Empowering the Village to Raise the Child.
ICRI works to improve the lives of children and families around the world. We focus on early childhood care and education, children’s rights, empowerment of women and girls, maternal/child health, and grassroots community development. ICRI’s credo is “we only go where we are invited,” and all of our programs advance local leadership and promote community collaboration. Since ICRI was founded in 1981, we have developed or operated over 300 programs in over 50 countries, all with the goal of empowering the village to raise the child.
National Black Child Development Institute
http://nbcdi.org/blog/2010/08/21/parent-empowerment-project-pep/
Parent Empowerment Project (PEP)
PEP is a program that seeks to educate, motivate and inspire parents to excellence as their Child’s first teacherThe National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) introduces an exciting curriculum for parent education. Parent Empowerment Project (PEP) is a unique program that seeks to educate, motivate and inspire parents to excellence as their child’s first teacher. Under the auspices of NBCDI, PEP was designed by and for lower income African Americans, but hasdemonstrated effectiveness with a broad spectrum of parents.
Parents participating in PEP are enhanced by the experience.
They begin to:
- Express and demonstrate knowledge of child development and parenting skills
- Stimulate their child’s growth and development appropriately
- Increase their knowledge of community resources and how to access them
- Develop confidence and positive self esteem
The distinctive aspects of this curriculum are:
- Affirmations – Inspiring and thought provoking affirmations, many of which are African proverbs, highlight the values of the lessons and stimulate discussion on the subject.
- Parent Driven – The parents determine what topics they will study. With the support of a facilitator, they are able to choose from a buffet of topics, empowering them to tailor the curriculum to meet their needs.
- Active Participation – This fully interactive approach enables parents to retain more of the new information through role-playing, art, music, brainstorming and other forms of active participation.
- Weaving the Story – The curriculum consists of three major units:
Successful Parenting focuses on child development, discipline and child rearing strategies.
African American Culture is a cultural component tied to history, values and achievement.
My Vision for the Future promotes self-sufficiency, to help parents balance home and work.The facilitator helps to “weave” the African American Culture topics into Successful Parenting and My Vision for the Future at appropriate junctures, in order to reinforce the lessons learned and provide cultural foundations and education.
The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) is one of seventeen divisions of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) - the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities, and/or the gifted. DEC is especially for individuals who work with or on behalf of children with special needs, birth through age eight, and their families.OUR MISSIONThe Division for Early Childhood promotes policies and advances evidence-based practices that support families and enhance the optimal development of young children who have or are at risk for developmental delays and disabilities.
http://www.dec-sped.org/About_DEC
The three organizations listed above are the three organizations I have subscribed for newsletters. There is no one specific issue that I am focusing on just getting all the information I can get to help in anyway I can. I am very interested in working for low income families. I am particularly interested in African American children and their families and or families of color. I have worked most of my life with these children and families and I feel this is where God wants me to be. I did received a email from all three of these organizations letting me know that by newsletters will be arriving my next month.
Wow! Thank you for sharing all of these features of the newsletters you are recieving. I also work with low income families, and have always had a passion to do so. I was most interested in the information you shared about parent involvement, as I find this to be one of my biggest challenges in the area I teach. Based on the information you are sharing, I will also subscribe to the newsletter from the National Black Child Development Institute.
ReplyDeleteThe PEP (Parent Empowerment Project) is what think the solution is for many families here in the U.S. as well as for parents and families throughout the world. Parents are indeed their child's first teacher. We have programs in our community for economically challenged families, such as Books For Little Hands, through our public libraries. Librarians are trained to assist parents in learning how to introduce books, teaching about turning pages, reading to children, and engaging children in early reading/being read to experiences. It is free of charge, of course, and each parent who is involved receives a bag of age and developmentally appropriate books for their child to take out for 2 weeks so they they can practice and share the newly learned skills with their children. This is critical for families who cannot afford preschool and need help knowing how to best introduce reading and books to their young children. I love the idea of PEP. Thank you for sharing.
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