News

The Seattle Times, 1/3/18   300 more Seattle-area families to join program that helps them teach their toddlers


The United Way of King County recently awarded $1.5 million to expand a program that helps low-income parents teach their toddlers using educational books and toys.

About 1,000 low-income families in Seattle and King County were enrolled last year in a home-visiting program that helps parents prepare their toddlers for kindergarten.

Now, with a boost in funding from the city and county, the United Way of King County estimates its latest round of grants for the Parent-Child Home Program will boost the number of families served to about 1,300 this year and 1,400 next year.

Thirteen community-based organizations will split $1.5 million to expand the Parent-Child program, which pairs families with home-visitors who teach parents how to get the most educational value out of playing with and reading to their 2- and 3-year-olds. Several will focus on helping families who no longer can afford to live in Seattle and who lack stable housing, said Karen Howell-Clark, United Way’s senior director of education strategies.

The YWCA, for example, will recruit homeless families, Howell-Clark said, while El Centro de la Raza, which works with a lot of Spanish-speaking residents, will expand its Parent-Child program to southern parts of the county where its families are moving. Other agencies, Howell-Clark added, may work with local housing authorities.

As part of the program, home visitors spend 30 minutes twice a week with families, showing parents how to use a book or toy to build their children’s language and literacy skills.

A recent study of Parent-Child’s impact in King County found that participating children were more likely to be ready for kindergarten and have stronger English skills than other students in Washington. They also continue performing at a higher level in reading and math by the third grade, according to the study.

Please click here to read more on The Seattle Times.

SHARE

Related Resources

January 29, 2024

Thinking Outside The Box: Washington State Program Visits IKEA for Inspiration...

The Washington State ParentChild+ team took their staff on a field trip to IKEA this fall as part of their regularly scheduled professional development for Program Coordinators. Participating staff were given a budget of $15 and a prompt to find items they could incorporate into their home visiting…

November 16, 2023

Blog from WA State Director Pamela Williams: Exploring Unconscious Bias & Colorism in Infant ...

Pamela Williams, Washington State Director, wrote this blog piece for Start Early titled Exploring Unconscious Bias and Colorism in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. Pamela spoke at the 2023 ParentChild+ Conference, and at the 18th World Congress for the WAIMH World Association for Infant Mental Health in…

October 4, 2018

Home Visitors: The Real Reason We’re Making Progress In Early Learning...

United Way of King County Blog, 9/26/18 United Way believes that when parents become their children’s first and best teachers, kids start school on a path to success. BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? It means more than providing a safe place to live, sleep and play. It means…

September 20, 2018

Nearly 70% of Yakima County kids not ready for kindergarten...

KIMA Action News, 9/18/18    WEST VALLEY, Wash. — Katie Horton is a Kindergarten teacher at Ahtanum Valley Elementary School. She says its pretty easy to tell which of her students went to preschool and which didn’t, based on things like math and reading. Experts say only about…

January 3, 2018

The Seattle Times, 1/3/18   300 more Seattle-area families to join program that helps them teach ...

The United Way of King County recently awarded $1.5 million to expand a program that helps low-income parents teach their toddlers using educational books and toys. About 1,000 low-income families in Seattle and King County were enrolled last year in a home-visiting program that helps parents prepare their…

December 23, 2016

The Seattle Times, 12/23/16   Teaching in King County’s living rooms: Parent coaches share what ...

What have two women learned about childhood development from working with the Parent-Child Home Program, which sent them into the living rooms and kitchens of some of King County’s poorest homes? The key to the success of King County’s Parent-Child Home Program, featured Wednesday in The Seattle Times,…

December 23, 2016

The Seattle Times, 12/21/16   Teaching parents how to teach their toddlers: Seattle-area program ...

Nearly a decade before Seattle voters agreed in 2014 to subsidize a preschool program for the city’s families, a small, pilot effort for even younger children debuted in 106 living rooms across King County. Organizers approached parents with a simple sales pitch: Did they want help preparing their…

June 1, 2016

Two Cities, Two Children, Two Very Different Paths...

Ella is three months old, a firstborn child. She lives with her family in Seattle zip code 98118 in the Rainier Beach neighborhood in the city’s far southeast corner. Her mom and dad both work two jobs to make ends meet but still fight to rise above the…

May 24, 2016

WATCH: 4-year-olds celebrate their Graduation Day...

It was Graduation Day for 4-year-old kids, complete with caps and gowns. These children were enrolled in King County’s Parent-Child Home Program — a preview of things to come as the county’s “Best Start for Kids” initiative was passed by voters last fall. One mom says her son’s…

February 9, 2015

Parent-Child Home Program in Renton, WA featured in The Renton Reporter...

“As a young, single parent, Janiesha said it’s difficult to know how to teach her children new things, but the program has helped. Maliyah likes the educational games her home visitor brings and she’s learning the alphabet and her numbers.” Congratulations to Atlantic Street Center and United Way of…

October 13, 2014

United Way Writes Supplement Published in Puget Sound...

Launching its campaign for expansion in King County, WA, the United Way wrote a supplement published in the Puget Sound Business Journal titled Failure is not an option. To read the full report, please click here.   Click here to see PCHP’s profile on Charity Navigator’s website.

October 1, 2010

United Way of King County, WA to Expand Parent-Child Home Program...

About six and a half years ago, a coalition of business leaders, determined to find a way to insure that Seattle would have a strong, sustainable, skilled workforce in the future, created the Business Partnership for Early Learning (BPEL) and began researching the most effective way to achieve…