United Way of King County Blog » NaKeesa Frazier

Great News for Early Learning Work in Washington State

NaKeesa Frazier — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:43:31 +0000

On December 16th, it was announced that Washington State was one of nine states to win a collective $500 million from the federal government, part of an education initiative – the “Race to the Top” grant competition! The goal of the competition and the funds are specifically for states to invest in more children from birth to five years old so that they are ready for kindergarten. Washington State placed third among the 37 applications and will receive a four-year grant totally $60 million dollars that will go directly to expand its school readiness program – WaKIDS. This funding will allow Washington State to further its goal of having 100% of Washington State children covered by the 2014/2015 school year. This is a major accomplishment for Washington State and will also greatly benefit the children throughout the State which helps further one of United Way of King County top priorities, Early Learning!

For more about the important work that United Way of King County does in our local community please click on the following link: http://www.uwkc.org/our-focus/children/.

To find out more about the statewide WaKIDS program, please check out this website: http://www.k12.wa.us/wakids/.

PCHP Success Story – Atlantic Street Center

NaKeesa Frazier — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:34:43 +0000

Atlantic Street Center, a multi-service nonprofit organization in Seattle, has been offering the Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP) since 2004 and in 2010 partnered with United Way of King County as one of the agencies that will help bring the program to families throughout King County. The Parent-Child Home Program is a proven early literacy, school readiness and parenting program that encourages verbal interaction and educational play between parents and their preschool children in families that have had limited exposure to educational opportunities and activities. Atlantic Street Center was the first agency to bring the Parent-Child Program to Seattle and through this program has helped many families through twice a week home visits that includes
both the parent and the child. Please read below a success story that Atlantic Street Center’s PCHP Coordinator shared with us recently:

“Last year when Nikko began his first year in the Parent-Child Home Program, he was easily distracted and unable to focus for more than a few minutes. His mother would become frustrated and embarrassed by his behavior and she would become tense and sometimes yell. Most of the visits were quite challenging as a fair portion of them was spent trying to coax Nikko into participating and calming mom down. Throughout the program year, his mother and I worked together to come up with different ways to engage him. We are now in the second year of the program and the change in both mom and child has been monumental. Mom fully takes the lead and comfortably finds ways to engage Nikko in books, toys and conversation in general. She also praises and encourages him. As a result of her hard work, Nikko now sits for the entire thirty minutes, wholly focused, on the activity. He asks questions, offers his opinion about what he is experiencing and he and his mother smile a lot more this year.”

United Way of King County is excited to continue partnering with not only Atlantic Street Center but also the other eight agencies that offer this wonderful program in King County. We will continue to share success stories and other accomplishments gained through the Parent-Child Home Program in future blog posts!

To find out more about the Parent-Child Home Program, please visit the following sites:

http://www.uwkc.org/our-focus/children/pchp/

http://www.parent-child.org/

Help Your Community By Reviewing Requests for Funding

NaKeesa Frazier — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:31:08 +0000

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY: The SOC Funding Committee is a sub-committee of the Strengthening Our Community Impact Council made up of a diverse group of community volunteers and human service professionals for the purpose of evaluating funding applications and making allocation recommendations to the Strengthening Our Community Council.

If you have time for a short-term volunteer commitment (December 2011 – March 2012), or know someone who does please contact NaKeesa Frazier at nfrazier@uwkc.org for more details!

Early Literacy and Behavior Study

NaKeesa Frazier — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:28:30 +0000

In a recent research study performed by Developmental Studies staff at Purdue University, it was found that there is a link between a child’s interest in literacy and their behavior. The study focused on low-income preschoolers ages 3-5. One specific finding of the study noted that book choices available to children are important and that parents and teachers need to ensure that there are a variety of books available that both girls and boys would be interested in. United Way of King County’s Volunteer Reader Program ensures that we provide our sites and volunteers with a variety of books both fiction (playful and fantasy books) and non-fiction (books about animals, the planet, trains, cars, etc.) so that all of the children who participate in our program have a variety of books/subjects to choose from. To read the entire article about literacy and children’s behavior, please click on the following link: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2011/110519DobbsOatesLiteracy.html#.Tf0VYltC2ds;twitter

United Way and the City of Seattle Helping Local Children Succeed

NaKeesa Frazier — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:19:10 +0000

Last year the Mayor launched the Youth and Families Initiative and through that work met with over 3,000 community members to learn about the help that local children needed to be successful in school and during their out of school time. Through the Youth and Families Initiative, Engage Seattle Initiative and the Cities of Service Initiative, the Mayor called for community members to volunteer as reading tutors, mentors, and after school volunteers. Recent data has shown that this is making a difference in the lives of the children being helped in the community. United Way of King County’s Volunteer Center and Volunteer Reader Program are proud to be partners with Mayor Mike McGinn’s office in this important work!

For more information about this and other great work being done in the local Seattle community, see Mayor Mike McGinn’s blog at the following link: http://mayormcginn.seattle.gov/.

To search for volunteer opportunities in your local area (within King County), visit the United Way of King County’s volunteer site at: http://www.uwkc.org/ways-to-volunteer/.

Small Frye – Storytelling in the Galleries

NaKeesa Frazier — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 22:21:10 +0000

Created for children 3-5 years old and their parents or caregivers, Small Frye brings children’s stories and contemporary favorites to life in the Frye Art Museum galleries.

Through tales and songs, Small Frye introduces children to a wide variety of words and sounds, preparing them for reading and writing. Movement and play are incorporated into story time, fostering creative thinking and problem solving in an interdisciplinary environment.

Stories of transformation and renewal are the themes for May and June with librarians from The Seattle Public Library presenting a spring series. May 6 features children’s librarian Betsy Kluck-Keil. After story time, explore artworks and exhibitions in our galleries and enjoy kid-friendly snacks in the Frye Café.

Small Frye is a free program presented the first Friday of each month. Admission to the Frye is free and free parking is available.

Preschool classes: book a group reservation by email or (206) 432-8211.

Tips for Parents and Caregivers at Small Frye Programs
The Frye Art Museum welcomes families and children. To help make your visit enjoyable and worry-free, visit our website fryemuseum.org/program/small_frye/ for information on what to do with strollers and backpacks, food and drink in the galleries, and more.

U.S. Department of Education-$500 Million for Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge

NaKeesa Frazier — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 22:14:53 +0000

On May 25, 2011, the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a competitive $500 million dollar state-level grant to the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge. The Race to the Top challenge focuses on the improvement of early learning and development programs for young disadvantaged children. “For kids, high quality early learning programs mean they will enter school better prepared with a greater chance of finishing high school and college,” said Vice President Joe Biden, Chairman of the Administration’s Middle Class Task Force. To read the full article, visit the U.S. Department of Education.

Get Caught Reading…to a Child

NaKeesa Frazier — Wed, 18 May 2011 22:48:45 +0000

May is Get Caught Reading month! This is a nationwide campaign by the Association of American Publishers to encourage people of all ages to read and realize how fun it can be! In honor of Get Caught Reading Month, United Way of King County’s Volunteer Reader Program would like to encourage you to Get Caught Reading to a Child! Many people may be aware that children who do well in kindergarten tend to be successful throughout their school careers however children who are unprepared typically struggle in many ways (they are more likely to need special support, fail or repeat grades or drop out of school entirely). When you share the joy of reading with young children, you not only enrich their language and literacy skills, you have an opportunity to bond with them and teach them a variety of other cognitive and social skills. Most importantly, you inspire them to become lifelong learners.

United Way of King County’s Volunteer Reader Program tries to help local children ages 3-5 at over 39 different preschools, Head Start programs and child care programs throughout King County by matching them one-on-one with an adult volunteer reader. To find out more about our Volunteer Reader Program or to sign up to volunteer, click on the following link: www.unitedwayofkingcounty.org/readers. If you are not able to become a volunteer reader but would like to find out tips, information, book recommendations, fun facts and news about reading to young children, become a fan of our new and improved Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/uwkc.readers. We will be using this platform as a way to increase our communication with our volunteers, supporters and others interested in our most important work and we hope that you will join us!

The Volunteer Reader Program Works to Increase Diversity

NaKeesa Frazier — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:57:45 +0000

Wednesday’s Project LEAD Graduation and Agency Fair was a great outreach opportunity for our Volunteer Reader Program, which is working to increase the diversity of its cohort of Readers. Project LEAD—Leadership Effectiveness and Diversity– is United Way of King County’s leadership training program that prepares highly qualified people of color to become knowledgeable, responsive and strong civic leaders. In addition to Project LEAD graduates who may be interested in the program, we extend an invitation to all potential volunteers, with a special appeal to people of color, people who are bilingual, and people from immigrant/refugee communities.

The Volunteer Reader Program currently has more than 100 volunteers who go out into our local community to read stories to and spend time with preschoolers. In addition to fostering caring relationships and building important pre-reading skills in young children, this program is very rewarding to both the child care sites that host the Readers and to the Readers themselves. To find out more about our Volunteer Reader Program or to sign up to volunteer, click on the following link: www.unitedwayofkingcounty.org/readers.

Our Newest Volunteers Readers Get Off to a Great Start!

NaKeesa Frazier — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:09:08 +0000

Greetings from the Volunteer Reader Program! Last Thursday evening, we had another wonderful Volunteer Reader Program Training and we would like to give a special thank you to Maren Ostergard with the King County Library System for providing the training and for another great job! Volunteer Readers learned about the dialogic reading method, 6 essential Early Literacy skills (Print Motivation, Print Awareness, Vocabulary, Narrative Skills, Letter Knowledge and Phonological Awareness), were introduced to a variety of new books, were able to ask questions of current Readers and more. Volunteers received a free book from the King County Library Foundation and a finger puppet from the United Way of King County Volunteer Reader Program.

One of our new volunteers had this to say about her experience at our training: “My only comment is that the workshop was too short! It was an unexpected bonus to receive a new book, a training guide and a finger puppet. I really appreciated the Training. Thanks so much.” The same volunteer had this to say about her recent experience reading to the children at her volunteer site: “I choose a mouse finger puppet. Before my reading hour on Friday morning, I found a book called “When a mouse asks for a cookie” and I put it in the reading nook. Three out of six children picked this book to read. I read it with my mouse finger puppet who was interchanged with the illustrated mouse on the page. It was a great success! I also put the new book that I picked in the nook. Two children picked that one, and their narrations were very interesting indeed. The children made more connections than I did! What a good book!”

Interested in resources, strategies and tips for reading to young children? That can all be found in written form and through instructional videos on the King County Library System’s website at the following link: www.kcls.org/readytoread. If you are a reader and haven’t been to the training yet, please join us at our next training in Fall 2011. To find out more about our Volunteer Reader Program or to sign up to volunteer, click on the following link: www.unitedwayofkingcounty.org/readers