News

The Buffalo News, 5/24/18   On-the-job training for society’s most important task


 

It is the hardest – and most important – job in the world.

Yet there is no instruction manual and there are no minimum qualifications.

Instead, parents are left to figure it out for themselves when raising a child – a hit-and-miss approach whose shortcomings are all too apparent.

That is what makes the King Urban Life Center’s Parent-Child Home Program so invaluable.

The initiative – a national program that the King Center adopted in 2002 – sends trained “home visitors” for a half-hour twice a week during the school year for two years to help parents learn how best to help their kids. The visitors bring a book, educational toy or game and model for the parent how to use the tool to help the child progress.

“These books or toys become the center of an educational environmental in the home,” said program coordinator Lisa Alexander. That’s critical because a lot of homes in Buffalo don’t have such teaching tools.

The materials also reflect the family’s culture so that the children can see themselves in the stories, Alexander said, which is particularly important because most in the program are families of color.

“She learned a lot,” Yesenia Santiago said of her 4-year-old daughter, Yamilette, who dashed into the living room of the family’s West Side home to demonstrate her reading skills and then disappeared. Yamilette has already graduated from the program, and her mother said, “the teacher in pre-K at Frank Sedita (Academy) said she’s really advanced.”

Santiago is hoping for the same kind of boost for her 2-year-old son, Jomar Perez, who has learned colors and shapes while working with home visitor Vanessa Birmingham.

The program currently serves about 40 families per year, but has reached as many as 60, depending on funding, which comes from such disparate entities as the United Way and the Community Foundation, to the City of Buffalo and even the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, which kicked in some asset forfeiture funds.

 

“The parent is our true target.” – Lisa Alexander

Please click here to read the full article on The Buffalo News.

SHARE

Related Resources

September 28, 2023

NY State Director Andre Eaton Attends NY Book Forum Panel A Lapse In Literacy: How We Fight Back...

September 20, 2023 New York Book Forum held a discussion at Scholastic Inc. featuring Andre Eaton, New York State Director, ParentChild +; Jill Hardy Heath, President and CEO, Heart of America; and Tami Mount, M. Ed., Senior Director, WETA / Reading Universe. The conversation was moderated by Deimosa…

August 9, 2021

When An Educator Is More Than A Teacher...

Read here as ParentChild+ is featured in our Jericho Road Community Health Center site’s summer newsletter.  

May 25, 2018

The Buffalo News, 5/24/18   On-the-job training for society’s most important task...

  It is the hardest – and most important – job in the world. Yet there is no instruction manual and there are no minimum qualifications. Instead, parents are left to figure it out for themselves when raising a child – a hit-and-miss approach whose shortcomings are all…

August 30, 2017

The Buffalo News, 8/30/17   Advocates fear fund cutoff for low-income early childhood program...

Valentino Shine Jr. was a senior at Medaille College when his oldest son was born. He remembers taking him to some of his classes a decade ago, but knows a decision he made when both his sons were 3 years old has been key to their early academic…

August 14, 2017

The Buffalo News, 8/13/17   Program teaches Buffalo parents how to prepare kids for school...

Three-year-old Alicia Wityee picked up an alphabet block from the back of a wooden toy truck and showed it to her mom. “I?” she asked. Her mother, Lalpan Mawii, took a peek. “Look at it again,” she told her daughter. “T,” Alicia said, barely audibly. “Louder. I can’t…

December 2, 2014

PCHP’s site at the King Urban Life Center in Buffalo featured as a Bright Spot...

PCHP’s site at the King Urban Life Center  in Buffalo has been featured as a Bright Spot by the Campaign for Grade – Level Reading. The article compares PCHP early literacy specialists to Mister Rodgers because they engage in warm and engaging conversation! The piece also highlights a study…

March 15, 2011

Ice Cream You Scream: The Parent Child-Home Program Ice Cream Social...

Jessica Rivera and her sons at the Parent Child-Home Program Ice Cream Social Students and families in the Parent Child-Home Program at The Belle Center enjoyed an evening of free ice cream, books & fun family activities at its recent ice cream social event! The Belle Center is…

March 5, 2011

Ice Cream You Scream: The Parent Child-Home Program Ice Cream Social...

Jessica Rivera and her sons at the Parent Child-Home Program Ice Cream Social Students and families in the Parent Child-Home Program at The Belle Center enjoyed an evening of free ice cream, books & fun family activities at its recent ice cream social event! The Belle Center is…

November 27, 2010

United Way Program Gives Children, Parents, Tools to Stimulate Learning...

Home visitors help families prepare youngsters for school By Charlie Specht Seven years ago, Kimberly Sanders had a lot on her plate. Working as a nurse for Kaleida Health and going to school to earn an education degree, the single mother of three children from Buffalo’s East Side…