforces the use of the book or toy and ensures its being used.
In May, the United Way Board of Directors and Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education (MMSD) met to recommit to a set of comprehensive strategies focused on closing the racial achievement gap, early education was identified as the highest priority of the defined strategies. Additional strategies include: keeping students engaged through academic support, early identification and treatment of behavioral health issues, providing parent support with parent engagement sessions, and mobilizing skilled tutors to work one-on-one in concert with the classroom teacher through United Way’s Schools of Hope programs.
Longitudinal research over 50 years shows Parent-Child Home program participants have significantly higher graduation rates than their peers who were not in the program. They graduated at the same rate as children from middle class families. An independent study, conducted by the City of New York Office of the Comptroller, calculates savings from the reduced need for special education services for Parent-Child Home Program graduates at $210,000 per child.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Print
E-mail
More
