After the excitement generated from the recipients of the first
Library Initiative
program, we decided to make a series of small and meaningful grants to continue
to support efforts to improve the quality of childcare and education. We sent a
letter to our eight centers requesting them to submit a proposal about a program
or projects they anticipated for the upcoming year. We asked that the projects
serve children from birth to three years of age.
Based upon the
initiatives that were requested, HMESF allocated $1000 to seven centers to help
fund some of these programs.
We found that each center had a variety of
ways in which they were looking to utilize their funds. For this reason, we did
not want to limit the scope of our donations. We recognized that each
individual center had many unmet needs. We were so excited that our donation
was helping to fulfill these programs.
Below is how each of our centers
utilized the donations:
T.O.P.S for you: Resource materials for training of staff. The money used will train
staff for the on-site nursery as well as for family day care providers.
Kennedy Child
Study Center: During the School week, nearly
99% of the children in the program receive speech therapy and 80% receive
physical and occupational therapies.
With the money the therapists will set up a lending library of
therapeutic equipment so that the work that takes place at the center can be
reinforced in the home.
Union Settlement
Association: Start the Music program is an
introductory music program for 18-20 of the three year old children. Through lively sessions, they will learn
basic rhythms and movement and take part in age-appropriate hands-on lessons
with musical instruments and singing.
The belief is that the benefits of such a program- music instruction has
been showed to contribute to “school readiness assisting in cognitive
development, memory, fine motor skills and more- will be immense.
Women in Need: Women In Need is one of the few agencies that provide childcare in
conjunction with its services. WIN
provides a safe, emotionally responsive environment for children of all ages at
nine sites- seven WIN transitional shelters and at two outpatient substance
abuse treatment centers. WIN knows that
the welfare of children and the knowledge on how to care for children is
central to the success of the family unit.
Helping mothers nurture their children is the primary focus of the
childcare programs.
Help Morris Early
Childcare Program: Subscriptions to educational
magazines and book clubs for staff and Scholastic Weekly Reader and National
Geographic selections for kids
Safe Horizon- Lily
House: Read To Me Class that meets once a week in a
relaxed and playful environment, with children & parents. The program will have a strong language based
pedagogy that will help lay the foundation for speaking and reading as well as
to promote positive mother-child interaction.
Through age appropriate books, stories and fun play, the class will
provide joyful learning opportunities in the areas of vocabulary development,
number sense, social-emotional development and listening
Riverside
Montessori School: a) Dramatic Play
supports children’s language, social-emotional development, creativity and
problem solving skills. A space to be
created in the gym that provides children with these experiences. Includes child-sized pretend materials.
b) Help children develop their scientific minds through exploration
and observation. Provide children with
books, photos and artifacts/small models related to nature and animals. Intent is to create one nature box for
teachers to share. The box would contain
a collection of different topic related materials.
The response was overwhelming from our centers. With great excitement and pride I share some of the responses from the centers upon receiving the grant.
Sister Betty Nickels, the Executive Director of T.O.P.S For You says:
“Each day finds us more and more involved in the development of this wonderful program of Skills training for the Family Day care Provider in the community. With this wonderful grant we will be in the position to hire extra consultants to assist in improving trainings and support for the providers. Know that your gratitude is sincere; and know we are grateful to The Helene Marks Early Start Foundation. Your support translates into great development and peace-filled days for families here in Bushwick.”Bonnie Stone, President and CEO of Women In Need, says:
“WIN can continue to effectively respond to these challenges faced by families in NYC in these uncertain economic times. As always, WIN remains committed to providing a broad scope of high-quality, comprehensive programming to help these families regain their independence. We are sincerely grateful for your renewed confidence and support of the HMESF.”
Peter Gorham, Executive Director of The Kennedy Child Study Center says:
“your grant makes it possible for us to purchase therapeutic equipment for a “lending library” so that the work we do with the children at the center can be reinforced at home. In this way the children will have continuity as they receive speech, physical and occupational therapies, which will accelerate their development. “Dave Nocenti, Executive Director of Union Settlement Association thanks HMESF for
“your generous contribution.”
Furthermore, they attribute their ability to continue to be able to provide a wide array of services and assistance to the local community including childcare classes, to donations such as ours.