CISL targets Springbrook parents

By Dave O'Keeffe, CISL Executive Director

On April 27 a crowd of parents and kids met at the Park Lodge Elementary, for CISL's "Growing Up is Fun!" Family night. Several families, mostly Hispanic, gathered for a free dinner, children's activities and break-out sessions for parents. The goal was to give parents resources and advice on how to best prepare their children for kindergarten.

Hundreds of children in Lakewood enter Kindergarten without any formal preschool experience. In many cases, they are 1-2 years behind their peers when they start school, and must struggle to catch up. Felita Poole, founder of the “Inspiration for Greatness Foundation”, led a session on “Becoming Great Parents”. She has helped thousands of parents over the past five years to improve their parenting and life skills. Timmie Foster, ECEAP Coordinator for the district, provided helpful resources and tips for helping kids get ready for school. Santita Rivera, ECEAP Family Support Specialist at Clarkmoor Elementary School, met with 12 Hispanic parents to show them how to use the learning materials in the “Growing Up Is Fun!” bags to prepare their children for Kindergarten.

The “Growing Up is Fun!” Family nights are significant because they bring parents into contact with specialists who speak both English and Spanish. Each parent receives a “Growing Up Is Fun!” bag full of bilingual educational resources, agency brochures, and children’s books.

Comcast and Target are major sponsors for the “Growing Up is Fun!” events and the resource bags. Caring for Kids provides notebooks, crayons, pencils, dental kits and an ABC necklace craft. CISL has organized 7 family nights and given away over 2,500 “Growing Up Is Fun!” bags over the past three years, thanks to this unique collaboration.

Special thanks to Park Lodge Elementary for allowing CISL to use their facility, Diane Formoso for heading up the event, and the many volunteers who made this an evening to remember!