2002 Celebration
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2002 Celebration |
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Colorado Programs Amigos de la Comunidad
Program Descriptions Amigos de la Comunidad Contact The program’s components include a Parent Leadership Training Initiative, an annual ten-week session designed to develop leadership skills and incorporate strategies for increased parental involvement; Breakfast with the Principle, a bimonthly meeting linking parents, school personnel, and community members in discussion of school and community issues; the Ancianos Project, a monthly intergenerational exchange of family histories, customs, traditions, and values with classroom visits by Latino elders from the community; Family Nights, semiannual trips to cultural events outside the community; and an annual Community Walk and School Supply Drive, in which school personnel, community volunteers, and parents coordinate with local school supply drives and Latino organizations to deliver school supplies to each student. Special programs for parents, conducted in both English and Spanish, include school-sponsored immigration and naturalization workshops and the Strengthening Families curriculum, which addresses parents’ concerns, ranging from gang violence to teen pregnancy to establishing better communication skills. The development of parental leadership skills culminated in the Chaffee Park Initiative. A group of mothers from the Smedley school held a meeting to assess community interest in decreasing alcohol consumption, preventing gang violence, and improving park sanitation in Chaffee Park, located across the street from the school. With help from LARASA, the Center for Third World Organizing, and the Sunniside United Neighbors Organization, the parents cleaned up the park, creating a safer environment for students. The program is expanding with Proyecto Educar, an educational initiatives program with an advisory committee comprised of Latino educators from area school and universities. In addition, LARASA will develop a comprehensive curriculum on delivering culturally competent teaching methods to Latino students through its Cultural Competency Training Institute for Educators. Family Star Infant Parent Education Centers and Contact: In 1988, a small but passionate group of northeast Denver parents and educators were determined to stop the spiraling decline of their community and to provide their young children with a healthy future. They worked together to successfully close down a crack house located across the street from the local elementary school and renovated the vacant building, converting it into a center offering the highest-quality Montessori early childhood education. Neighborhood women participated in a training program to learn the Montessori method in order to staff the program. Family Star was born, and what was once a dangerous and blighted building is now a vital early childhood education center where young children learn and their parents are supported through education and comprehensive services as their children’s first teachers. Family Star not only continues its legacy of providing the highest-quality childhood education to inner-city children ages 0 to 6; it has also become a community focal point for innovation in education, child advocacy, parent involvement, and neighborhood development. The families served at Family Star reflect the diversity of the surrounding neighborhoods: 63 percent of them are Latino, 18.9 percent are African American, and 14 percent are Anglo. Two-thirds of the Family Star families are from low-income households, with a high percentage headed by single, teenage mothers, many with less than a high school diploma. Family Star meets the needs of its Latino students through its multicultural Montessori curriculum, which focuses primarily on enhancing children’s learning skills. Books, songs, and stories used in the early childhood education program have been carefully selected to celebrate Latino culture. And, thanks to a partnership with Denison Montessori, a Denver Public School magnet program, graduates of Family Star enroll in this elementary school; in addition, a middle school has been added, creating the only public-private collaboration of its kind in the nation which offers children a continuous Montessori education from birth to the end of their middle school years. Strengthening Latino Families Contact The Strengthening Latino Families program at the Latin American Research and Service Agency uses a train-the-trainers model to empower parents through organized parent support groups that enable parents to apply improved knowledge, attitudes, and skills in guiding their children. The program’s goal is to improve parents’ and children’s self-esteem, family communication, and family management skills by strengthening intergenerational ties and developing a social support system. It operates from the premise that if the overall health and function of the family is improved, children’s educational achievements and complete development will be enhanced, their risk factors will be decreased, and their protective factors will increase. The curriculum was developed to address the needs of Latino families in the areas of parenting, communication, and sexuality. Committed, experienced Latino community leaders are trained during an intense, two- or three-day workshop offered at no cost. Participants develop their skills as trainers and facilitators and also have the opportunity to discuss the curriculum from their perspective as parents. New family trainers instruct groups of 10 to 12 parents during weekly meetings for 10 to 15 weeks. The training of trainers, as well as the training of parents, evolves from the 15-lesson curriculum. By creating a safe, nonthreatening environment for discussion, the program strengthens the parental capacity of the community to guide and direct its children. The concept of la familia is central in Latino culture, and the values of intergenerational bonding and care, mutual aid, and self-help are basic tenets of the curriculum. Mutual respect, values and sex roles, parenting styles, self-esteem, family rules, family meetings, sexuality, and HIV and AIDS are all treated within a Latino cultural framework. The program recognizes that the Latino community is diverse and that what may be right for one family may not be appropriate for another. Development of trust is vital to the program’s success. Family trainers do not advocate specific behaviors, but rather help parents clarify their own values so they can behave accordingly when they communicate with their children. In this safe environment, parents begin to understand that these habits and reactions can be adjusted, and that with the acquisition of knowledge and the development of skills they can better guide their children. Greeley Youth Initiative Contact The Greeley Youth Initiative’s mission is to take action that enables young people to grow into successful and productive citizens. The goals of the program are to teach Latino youth what it means to be proud of one’s name, heritage, culture, faith, community, and country; to provide parents with information, encouragement, and enhanced access to resources; and to coordinate available services into a Youth Net. Youth Net is a coalition of 70 youth service providers in the Greeley area that meet monthly to develop an integrated response network to demonstrated needs in the community. Members range from city, county, and nonprofit agencies, to private and religious providers. The Greeley Youth Initiative is the result of four years of effort, culminating in the creation of a comprehensive city-sponsored program. Incorporated into the initiative is the Cara y Corazón Program, a culturally based family strengthening program using trained volunteers to provide free parenting classes in schools, agencies, and churches. The program uses Latino heritage, culture, traditions, and values to reach out to families in at-risk situations. Sixty percent of the instructors are Latino, and 40 percent are bilingual. In addition, members of the District Attorney’s Office, school district staff, and church and community leaders have received specialized training in culturally sensitive intervention techniques. |