tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-346281122024-03-18T23:39:29.886-05:00My HIPPY HIPPY WorldReflections on my job as the Texas HIPPY Director (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters). We bring learning materials into the homes of 1700 families throughout Texas. Our goal is for all Texas Children to be prepared for school success and all parents be their teachers and advocates.
For more information on Texas HIPPY go to our website, www.unt.edu/hippyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-36474701726302525132013-06-04T08:30:00.000-05:002013-06-04T08:30:03.118-05:00Preschool For All - Cost of HIPPY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><b>Queisha Malcom, Dallas HIPPY Home Instructor </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><b>Jakavia and her little cousin LaMaurie, both in HIPPY!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently, President Obama released his proposed <a href="http://www.ed.gov/early-learning" target="_blank">2014 budget request</a>, which included $75Billion over the next decade, to be invested in his "Preschool for All" proposal. I know that's A LOT OF MONEY - but I decided to check out what is proposed for the <a href="http://comptroller.defense.gov/defbudget/fy2014/FY2014_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf" target="_blank">military budget</a> ($640B) and the <a href="http://www.dot.gov/budget/dot-budget-and-performance" target="_blank">Department of Transportation Budget</a> ($77B). How much is the future of our national worth? At least the same as the transportation infrastructure it seems. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we know if we listen to the news, this budget is still being battled contentiously. The proposal is however a good indicator of the president's recognition of the importance of early childhood education. Most exciting to me is that the early learning commitment includes $400M for research based home visiting programming. This means that programs like HIPPY are in line to expand services to meet the need for school readiness in even more communities. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I know you are wondering, what does HIPPY cost?</b> It varies due to different pay scales in different communities. Our 2011 average yearly cost to serve a child in Texas is $1,650. This includes 30 home visits, 6 parent meetings and child enrichment experiences, provided by a trained peer home visitor, supervised and trained by a professional coordinator, utilizing a research based curriculum that provided to parents in their home. </span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-25340434760623365122013-05-21T10:00:00.001-05:002013-05-21T10:00:00.045-05:00Early Childhood Education - Why Business Cares<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Eduardo, one of our HIPPY students in Houston</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to a <a href="http://www.readynation.org/" target="_blank">ReadyNation</a> report, the majority of large chambers and business round tables "have come to see <b>early childhood as an investment in workforce and economic development that yields a high return</b>." This organization seeks to connect insightful members of the business community with the work being done in Early Childhood Education and School Readiness. It makes my heart glad to see that our work is beginning to be recognized as a key to our country's future. ReadyNation has lot of research on their website on the economic effects of the achievement gap in U.S. schools. These effects include lower lifetime earnings, poor health and higher rates of incarceration. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you'd like to add your voice to supporting school readiness, please consider taking the ReadyNation </span><a href="http://www.readynation.org/pledge/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Pledge</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">!</span><br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-16146997968924322042013-05-21T10:00:00.000-05:002013-05-21T10:00:08.115-05:00TAKE 10 Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Irving HIPPY in the Irving Independent School District recently participated in a health and fitness challenge. Once again, this initiative demonstrates how our HIPPY sites add on programming to the core of the HIPPY model, based on local partnerships and needs in the community. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Parents in Irving were challenged to do at least 10 minutes of exercise daily, and nutrition and fitness classes for 12 weeks. They tracked their progress and the top 3 families were awarded prizes such as gift cards and Y-memberships. All families won in a way, because all of them were provided information and experiences that can have lifeline positive effects on their health and well being. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can view a slide show of pictures of this initiative <a href="http://youtu.be/aFCiXeB3G2M" target="_blank">here</a>. Thanks HIPPY Irving and program partners for making our Irving community a healthier place!</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-83088763587010423772013-05-15T09:00:00.000-05:002013-05-15T09:00:13.611-05:00HIPPY Houston starts parent book clubs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Maria Santos, HIPPY Coordinator HISD</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HIPPY program coordinators tailor the program to their community. Recently, HIPPY Houston sought to expand their efforts of increasing parent involvement and literacy through the implementation of book clubs. The first book club to be set up was at Roosevelt Elementary. About 30 parents attended and were eager to discuss the book "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk". This book provides parents with strategies of how to help children solve their own problems, not fix their problems for them. As parents of 3, 4, and 5 year olds our HIPPY parents are faced with many situations where this applies. The HIPPY curriculum itself is full of opportunities for parents to support their child's learning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The book club has been a great success according to HIPPY Coordinator Maria Santos. "The book they chose for the club is easy to read and provides them many useful exercises and tips they can use at home to help their children at school." And parents agreed, including Minerva Salazar who attended. She shared,<b> "The book has helped me better understand my daughter, to be able to look at issues at school from her perspective."</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">The initiative was highlighted in the HISD produced newscast, and can be viewed </span><a href="http://vimeo.com/61361463" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">, it begins at minute 3:10. It was also covered in the Spanish language Educalos segment, </span><a href="https://vimeo.com/61187855" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">. </span><br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-78621896229378395952013-05-09T17:26:00.002-05:002013-05-09T17:26:50.532-05:00Power of Talk<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/the-power-of-talking-to-your-baby/?hp" target="_blank">Image by Rose Blake</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, "the key to early learning is talking — specifically, a child’s exposure to language spoken by parents and caretakers from birth to age 3, the more the better." The author goes on to describe a new initiative in Providence Rhode Island where home visitors will be trained to help parents increase the amount of family conversation in their home. The goal is to increase the number of words per hour, per week and per 3-year old lifetime. Research has found that children who hear more words, and who engage in more conversations do significantly better in school. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All this made me think about how HIPPY supports the power of talk in our families. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The HIPPY curriculum is the key to this. Our HIPPY parents are provided with written materials that suggests specific dialogue for parents to speak to their children. Some educators have challenged us on this method - saying that our materials are too rigid and that parents need to use their own words not a suggested dialogue. In fact, parents learn from the suggested dialogue and adapt it to their own style. The curriculum gives parents a successful strategies for the following:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Questions to ask during and after reading a story</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Giving a child directions and instructions, beginning one step directions for 3 year olds, and onto two and three step instructions as children develop</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How to introduce a new concept to a child</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Giving a child opportunities to share his/her opinions and ideas</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Helping a child identify his/her feelings</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Additionally, while the curriculum begins in a highly structured format, by Age 5 it is quite open ended, expecting parents to apply the techniques on their own. These strategies have ensured that children are exposed to a great deal of conversation and vocabulary, and therefore are highly prepared for school!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read the full New York Times article <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/the-power-of-talking-to-your-baby/?hp" target="_blank">here</a>. </span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-90742246858030674282013-04-19T16:45:00.003-05:002013-04-19T16:49:07.687-05:00One Star Foundation Monitoring Visit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week we hosted our program officers from the Texas OneStar Foundation for three days while they conducted a monitoring visit on Texas HIPPYCorps. In those three short days they visited two of our program sites, interviewed 3 coordinators and many home visitors and saw several home visits. And there's MORE, they also had a chance to meet 7 UNT staff members who are intimately involved in contracts, financial management and accounting for our grant here at UNT. PLUS, they spent quite a bit of time with the <a href="http://blog.texashippy.org/2013/03/new-texas-hippy-family-members.html" target="_blank">Texas HIPPY program staff</a>. A whirlwind of HIPPY!!!! I would like to take the time to thank Houston, Irving, Richardson and Dallas HIPPYCorps programs for your flexibility and responsiveness while we scheduled all this! Our guests were so happy to be able to see where the HIPPY magic happens, and to have a chance to see home visits and members in action! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And now back to our regularly scheduled programming....</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-64347446734672263722013-04-09T09:30:00.000-05:002013-04-09T09:30:04.387-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Brianna's list, Dallas HIPPY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brianna asked her mom to write "Angel" and then she added her own list of words </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">she </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">knows. Reading together, making lists, counting -- these are the things our HIPPY parents do with their children every day. And, these activities are what ensures that students are ready for success in school. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently the Office of the President unveiled their <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/13/fact-sheet-president-obama-s-plan-early-education-all-americans" target="_blank">Birth Through Kindergarten Plan</a>, called "Early Education for All Americans". It includes home visiting! </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In his State of the Union Address, on February 12, 2013, the President shared "</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children…studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own. We know this works. So let’s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So proud of the hard work our coordinators, home visitors, and parents do to make sure that every child we work with is on the right track on the race of life!</span><br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-21188113139235319942013-03-27T11:30:00.000-05:002013-03-27T12:35:51.229-05:00New Texas HIPPY Family Members!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>l-r: Tracie Crosswhite, Keshia Bruno, Carla Mowell</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's about time I introduced you to a new face we have around here. Tracie Crosswhite is the newest, full-time addition we have to our staff. She is in charge of everything fiscal for us - this means she keeps track of our spending, our grant budgets, match from our sites and coordinates the reporting of all that! She started working here back in May and comes to us with 9+ years of experience in grant management at the Mississippi State University. We're so happy to be a complete team again! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, we're so lucky to be at UNT with access to wonderful graduate student workers! Last semester Cami worked with us and this semester we have Mearl Colaco! She's a graduate student in Journalism and will be working on activities related to the MIECHV grant administration. She worked in public media in her native India where she trained young DJs for a community oriented radio station. I'm excited to put her blogging and journalistic credentials to work for HIPPY! Once she gets to know HIPPY better, I'm asking her to write a guest blog about her experiences with us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And a reminder - Keshia Bruno has been with us for over four years and provides support, training and technical assistance to our new and experienced HIPPY programs across the state. And then there's me, Carla Mowell, I can't believe I've been with HIPPY for going on 25 years!!! It's still fun and exciting to me, so I guess I'll stay a while :)</span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-29214739564877779552013-03-19T09:30:00.000-05:002013-03-19T09:30:00.913-05:00Ben Bernanke on Preschool Education<br />
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" 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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ben Bernanke</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ben Bernanke is well known economist. His wife is a teacher and together they have two children. He is also a former school board member. Oh yeah, he's also the current chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. Known as "The Fed", this group establishes the value of the U.S. dollar, and guides policy intended to provide the nation with a stable financial system. Heckuva responsibility, and you would think all he thinks about are interest rates, effects of unemployment, and regulatory questions. You may wonder, what does the Fed or Ben Bernanke have to do with Preschool Education?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, according to Bernanke, <i>"Economically speaking, early childhood programs are a good investment, with inflation-adjusted annual rates of return on the funds dedicated to these programs estimated to reach 10 percent or higher. Very few alternative investments can promise that kind of return." </i>Compare this to a typical investment fund, where a "good" return is around 7%. <b>So, the lead economist of our nation confirms what we've always known, and puts it in dollars - investing in children is the best money we can spend, not only to the benefit of each child, but society as a whole. </b>Here's how Ben Bernanke put it, <i>"When individuals are denied opportunities to reach their maximum potential, it harms not only those individuals, of course, but also the larger economy, which depends vitally on having a skilled, productive workforce. As a result, we all have a stake in the essential work that you are doing for our children."</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can view his entire, short, address to the Children's Defense Fund <a href="http://youtu.be/WTa7mZOqqnE" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-8740343182455478822013-03-14T09:30:00.000-05:002013-03-14T09:30:01.977-05:00Parent Engagement and the Sandy Hook Tragedy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(This is a stock photo I took off the internet to make a point.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today is a mere 3 months since the tragic killing of children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. The initial reactions have simmered down and yet, it's left many parents and educators feeling unsettled and more concerned than ever about school safety. Furthermore, we as a society can't seem to agree on how to ensure it never happens again. I have worked on many school campuses and know that schools cannot become lock tight in terms of security unless we build, treat and resource them like prisons. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of our jobs in HIPPY is to help parents understand the importance of being involved in their child's education at home and at school. Through home visits and our 30 week curriculum we arm parents with the information and skills they need to prepare their child for school. Our ultimate goal is for parents to transition their involvement to the school setting once their child enters Kindergarten. Every week home visitors offer parents volunteer opportunities and ask parents if they volunteered the prior week. We challenge every parent to volunteer a minimum of 20 hours per year - a reachable goal that many of them greatly exceed. While we are busy preparing, encouraging and challenging parents to become more involved, we are sending them into schools that may or may not have the infrastructure, support or atmosphere needed for parent involvement. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Re</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">search has proven that parents' involvement at their child's school is indispensable to the child's education and a prison-like environment would greatly reduce that critically important involvement. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm also concerned that schools should be places that allow children to not only be and feel safe but to also to guard children's innocence. Yet, a prison-like environment creates a sense of fear and insecurity that robs our children of their childhood. Expert advice on how to discuss the tragedy said among other things to "</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4;"><a href="http://www.childrenscolorado.org/news/inthenews/2012-news/talking-to-kids-about-school-shootings.aspx" target="_blank">project stability and calmness in relation to the event</a>." How do we balance age appropriate safety precautions, parent involvement and maintaining safety? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe it benefits us to look at the airline industry (which has plenty of problems too) and how security has developed since the 9-11 attacks. This is what they've come up with: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* A secure periphery (security gates)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* Anonymous spot checking (air marshals)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* Expedited screening for "trusted travelers" who submit to a pre-screening process</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* A culture of alertness (travelers, employees, etc.)</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe all four of these components could be integrated into our planning for school safety. School design and redesign could focus more on safety, the way that airport entrances and access points changed. Safety plans are only as good as their daily implementation - and just as we have fire and tornado drills, we should include safety drills and spot checks from authorized agents. Parents and volunteers already go through screening in most school districts, this along with a safe perimeter would increase safety - we cannot sacrifice parent involvement to our fear. And finally, safety is only as good as all of us are at keeping it and being alert and involved. With all these, and working together, we can make our schools safer without creating a prison setting for our children. </span><br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-59549589488012468842013-03-07T10:30:00.000-06:002013-03-07T12:42:26.050-06:00Preventing Child Abuse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XIdchQuUJ7k/URBlAcJzQLI/AAAAAAAAAB4/UrQgAuuj-jI/s1600/boy.cry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XIdchQuUJ7k/URBlAcJzQLI/AAAAAAAAAB4/UrQgAuuj-jI/s320/boy.cry.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the challenges of working in the field of prevention is figuring out how to "prove" that you've prevented bad things from happening. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For example, how do you prove that you've prevented child abuse? A prevalent theory is that you can work to increase the "protective factors" in a child's life. These factors include family resilience, social support, knowledge of parenting and child development, concrete support in times of need and social and children's attachment. </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By valuing parents, supporting them in every day parenting, responding to family crises, as well as helping parents understand and support their child's growth and development, we can decrease the chances of child abuse or neglect. </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">piloted the Protective Factors survey in a group of new families to see how our services impacted families' ability to cope with stresses of family life. </span><a href="http://parenteducation.unt.edu/sites/default/files/PFSHandout.pdf" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Results </a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of the study showed that "HIPPY parents most at-risk for child abuse and neglect increased statistically significantly in multiple protective factors to prevent child abuse and neglect after their first year of participation". For more information on Texas HIPPY research check out the Center for Parent Education </span><a href="https://parenteducation.unt.edu/texas-hippy" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. For definitions and data on child abuse, mandated reporting and the cost of abuse, check out our partner organization <a href="http://www.texprotects.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abusefacts" target="_blank">TexProtects</a>. And please take a moment to watch compelling <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FXdRN6bXdek#!" target="_blank">testimony </a>from Madeline McClure of TexProtects to our House of Representatives. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-55822021751644935592013-02-26T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-26T10:00:05.672-06:00Something You DON'T Want to Miss!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwyIJAokr9lQNaK1xH7Ywlt5wOySiK4onbe_um5q9WEVbnWVt53y_RwHurj1biyyvaoWQYMhLVDay0' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Sylvia Bougacha, HIPPY National Trainer</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HIPPY provides parents with an opportunity for daily educational activities to do with their preschool children, to prepare them for success in school. While school readiness is our mission, we've also found that the experience of reading and playing together daily also strengthens the bonds between parents and their young children. As Sylvia tells us "it's something that you don't want to miss!". </span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-81980737342561695302013-02-20T10:30:00.000-06:002013-02-20T10:30:00.685-06:00Spotlight Corpus Christi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JCuBkNkr8ms/URBS4WlLBQI/AAAAAAAAABY/ZFCBPoSUDVg/s1600/photo+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JCuBkNkr8ms/URBS4WlLBQI/AAAAAAAAABY/ZFCBPoSUDVg/s400/photo+(2).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The ESC Region 2 HIPPY Team and one proud state director in the middle :)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nueces County (Corpus Christi) is one of our new communities this year, funded through <a href="http://blog.texashippy.org/2013/02/funding-partnership-hhsc.html" target="_blank">MIECHV</a>. This is our first program hosted by an Education Service Center (Region 2) and we're really excited about the resources, network, and visibility that comes with working with a Service Center. This first year they are serving 60 children, primarily within Corpus Christi, but also a few families in outlying areas. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had the wonderful opportunity to visit their site in January and was so impressed with how HIPPY fits into their early childhood education initiatives. One really neat thing they have going on is the </span><a href="http://esa.esc2.net/default.asp" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Early Scholars Academy</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. It's a state of the art, hands on learning center, much like a high quality children's museum, that provides students with learning opportunities in topics such as oceans, community and living things. While most children experience the Academy through a school field trip our lucky HIPPY families will have the opportunity to have a parent and child field trip to this wonderful venue. I can't wait to see pictures!</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-31401260604878626272013-02-12T09:00:00.000-06:002013-02-12T09:00:04.071-06:00Testimony<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After 25 years of working in HIPPY I did something completely new to me! Our partners over at <a href="http://www.texprotects.org/site/PageServer" target="_blank">TexProtects </a>invited the members of the Home Visiting Coalition to testify to the Texas Senate Finance Committee - yikes! Basically they wanted the Committee to hear what we do and the impact we have. I only had three minutes which was hard because I can get talky!!! So, here's what I came up with:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Today you are hearing from several of us. You may be asking yourself, why home visiting? why so many different programs? As we all know, our early influences have a lifelong effect on us. Each of our home visiting programs fills a different need in the communities we serve. By working with parents, in their home, we can have an even greater impact than in a clinical or classroom setting. By doing home visits we meet parents where they are. Home visits allow us to serve the most difficult to reach and isolated parents. Home visits allow us to tailor services to the unique situation of the family. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am here to tell you about our program, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters. Our program focuses on school readiness and parent involvement. We serve 3, 4, and 5 year olds. In an early survey on our families, they owned on average ONE CHILDREN'S BOOK in their home. That means that most had no books, and a few had several books. Using our curriculum, children's books and common household materials, our participating parents learn how to read daily with their children, how to play educational games, and how to set up their home as a learning environment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our home visitors are alumni from our program - they have worked with their own children and are now teaching other parents. Using a 30 week curriculum, parents are taught simple activities that will get their children ready for school. As a result, 91% of our children are ready for Kindergarten according to the Bracken School Readiness Assessment, and 95% are ready according to their Kindergarten teachers. We have tracked our children through high school. We find that early on, for example in 3rd grade, our native Spanish speaking students were able to successfully pass standardized tests in English at he same rate as native English speakers. By 9th grade, the grade with the highest drop out rate in Texas, our students stayed in school and later graduate from high school at a higher rate than students were had not been in the program. Throughout school, our students showed higher attendance rates than the average. All these factors, not only reflect their success in school, they reflect the lifelong influence that that early start has. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every parent can be taught the skills needed to prepare their own child for school. Every child deserves to walk into their k classroom ready to succeed. That's what we do."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So - if you really want to geek out - you can watch the entire testimony, including an adorable little boy from ECI who stole the show :). It's on this <a href="http://www.senate.state.tx.us/avarchive/" target="_blank">link</a>, scroll down to January 31, 2013, my part starts at 4:38, but you need to see the little boy, he's way cuter!</span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-3683889402385988912013-02-04T18:18:00.003-06:002013-02-04T18:20:23.055-06:00Funding Partnership - HHSC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MU2seE-J53Y/URBNMWf6DUI/AAAAAAAAABI/epsc19NGwAM/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MU2seE-J53Y/URBNMWf6DUI/AAAAAAAAABI/epsc19NGwAM/s320/photo.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Carla Mowell (L), Texas HIPPY Director, with Mary Riggs (R), Manager of the Texas Home Visiting Program, Texas Health and Human Services Commission</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've been so fortunate in Texas to have received a substantial federal grant from Health and Human Services - for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, or MIECHV. And, it's been great to make new connections and friends at Texas Health and Human Services, such as Mary! </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MIECHV funding has brought more home visiting (and HIPPY!) into Dallas, Ector, Potter, Cherokee, Gregg, Nueces and Willacy/Hidalgo Counties. 2012-13 was a start up year with staff hired and trained and families recruited over the summer. Full operations began in August and programs are now </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">well underway. It's been really interesting to see HIPPY implemented in a variety of different communities and organizational settings. Several of the new sites are being implemented by organizations that have focused primarily on families with special needs or mental health needs (Potter, Cherokee, Gregg, Willacy/Hidalgo). We also have an Education Service Center (Nueces) as well as a Head Start organization (Ector), and an expansion of an existing school district program (Dallas). Thanks to MIECHV funding, over 450 additional children will be served in Texas this school year!</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-62489172248660727962012-12-18T11:59:00.004-06:002012-12-18T12:00:33.202-06:00HIPPY Holidays!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F8_MT8fqAaM/UNCupEpyhtI/AAAAAAAAAA0/RzeFgD5Wt6E/s1600/image004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F8_MT8fqAaM/UNCupEpyhtI/AAAAAAAAAA0/RzeFgD5Wt6E/s400/image004.jpg" title="Irving HIPPY wishing us all a great holiday season!" width="366" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Irving HIPPY wishing us all a HIPPY Holidays!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Greetings and good wishes to everyone - and Happy 2013! Our 2012 was extremely busy because of the excitement of starting 6 new HIPPY sites throughout the state of Texas! Thanks to funding and partnership with Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) through the Health and Human Services Department we are now serving families in various new corners of our state including:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Corpus Christi and Rio Grande Valley to the south</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">Longview and Cherokee counties to the east</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">Odessa and Amarillo to the west / panhandle</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">we've also expanded Dallas HIPPY!</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-22688634504496628102011-11-29T17:00:00.000-06:002011-11-29T17:00:00.756-06:00Avima Lombard Award Nominations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pb4wr57nbHMA2n5FaWZNwVQCH1bmcWsi0Q0MHAN4a-Ke5zlM21gOJ-8-VItNEQrIV7BM_w0vmGmYAFQUK132f4m3uYQNtjYOplAdVb2DB7BTikomeFcAueSmejsa7F5aqeneKQ/s1600/avima-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pb4wr57nbHMA2n5FaWZNwVQCH1bmcWsi0Q0MHAN4a-Ke5zlM21gOJ-8-VItNEQrIV7BM_w0vmGmYAFQUK132f4m3uYQNtjYOplAdVb2DB7BTikomeFcAueSmejsa7F5aqeneKQ/s320/avima-1.jpg" width="284" /></a></div>
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Avima Lombard, 1926-2008</div>
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The Avima D. Lombard Award honors a HIPPY staff person at a local, state, or national program office in the United States whose professional services have made a significant contribution to HIPPY and to improving the lives of young children and their families. The awardees embody Avima's proactive, risk taking and determined approach to work. They have been involved with the HIPPY program in the United States, and continue to support the mission of HIPPY USA.<br />
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What is Avima's legacy? Well, after graduating from Cornell University she got her master's degree at Columbia Teacher's College, and then on to UCLA for her PhD. This same dedication to education is found in all of our HIPPY home visitors who balance home, work and college and are taking classes at local universities and community colleges. Once Avima finished her PhD, she served as a professor of Early Childhood Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and as the Director of Early Childhood Research and Projects for the National Council of Jewish Women Research Institute for Innovation in Education - quite the mouthful! This same dedication to research and practice is found in the countless evaluators and researchers who work hard to assess the efficacy of the HIPPY program model, and the hundreds of HIPPY Coordinators and Administrators who work tirelessly to implement the program model in communities across the US and the world. <br />
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The Avmina D. Lombard Award will be presented at the HIPPY USA National Conference. The deadline for submissions is January 13, 2012 - consider nominating someone who is carrying on Avima's legacy. For more information, check the HIPPY USA <a href="http://www.hippyusa.org/national_conference_avima_award_nomination.php">website</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-88731473339155571892011-11-22T17:43:00.000-06:002011-11-22T17:43:00.117-06:00HIPPY Model "approved"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HIPPY was one of only seven home visiting models that meet the research based criteria for inclusion in Federal funding through the Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home Visiting program, MIECHV. In Texas, this means that 7 communities will be implementing HIPPY as well as other approved Home Visiting programs. The Texas Department of Health and Human Services submitted a state plan to provide home visiting services to 7 counties in Texas. Community meetings were held to roll out the opportunity, in the following communities: Dallas, Longview, Jacksonville, Odessa, Amarillo, McAllen and Corpus Christi. HIPPY was a match for each of these communities based on their demonstrated need for home visiting and school readiness. The request for proposals is due to come out soon, and each community has been asked to consider submitting a coordinated response. Home visiting programs HIPPY, Parents as Teachers and Nurse Family Partnership will be co-hosting weekly phone calls to provide communities with information about the program models and how a community can coordinate services through this funding. Very exciting and busy times are ahead as HIPPY and other home visiting programs move forward with adding program sites! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">If you are from one of these communities and would like more information, please check out our Texas Home Visiting Blog: <a href="http://txhv.blogspot.com/">http://txhv.blogspot.com/</a>, or contact me, <a href="mailto:carla.weir@unt.edu">carla.weir@unt.edu</a>. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-594748839877041762011-11-01T18:30:00.000-05:002011-11-01T18:30:49.791-05:00When is it time to take away the pacifier?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgmg62-8TDscoStu5DeUspI8PkQNTALV7X634W8vnNMAOWw5XKzE5tPTaRPRFySFXnMqWWLUnYJ5-EghxPKitmpPcV2qPDY5b92pC6gReVgWH0RghyphenhyphenjfqL6swjjRdv14oFbQqTA/s1600/493650300_c1554e216c_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgmg62-8TDscoStu5DeUspI8PkQNTALV7X634W8vnNMAOWw5XKzE5tPTaRPRFySFXnMqWWLUnYJ5-EghxPKitmpPcV2qPDY5b92pC6gReVgWH0RghyphenhyphenjfqL6swjjRdv14oFbQqTA/s320/493650300_c1554e216c_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(photo <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/86563412@N00/493650300/in/photostream">credit</a>) </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dentists say that the pacifier can <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/12/011224083205.htm">damage a child's bite</a>. Pediatricians tell us that most children stop using a pacifier on their own between <a href="http://consumer.healthday.com/encyclopedia/article.asp?AID=646324">ages 2 and 4</a>. Some research has even shown that pacifiers may <a href="http://www.sids-network.org/risk.htm">reduce the incidence</a> of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS - which is dramatically reduced by 6 months regardless of pacifier use. That may be the best time to remove the pacifier for good (any benefit from it has already been gained and detriment to dental health can be avoided). For many parents though, myself included, the pacifier is a self soothing tool that becomes their child's habit into the toddler and early preschool years. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remember struggling with this question myself. My younger daughter (now a college freshman!!!) was a pacifier baby. I was really worried about weaning her from it so I came up with a plan to make it happen before she entered Pre-K. That summer, we spent a lot of time planning for school, including planning to give up the pacifier. I asked her if she had noticed any of the children in her sister's Kindergarten class using a pacifier. We talked a lot about how it would be without the pacifier and tried to practice sleeping without it. With our big day approaching we were all a little nervous. Fortunately, her sister was only two grades above her and she was going to the same school. Her first day went smoothly and that night as I was tucking her in, she knew that it would be without her pacifier. With big tears in her eyes she said, "it's ok Mama, I'll always have my thumb" and popped that thumb in her mouth! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry...she was struggling to make that sacrifice, and yet her little problem solving genious created a new problem!!! It wasn't until several years later that she gave up the thumb! The good thing was that she knew (from all our conversations about the pacifier) that she couldn't suck her thumb at school. <strong>So, when is it time to take away the pacifier? </strong></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Undoubtably a pacifier can interfere with a child's ability to speak. For that reason, I believe it's very important to begin weaning a child from a pacifier, at least during waking hours, early on. Giving a child the opportunity to speak is key to their language development and social development. This will have a great impact on their school readiness and their social interactions. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The HIPPY program provides parents with </span><a href="http://www.hippyusa.org/the_hippy_model_curriculum.php" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">daily activities</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to engage their children in school readiness skills. We encourage and inform parents how to read stories, play games, sing songs, count and so many other fun readiness activities. And, we help parents with questions they may have such as "when is it time to take away the pacifier?" Many times there's no "one way" to answer, but having someone to have this conversation with is a great resource!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-47377754449235091602011-08-10T11:43:00.002-05:002011-08-10T11:43:00.336-05:00Strong Start Strong Finish<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM0e-sqbAjH2xSAb4oJd68RgZ9Ubpdu3sasglfv26AmXUU2QnkcfZ2cwgsZ5v5JQiHunhMdijHG1M_NHBy33cJqMK-FydKBfPAEOtOMvYyYKtCdNz_rhvZZWIU7pk4Lm5ZbJzpKw/s1600/2389209300_338c689e4e_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM0e-sqbAjH2xSAb4oJd68RgZ9Ubpdu3sasglfv26AmXUU2QnkcfZ2cwgsZ5v5JQiHunhMdijHG1M_NHBy33cJqMK-FydKBfPAEOtOMvYyYKtCdNz_rhvZZWIU7pk4Lm5ZbJzpKw/s320/2389209300_338c689e4e_b.jpg" t$="true" width="320" /></a></div>Social science research is connecting the dots between a child's successful start in early childhood and graduation from high school. It's probably been about a decade since third grade became THE benchmark year. The data became irrefutable that if a child is reading not on grade level by the third grade, their odds of graduating high school were four times less than if there were on level. In a report out of Maryland, children who were doing well in Kindergarten, were school ready, were eight times more likely to read on grade level when they reached third grade. See those dots being connected? If you're interested in more details read the recent <a href="http://www.aecf.org/KnowledgeCenter/Publications.aspx?pubguid={EBC84A89-722A-4985-9E5D-7AB0803CB178}">report</a> from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-90289558775724454592011-08-03T08:32:00.003-05:002011-08-03T08:32:00.314-05:00Career Expo 2011<div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyprogram/5813565823/" title="Career Expo 2011"><img alt="Career Expo 2011 by hippyprogram" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2797/5813565823_d5e274a39b.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyprogram/5813565823/">Career Expo 2011</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyprogram/">hippyprogram</a> on Flickr.</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: small;">Opportunities can be stressful! Our home visitors have the opportunity to go to college using their AmeriCorps education award, of up to approximately $9,000 (if they serve four part time terms). To help them get started, we host an annual career information day, called Career Expo, hosted at Irving ISD this year. We asked representatives from various fields to speak on a panel detailing their education, skills, experiences, greatest challenges and how they got started. Home visitors also had the opportunity to experience a mock interview, have their resume reviewed and to enroll in the online AmeriCorps member system to track and use their education award. Thanks to everyone who came out for this event, volunteered to mock interview, served on the panel and especially to Irving HIPPY for hosting!</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-47237868784330538862011-07-27T14:10:00.002-05:002011-11-01T18:16:30.249-05:00DC HIPPY - new start up!<div style="line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyprogram/5814144346/" title="DC HIPPY - new start up!"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="DC HIPPY - new start up! by hippyprogram" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/5814144346_21fdfa9f61.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyprogram/5814144346/">DC HIPPY - new start up!</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyprogram/">hippyprogram</a> on Flickr.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Helping new programs start up is among the favorite things I get to do in my work with HIPPY. Taking HIPPY from concept to implementation is a monumental task in any community. It requires funding, research, partnership building, hiring a coordinator, recruiting families, hiring home visitors. And, these tasks are generally done by busy people already working a full time job. In the case of Family Place DC HIPPY, a non profit organization working with Spanish speaking immigrant families in the heart of DC, it was an organization wide effort. The start up phase culminated in the 3 days I spent training the new coordinator and home visitors, followed immediately by their first week visiting families. Starting up in May is highly unusual but with some creative scheduling and a lot of hard work by staff and families, the program cycle will be complete by early Fall and ready to restart another cycle. Congratulations to everyone at Family Place in DC for getting HIPPY started!</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-61093276084547795392011-07-20T13:56:00.000-05:002011-07-20T13:56:00.283-05:00What a Difference a Decade Makes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9TiM8XvKoRllB0hnZJNTy-sJnEReLy_7hg1ElfSW9Fk1ct2Vx9K0m1oeemHJ3GSPwEpbXk955NRm__DKD8MHMOYVE3KW9XxeoWJcoOIG4PX8Rsylurd2tuFpJwftZixCV5IXbA/s1600/susan.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9TiM8XvKoRllB0hnZJNTy-sJnEReLy_7hg1ElfSW9Fk1ct2Vx9K0m1oeemHJ3GSPwEpbXk955NRm__DKD8MHMOYVE3KW9XxeoWJcoOIG4PX8Rsylurd2tuFpJwftZixCV5IXbA/s1600/susan.bmp" /></a></div>Our office manager and keeper of all things fiscal for HIPPY AmeriCorps, Susan Blackburn, is retiring at the end of August. I would like to thank Susan for her hard work and dedication during her decade of service and wish her the very best in her new adventures as a retiree. I asked her to share with us her own reflections from her time with HIPPY Texas, which are below.<br />
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"Ten years ago I began working with an AmeriCorps program called 'HIPPY'. I had no idea what a life changing event I was entering and how many times I would be asked to take a leap of faith and trust the funding would be there, a place to house the project would be found and all the other challenges coming with a grant funded project. Each time the challenge was met and, with team work, the program has overcome most obstacles placed in its way. In facing these obstacles I became stronger and more determined HIPPY would persevere. <br />
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It had always been my dream to join the Peace Corps and do something special with my time on this planet. My connection to the AmeriCorps program has given me a chance to fulfill that dream and far exceeded all expectations. I have seen families change, parent / child bonds formed, learned and lived the phase “si se puede”. All of the lives I have been welcomed into have added so much to mine, there are no words to express the depth of feeling in my heart as I write these words. <br />
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I wish to thank everyone who has participated in my growing process these last ten years and my inclusion in the HIPPY / AmeriCorps family; together we can change the world one child, one parent, one teacher, one school, one neighborhood at a time. A part of me will be with you always, my role is changing, my dedication to the program is unchanged."<br />
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Again, Thank you Susan! from Carla, Keshia and all the Texas HIPPY Gang.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-51836357204511546322011-07-13T09:54:00.002-05:002011-11-01T18:17:36.362-05:00Giving Credit Where Credit is Due<div align="center" style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyprogram/5814155044/" title="Curriculum Training"><img alt="Curriculum Training by hippyprogram" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2802/5814155044_98d99fbd1f.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyprogram/5814155044/">Curriculum Training</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyprogram/">hippyprogram</a> on Flickr.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The HIPPY model provides parents in the program with the opportunity to serve as home visitors. This is often the first work experience, or the first professional experience for our alumni parents. With training, support and supervision they provide high quality educational home visits to their peers and neighbors. Through our AmeriCorps grant they earn a scholarship which gives them the opportunity to go to college. Again, this is a first for most of our parents and home visitors. As described by Kathy White, our coordinator in Snyder, TX "Our HIPPY Home Instructors have gone from being a parent in the program, to obtaining a GED, enrolling in college and finishing two years with future plans of becoming teachers!” Their experience as home visitors provides them with marketable skills. One of my dreams is to be able to package these experiences into college credit. Their weekly training, 2-3 hours of examining the skills taught in the HIPPY curriculum that week in the context of child development, along with periodic trainings add up to over 100 hours of "classroom" time a year. <a href="http://www.clasp.org/">CLASP</a>, a national research and policy organization that focuses on education, employment and poverty issues, recently published their recommendations to create a national "competency based qualifications framework for post-secondary education and training". The <a href="http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Giving-Credit.pdf">report</a> is Giving Credit Where Credit is Due and if realized it would create exactly the right system which would recognize on the job work experience such as HIPPY!</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34628112.post-60806226192149668792011-07-06T15:49:00.000-05:002011-07-06T15:49:00.158-05:00Common Core and HIPPY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYEswZLWwhdtRwW9bYMjqpJBxE8UBc7X3g-MG0Avf0ahB1HJXuIDYIFvTj-jQVJGV2u7tIhPoG0wAOCEfWpCdgEdw9ktx1ea2D7uEYO2f5Q-xOwDIba58P5Ceh1gA3m7RshRSluw/s1600/P3110091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYEswZLWwhdtRwW9bYMjqpJBxE8UBc7X3g-MG0Avf0ahB1HJXuIDYIFvTj-jQVJGV2u7tIhPoG0wAOCEfWpCdgEdw9ktx1ea2D7uEYO2f5Q-xOwDIba58P5Ceh1gA3m7RshRSluw/s320/P3110091.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(HIPPY Curriculum used in a home visit)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>The <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core</a> is a new set of national education standards that have been coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). It details grade by grade knowledge and skills that America's children should learn. It begins in Kindergarten (wish it were Pre-K!) and focuses on Math and English throughout all grades. The general public might be surprised that we don't <strong>already</strong> have national standards. For parents, the big question is "what does my child need to know?", and the National PTA has a <a href="http://www.pta.org/KFeb4.pdf">guide</a> for us. <br />
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We recently had a meeting in Little Rock to review the HIPPY curriculum and outline criteria for changes and upgrades to the Age 3 and Age 4 materials. We used the Common Core to guide our discussions and ensure that any changes we suggest are made in accordance with these new national guidelines.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0