Services

Growing Readers, Creating Leaders

Need for the Project: 

Many young children of the Mahoning Valley are entering school unable to learn and read because the “system” does not support their early learning development. Research shows that some of this failure can be attributed to three factors: 

  • Parents need to be aware of the importance of, and have access to, early learning activities. (National Assessment of Educational Progress)
  • The community’s childcare provider’s need more resources and support to prepare children for school. (Quality Counts, 2002. Starting Early, Lynn Olson)
  • Providers have limited opportunities to learn from each other in matters related to early childhood development and early literacy. (Driving the Future of Mahoning County: Community Impact 2004) 

Project Goals:

  • Enhance early childhood literacy.
  • Help parents, caregivers, child care providers and educators increase their capacity to facilitate the development of cognitive, language comprehension, expressive language, social/emotional, and motor skills, and promote learning readiness.
  • Develop linkages among early learning programs within the community and between early learning programs and health care services for young children.
  • Increase access to early learning opportunities for young children with special needs including developmental delays, and by facilitating coordination with other programs serving such young children.

Resources and Information for: 

Resources for Parents Enter Here

Resources for Professionals Enter Here
 

Dedicated to helping children succeed - An effort of Growing Readers, Creating Leaders Project, Easter Seals of Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana Counties on behalf of Mahoning County Family and Children First Council, and 15 Mahoning Valley organizations, funded by a $730,524 grant (85% of total project costs), coming from the ELOA discretionary fund, from the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Child Care Bureau, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and $138,778 in local support. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, and the Child Care Bureau do not sponsor, endorse, or approve of any private or commercial products or services offered by organizations appearing in this directory. The inclusion of any organization here does not constitute a representation, warranty, or endorsement concerning the competence, suitability, or reliability of such organizations.