The following organizations work directly with parents and caregivers in their communities to help children learn and succeed. WETA is very proud to support their important work through Ready To Learn workshops and other outreach activities.
Annandale Terrace Elementary School, Parents Coffee
Annandale Terrace Elementary School hosts parent coffees every Friday morning. These breakfast get togethers take place at their in-house Parent Center and provide parents with a variety of programs to help them feel connected to school and community. Four Parent Liaisons, each speaking a different language, work in the center to help facilitate parents' involvement in the school and their children's education.
Arlington County Child and Family Services Division, Child Care Office
The primary goals of programs in the Child and Family Services Division are to prevent abuse, neglect, or exploitation of children and to promote the self-sufficiency of families by providing services that preserve and strengthen families and ensure the health, safety and well-being of Arlington's children.
Bladensburg High School, Even Start Program
Bladensburg High School's Even Start program provides childcare and parenting education to teen parents who attend the school.
District of Columbia, Office of the State Superintendent of Education, Professional Development Unit
The Professional Development Unit is responsible for providing resources that strengthen the knowledge, skills and disposition of the early childhood workforce. In doing so, this unit supports and partners with community and government agencies. This unit also provides guidance on policies related to early childhood workforce development, credentialing and qualifications.
Fairfax County Public Schools, English for Speakers of Other Languages Program
The Adult ESOL program offers English classes at several levels of proficiency to foreign born adults learning English as a new language. Classes prepare adults to function in English in the community as students, workers, parents and citizens. Classes serve not only as a place to learn English, but also to disseminate information to the students in a comprehensible fashion about parenting and schooling, working in the United States, living in a democracy, continuing education, being consumers, accessing community services, and more.
Inner City-Inner Child
ICIC believes that every child in the nation's capital should have access to quality early child care and education. Through literacy rich residencies, ICIC introduces the joy of books and reading to both children and teachers and helps create an environment that will support school readiness and children who want to read. Their programs, Dancing With Books, Thinking Thursdays and Read With Me, have reached over 10,000 children in the District. They have helped 31 of the District's low income centers become NAEYC accredited, the nation's highest standard for early childhood education and care.
Literacy Council of Northern Virginia, Family Learning Program
The Family Learning Program provides ESOL instruction for parents in a supportive classroom environment while their children participate in literacy-related activities and receive homework help in a separate classroom. At least twice a month, the children join the adult classroom for PACT (Parent and Child Together Time) activities. The Family Learning Program also encourages family literacy and parental involvement in education through workshops, book give-a-ways, and field trips. Adults who live with children or work as caregivers are also eligible for the classes. Class sites are located throughout Northern Virginia.
Lynbrook Elementary School, Family Learning Center
Lynbrook Elementary School hosts parent coffees at the Family Learning Center. These get togethers take place several times a week and provide parents and their children with a variety of programs to help them feel connected to school and community and with parenting education programs.
Kings Park Elementary School, Meet Me at the Library
Meet Me at the Library was created to support home-school literacy practices and help foster home-school relationships specifically for English Language Learners (ELL's) and their families. Through Ready To Learn, Kings Park students and their families attend regular workshops at the Kings Park Public Library to provide a literacy program which models reading with children, to provide a "hands-on" experience with parents to practice reading with their children, and more.
Montgomery College, Workforce Development and Continuing Education
The Workforce Development and Continuing Education Department provides early childhood education classes. This program teaches students about the requirements to operate a family- or center-based child care facility as they learn to enhance their skills with young children and prepare to apply for a CDA credential.
Northern Virginia Community College, Early Childhood Development Program
The Early Childhood Development program is designed for people interested in working to provide care and direction of young children, or for people currently working in childcare who want to update and enhance their competencies. Occupational objectives include assistants, managers, teachers, and/or directors in day care and child development facilities.
Professional Child Care Provider Network of Prince George's County
Professional Child Care Provider Network provides educational workshops, training, technical assistance, advocacy and support to registered family, small group and center-based child care providers in an effort to promote quality care, school readiness and inclusion of children with special needs. They are also dedicated to educating and informing parents on issues concerning child care.
United Planning Organization
UPO's family outreach programs are designed to support individual patterns of development and learning of children ages birth to five. Their goal is to help mold a child's educational experience to help him/her understand basic concepts and develop age appropriate literacy, numeracy, reasoning, problem solving and decision making abilities. These skills will in turn help to form a child's foundation for school readiness and success.