Who we serve: 9 childcare centers, 89 family providers, 1 home visiting program, 1536 children Program partners: The Asian Center Breen Public Elementary School Community Day Learning Centers Clarendon Family Day Care Bethel Child Care Kid Start Childcare Program Parent Child Hold Visiting Program YMCA Lawrence YWCA Lawrence YMCA Methuen Other Local Partners: Lawrence Public Library CPC Pathways Past Events: Storytime at the Lawrence Library: Due to its growing popularity in the community, at RAR’s first story time in the Lawrence Public Library on April 15, 2009, we hosted over 130 children and teachers at one story time, and are now getting requests for “reserved story times” by current community partners. Seeds to Literacy Conference: On May 2, 2009, RAR Coordinators presented training about dialogic reading techniques at the Planting the Seeds of Literacy Conference, hosted by the Lawrence CPC. Approximately 20 parents and children attended to learn more about making literacy a part of their lives. Read More About Our Program’s Outcomes: |
LawrenceHistoryLori Jorge joined RAR MA as Program Coordinator for Lawrence in May, 2008. The 2008-2009 program year launch to Lawrence, our first community outside of Greater Boston, has confirmed a solid system of entry, key partnerships for success, and an easily scalable and desirable program model. In addition, Lawrence will be the focus of our child outcomes study, which will begin in the Fall of 2009. Early childhood professionals all over Lawrence attended RAR trainings, becoming better equipped to support parents in establishing and maintaining regular read-aloud time at home. The response to the RAR program has been rhapsodic. Program coordinator Lori Jorge reports that the excitement exuding from teachers is evident. “They want to start yesterday,” Lori asserts. Following one staff training session, Maryellen King, Director of the Methuen YMCA eagerly affirmed “This is fantastic! We are so thrilled to have RAR.” In addition to training providers RAR is dedicated to equipping families with the training and tools they need to share books together. The parents of over 300 children have participated in training, and counting. Now all RAR parents are armed with read-aloud techniques they’ll be able to use regardless of their own reading abilities. There is a small, rapidly growing legion of RAR adults in Lawrence – parents and early childhood program partners – who are working together to improve each child’s chances for a successful future. Community Events |