The Fourth Annual Literacy Connections Conference: Children Succeed When Parents Succeed will be held on Thursday, March 29, 2012 at Thomas College in Waterville ME.  The conference costs $39 and will run from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  The conference is designed to bring adult and early childhood educators together to discuss literacy in the family and community.  In response to evaluations from last year's conference, we are pre-registering for all conference workshops this year.

Dr. Elyse Pratt-Ronco will deliver the keynote "Growing Up Poor: Poverty's Impact on Education." Steve Rowe, Counsel for Verrill-Dana will deliver a luncheon address entitled "Ensuring that all Maine children start kindergarten ready and able to learn is an economic imperative."  To view the conference brochure and read about our workshops or to register for the conference, visit the Maine Family Literacy Initiative website at www.mainefamilyliteracy.com/conferences .

The conference is sponsored by the Maine Family Literacy Initiative, a program of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

The 2012-2013 grant cycle for the Maine Family LIteracy Initiative opens today.  For more information, visit www.mainefamilyliteracy.com/grants

The Bridgton News by Lisa Williams Ackley

CASCO — There are great learning opportunities for kids and their parents to explore, thanks to the Western Maine Family Literacy Program!

Earlier this year, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy awarded a $25,000 Lighthouse grant to School Administrative Districts 61 and 72 Regional Adult & Community Education for the Western Maine Family Literacy Program.

The grant will be used to provide adult education, early childhood literacy, family literacy, parenting education, career exploration and job training to families through a combination of center-based and home-based services. The Crooked River Adult & Community Education Center in Casco is the primary site for the WMFLP, and other programming is provided at Molly Ockett Middle School in Fryeburg, Fryeburg Head Start, the Brownfield Public Library and at libraries in Bridgton, Sebago, Fryeburg, Denmark and Lovell as requested. Grant funds will also be used for outreach to local service providers and surrounding communities interested in establishing or expanding family literacy programs.

To read more of this wonderful article, go to http://www.bridgton.com/grant-will-bring-gift-of-literacy-to-area-families/

By TAMMY WELLS Senior Staff Writer, York County Journal Tribune

Former First Lady Barbara Bush and Owen Wells of the Libra Foundation sat in rocking chairs and read stories Monday to a lot of little children.

The former first lady read about Bob the rooster, who mimicked many barnyard animals before he finally learned to crow.

Wells read about the Little Blue Truck that stopped to help a mired dump truck and found it needed help, too.

The kids, ranging from 2 months to 4 years old, attend First Steps Child Care. Their parents are students in the high school completion program. Both programs are under the helm of Sanford Community Adult Education.

 For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:

http://www.journaltribune.com/articles/2011/09/27/news/doc4e81dd7800f6b867914298.txt

By Heather Steeves, Bangor Daily News   August 31, 2011

ROCKLAND, Maine — As area children settled into their first day of school Tuesday, Sophia Nelson, 3, scribbled blue and yellow crayons onto a white sheet of paper. She decided it was done and showed it to teacher Clelia Sigaud, who gave her a piece of tape to stick the art to the wall.

“The sticky part needs to go on the wall, OK?” Sigaud said.

“OK!”

Seven pieces of tape later, the art was on the wall and Sophia moved on to pulling books off the shelves.

Sophia is one of 10 children in a new literacy program offered in Rockland to help educate parents and their young children at the same time. While Sophia was at “little school” in a room at Rockland Public Library, her mother was down the street at “big school” in McLain School working through a social studies book.

Tuesday’s lessons for Mom involved the Cold War, the three branches of American government and Brazil.

“Central America and South America are broadly called Latin America,” literacy volunteer Pat Niedzielski told Ashley Nelson, 23, of Rockland.

“I never knew that,” Nelson said, poring over a colorful map.

The free program, Know and Grow, separates mothers and children into two classrooms and teaches them individualized lessons. Know and Grow is funded by a $25,000 grant from Maine Family Literacy Initiative, which is a program of the Barbara Bush Foundation. That initiative funded 16 similar programs throughout Maine this year.

Literacy Volunteers of Midcoast Maine, Rockland Public Library and RSU 13 Adult and Community Education all work to offer the Know and Grow programming in Rockland. This program allows Rockland’s literacy organizations to do something they couldn’t before: Teach mothers with young children.

“You can’t really be tutored when your 9-month-old is sitting in a stroller looking at you,” said Beth Gifford, executive director of Literacy Volunteers of Midcoast Maine. “When your child is there, that is your focus. This has enabled us to serve our learners much better.”

The child care is free for children younger than 9 so long as the mother or father is enrolled in a free literacy class.

So far Rockland has four women and their 10 children enrolled. Three of the women are high school dropouts who got pregnant when they were teenagers. They are all working on obtaining their high school equivalency diplomas. The other woman is an immigrant who is learning English.

The program aims to enroll eight more people before next June.

By getting both the child and the parent, Gifford said, “it’s like getting illiteracy from both sides.”

The longer-term goals of the program are ambitious.

“This will mean a larger population of kids staying in school and finishing. The parents will get jobs and maybe go beyond just their GED and maybe get a career, not just a job,” Gifford said.

Nelson is working, one class at a time, to earn her high school equivalency diploma. Since the program started in July, she has taken her General Educational Development reading and writing tests. After social studies she will need to conquer science and math to earn her high school equivalency diploma.

She’s not excited about math.

“I don’t even know my multiplication tables,” she said.

Nelson dropped out of Rockland schools when she was in eighth grade. She was a homeless teenager and eventually got pregnant with her now 5-year-old son. Then she met her husband and had her daughter, Sophia.

Now Nelson is a stay-at-home mom, which does not suit her.

“I was getting depressed sitting home all the time. I’m not meant to be a housewife stuck inside all day. I’m glad to get out. I feel happier to be here. I’m hopeful. There’s actually hope,” she said.

Right now, without a high school diploma, she thinks the best job she could get is probably at McDonald’s. Instead, she’s thinking of attending college and maybe eventually becoming a social worker, a career she could enjoy.

Nelson sometimes worries about not being able to put food on the table. Her 5-year-old son worries about it, too.

“I don’t want him to worry about that. He’s 5. I want us to have what we need to survive. I don’t have that. I want that peace of mind,” she said.

She had wanted to enroll in an adult education program to get her high school equivalency diploma for a while, but without a baby sitter, she couldn’t make it work.

“I wasn’t able to come until the day care center opened up. I don’t have a baby sitter. I have no way of getting child care. I think it’s a great program for mothers trying to get their GED,” Nelson said. “If you don’t have your GED, you don’t have money. If you don’t have money, you can’t get child care. I don’t think I’d get my GED if it weren’t for the day care.”

While Nelson works through her studies from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday, Sophia is in her own literacy program. Since they enrolled in July, the 3-year-old blond girl learned how to hold her markers properly (not in a fist), how to draw and some of her letters and numbers.

“She loves it,” Nelson said.

And after all, this is about her improving her life for her children.

“I hope they’ll see what I went through to get where I am. I hope it inspires them to do great things.” Nelson said. “I’m going to make sure my kids do their homework.”

For information, contact RSU 13 Adult and Community Education at 594-9764 or rsu13.maineadulted.org or Literacy Volunteers of Mid-Coast Maine at 594-5154 or lvmidcoast.maineadulted.org.

Article taken from Bangor Daily News - http://bangordailynews.com
URL to article: http://bangordailynews.com/2011/08/31/education/free-rockland-program-educates-parents-while-children-learn/

This issue of the MEFLI Quarterly highlights one of our Maine Family Literacy Initiative Lighthouse Model Programs because of the groundbreaking work they are doing in developing a virtual school with a variety of applications from career counseling  and job seeking to college courses and GED preparation.

Go to our homepage www.mainefamilyliteracy.com  to download the MEFLI Quarterly.

Margaret Jones attended  a monthly meeting of community agencies to talk about her family literacy program.  The managers of the community agencies in attendance were enthusiastic about her program and talked about referring families to her.  Margaret learned about several community services that would be helpful to her families. Margaret left the meeting encouraged by the referrals she would be receiving. Margaret was networking.

Bethany Crane  attended a monthly meeting of community agencies as well.  She learned about programs being offered at the local library and approached the librarian to talk about story hours for family literacy. Bethany asked about the mission of the library and talked about her own mission and how working together would provide mutual benefit.  They agreed to work together to enhance the library’s regular story hour by adding a time for parents to discuss the story and learn some extension activities that they could do at home with their child.  Bethany agreed to help the librarian by providing staff and materials. Bethany was collaborating.

Both of these approaches have value, but Margaret might benefit from taking her initial meeting to the next level. She might want to set up individual meetings with those agencies whose mission most clearly mirrors that of her family literacy program to see where they could work together. Margaret also might contact the people she met in the networking session who were interested in making referrals to see if she might meet with their staff rather than wait for them to contact her with names.  By meeting with the staff who have direct contact with the families she wants to recruit, Margaret can provide them with information they need to make appropriate referrals.

Bethany and the librarian share a common purpose, which is key to true collaboration.  It is important that they find common ground on the needs of their individual agencies, but that they not stop there. They can build upon their plans by engaging parents in the planning of the story hours. Too often professionals think they know what the families need or want and don’t take the time to ask. They might be surprised by the wonderful ideas that are generated and how participation increases when parents take ownership.

 What successful partnerships have you developed?  Have you included everyone in your planning? Share your successes with me at becky@mainefamilyliteracy.com

National Institutes of Health - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2010/nichd-25.htm 

or Marianne Glass Miller

301-496-5133

The first issue of the MEFLI Quarterly has been sent ot all Maine Family LIteracy grantees. 

 Effective Recruitment and Retention

Have you ever encountered one of these scenarios?

Janet Jacobson heard about the Learning  Together program from her ASPIRE case manager and came in to sign up.  She is feeling resentful because she has been told she must attend.  Janet is happy to sign her son up for preschool, but does not want to work on earning her own diploma.

David Dawson picked up a flyer about the family literacy program at an open house. He signed up for the program but feels uncomfortable being the only male in the room during intergenerational activities.

As a program coordinator, you have spoken to guidance counselors,teachers, administrators, and other school personnel, libraries, DHHS and Career Center staff, Head Start, child care staff and members of many other community organizations.  You aren’t getting any referrals although they all tell you that they know of families who could benefit from your program.

What do you do?

When you recruit families, develop meaningful roles for parents. Family literacy programs serve as a catalyst for improving the lives of families, but we often forget to ask parents what they want from the program. Help them understand that this is their program, not yours.

• Do parents help plan activities?
• Do they have skills they might be interested in sharing with the group?
• Do parents help recruit new families? Do you use a “buddy system” to mentor new families?
• Do parents have input into curriculum? Are learning activities       interesting and applicable to their lives? Is learning fun?

 Develop recruitment strategies that are appropriate for your community.  Speaking at community meetings or with staff of other agencies is great, but you will need to be in touch with them on a regular basis.

• Can staff at collaborating agencies articulate what family literacy is?
• Have you invited staff from referring agencies to visit your program with families?
• Do you plan family events with other agencies?
• Have you developed a referral form to make the referral process easier for them?
• Have you found ways to make your program applicable to their work?  Case managers, teachers and   others are often so busy that they are only focused on their own work.  What can you do to make their lives easier?  One local family literacy program volunteered to work with the children in the local Head Start on Friday afternoons to free up the Head Start staff to do paperwork.

Recruitment never ends. It is the responsibility of everyone in the program, including teachers,                 administrators, support staff and collaborators. Some families will have issues that will keep them from   attending regularly and they will need to “stop out” for a while  to make room for new families who can   attend.  What is your process for identifying these families and addressing attendance issues.?

Building supportive relationships within the program will help with some retention issues.  When families are comfortable with staff and peers, they will continue to come to school to seek the support and             encouragement they need to overcome the issues they are facing.

 Here are some possible solutions to the scenarios on the first page.

If Janet Jacobson is assigned a “peer mentor” who makes her feel welcomed into class, is given an           opportunity to  help plan some activities and is praised for her suggestions, she might become less resistant to participating.

 Could David Dawson be paid a stipend or given an incentive to recruit other fathers to the family literacy program?  Could David and the other fathers develop a Father’s Group to engage in intergenerational activities with their children?

 How often do you ask your collaborators what you can do for them?  Have you developed a form for them to use to make referrals easier?  Do you meet with collaborators routinely to share information and rewards?

How would you handle these scenarios? What are your creative recruitment and retention ideas? Do you have ideas for future issues of the Family Literacy Quarterly?  Share them with me at becky@mainefamilyliteracy.com and see them in the next issue!

 Find us on the web at www.mainefamilyliteracy.com   or on Facebook and Twitter

Adult Education and Family Literacy Week  is September 12-18.

How will your community celebrate?