Samples of Collaborator Involvement

with Even Start Family Literacy

Franklin Even Start

Franklin County Even Start Family Literacy is a home-based, rural program that provides three hours per week of integrated instructional visits in the home to each family. In addition, at least two center-based activities are available to families each month. Adults are enrolled in either traditional adult education classes or distance learning programs (ideally 9 to 15 hours per week). Many of these families are isolated.

Here is an example of how this program works with its collaborators:

In January of 1992, the Franklin County Department of Social Services and school districts in Franklin County began an innovative program known as the Community Intervention Partnership (CIP). The CIP is made up of human service agencies in Franklin County including the seven local school districts. The purpose of CIP is to identify children and families in need of support and provide services to those children and families during the elementary years and before minor problems become major issues. In 1992, the first of seven case managers was placed in an elementary school setting as an important component of the program.

In 2000, CIP expanded its role to consider a broader range of approaches to foster positive change in at-risk families and children and to reduce the number of children placed in foster care. A spectrum of prevention programs for infants and pre-kindergarten children, as well as for school age children, have become a part of the CIP focus. 

CIP is currently an integral avenue of communication between the school districts and agencies relative to program services offered by the Franklin County Even Start Family Literacy Program. The Family Resources Educator and the Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES Project Director are members of CIP and thus able to access the coordinated support necessary for enrolled families.

The current Even Start Advisory Committee is a sub-committee of the larger CIP. 

Long Island

1. Even Start Family Literacy programs on Long Island collaborate extensively with the county health departments to ensure that all pre-school children in need of early intervention are identified and receive appropriate intervention.

2. Even Start Family Literacy collaborates with school districts throughout the county. In the collaboration agreement, school districts allow Even Start staff to present information to district residents at open houses, kindergarten registration days, and other appropriate events and to participate in parent-teacher conferences. The agreement also establishes the information that will be collected by the district and shared with Even Start staff. 

3. Even Start Family Literacy collaborates with its local one-stop center. The one-stop center provides job postings, job search and placement services, career counseling, information on job training programs, referrals to community agencies, job skills workshops, and meeting room space. In turn, Even Start provides adult literacy instruction, parenting education, referrals, job skills training, and transportation to the one-stop center for Even Start participants. 

4. Even Start Family Literacy collaborates with a local religious organization that provides space for instructional activities and computer training courses for Even Start Family Literacy participants. These services are documented as in-kind contributions. 

5. Even Start Family Literacy collaborates with its local Literacy Volunteers of America affiliate (LVA). LVA trains Even Start employees in adult literacy instruction, refers eligible participants to Even Start, provides professional development opportunities (in-kind), and provides appropriate progress and participation reports. 

Oswego County Even Start

The Oswego County Even Start Family Literacy program has operated, under the partnership of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County and Oswego County BOCES, since 1999. It is the only Even Start Family Literacy project to provide services in this 968-square mile BOCES region. Even Start Family Literacy services are provided to eligible families in the Fulton, Oswego, Sandy Creek, Parish, and Williamstown school districts, some of which are extremely remote.

Trained Even Start family educators visit the homes of participating families each week for two hours. During this visit, the educators deliver instruction that addresses early childhood education, adult education, and parenting education through interactive parent/child activities. In addition, participating families convene for approximately three hours per week for instructional activities offered at a center. After-school center activities for both parents and children also take place during the school year, three days a week, for a total of three hours. 

The Oswego County Even Start Family Literacy program works with its collaborators in the following ways:

• Literacy Volunteers and the Rural and Migrant Ministries provide adult education programs, parenting, counseling, and tutoring for school-age children.

• Head Start offers its center site in Fulton, so that group center activities can be provided to the southern end of the county. 

• Using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, the Early Intervention/Child Find Program provides screening to all Even Start preschool children to identify any unmet educational needs.

• Success by Six provides the county with a summer school program for children entering kindergarten. Even Start children receive top priority for acceptance in the program. This program provides children with school readiness and emergent literacy skills needed to be successful in school. The summer schools are located in each school district in the county.

• Local school districts provide after-school assistance and homework help programs, Academic Intervention Services (AIS), summer reading and math programs, and summer recreation programs.

• Local libraries provide weekly reading hours for toddlers and preschoolers, art and culture programs, and summer reading programs.

• Literacy Volunteers provide adult testing and tutoring services.

• Fulton Education Center provides adult education classes and ELL programs.

• Oswego City-County Youth Bureau and Catholic Charities provide parenting workshops throughout the year.

• Rural and Migrant Ministries provide after-school tutoring for school-age children in the Pulaski school district, summer camp programs, adult education services, counseling services, medial clinic, and parenting workshops.

• Adult education classes are offered through the BOCES adult education program. Classes are offered in several communities and situated in public libraries.