198 Parenting Classes in 4 years

New Parent Services (NPS), one of the programs of The Next Door, has been providing parenting classes for the past 15 years.  This is a service that the community has asked for time and again because it is so needed by all.  Even with books, the Internet and plenty of advice from friends and family, I felt as if I didn’t know anything about parenting as soon as I had my first daughter!  Two years ago, my husband and I went to a class series offered by New Parent Services for parents of toddlers, and it was very beneficial.

Karen Enns, NPS Program Director, forwarded me a great report completed by evaluators of our parenting education program for parents of children 0-8 years old, funded over the past four years by The Ford Family Foundation.  Even though I’ve known about our program, seeing the data was great.  Now bear with me as I report some of that data–I’m actually enamored by data and even though it can be boring to some, sometimes I just have to share it!

We have provided 24 class series (198 classes) for 360 parents and 318 youth.  The goal was to offer six class series a year and graduate 15 parents per series.  We came close and graduated an average of 12 parents per series.  Here is some of the data that shows statistically significant improvement in parenting and child skills, as revealed by pre and post surveys, with parents judging their own skills on a 7 point scale (choosing 0-6,  low to high skill level).

• Talk with other parents to share experiences
  3.0 (pre) 4.4 (post)
• Show my child(ren) love and affection frequently
  4.6 (pre) 5.4 (post)
• Listen to my child(ren) to understand their feelings
  3.5 (pre) 5.1 (post)
• Help my child(ren) feel good about themselves
  3.4 (pre) 4.7 (post)
• Set and stick to reasonable limits and rules
  3.0 (pre) 4.6 (post)
• Deal with day-to-day stresses of parenting
  3.1 (pre) 4.4 (post)
• Understand my goals and values as a parent
  3.6 (pre) 4.9 (post)
• Child(ren) willing to follow limits and rules
  3.0 (pre) 4.3 (post)
• Child(ren) gets along with others
  3.7 (pre) 4.5 (post)

New Parent Services continues to offer these and other classes, and Families First also provides classes in Wasco County through the Wasco Commission on Children and Families.  I am proud to report that our program was rated Outstanding by the evaluators. 

 

Wishes do come true

Just an update on a post from November 23, 2009.  I wrote about The Oregonian’s “Season of Sharing Wishbook.”  One of our Families First families was chosen to be highlighted with a wish list of donations they would like to receive from readers of the newspaper.

Elisa Cartwright, the family’s Healthy Start Home Visitor and Karen Enns, Program Director, had written the proposal to The Oregonian in order to get the family in the Wishbook.  Elisa gave me an update today on what the family has received since the publication in November, right before Thanksgiving.

Here’s what Elisa told me, “You had asked for an update on the Ellingsworth Season of Sharing Piece. Below is a list of the items the family received and their approximate values. All totaled over $2,500 worth of Christmas Joy!

• Gas cards ($300.00-400.00)
• Gift Cards for K mart, Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer $1200.00
• Clothing for the two children; 2-3 outfits each $200.00
• New Coat for the mother $50.00
• New Car seat for the daughter $300.00
• Special feeding chair for the daughter $300.00
• Toys for the children, several each $200-300.00
• They also received one special feeding chair that was a duplicate, so they donated it to Head Start/Early Intervention”

What a gift from the people of Oregon to this worthy family!

New Wheels

Our bus driver, Greg, showing off the controls

Our new Klahre House School bus

For years, used vans and buses have transported Klahre House School students to and from their foster homes to school.

Usually, these give up operating a few years later and then we go and buy another used bus.  Not only is this frustrating, but it’s not cost effective.

This year, with an increase in students and a latest need for new transportation, our Board of Directors instructed us to buy a brand new bus.

Most people who know me, know that I prefer to buy used cars and am perhaps sometimes overly frugal when it comes to purchasing things.  However, this time, I agreed with the Board and our bus driver, Greg Hauer, and Program Director, Larry James.  For safety’s sake, for comfort’s sake and for dollar’s sake–it just made sense to buy a new bus.

I also realized it would make the students happy.  Greg told me that this morning, on its maiden voyage of picking up the kids to bring them to school, he loved seeing all the students so excited about the bus.  He told me they all came on board, looked around, pointed out all the features, settled down into the comfortable and roomy seats and looked very happy.  Making foster kids happy is worth it all.  No one deserves a new bus more than them.

Helping the Homeless

Last week two things happened that gave me hope for the homeless of Hood River.

The Next Door’s work doesn’t always include working directly with the homeless.  We work in partnership with the Mid Columbia Housing Authority to run a transitional housing facility in The Dalles for young people 18-24 and our Independent Living Program helps teach life skills to youth moving out of foster care.  Other than that, our programs help to prevent families from housing instability and help to prevent children from becoming homeless when they are adults. 

Last week I sat in on a meeting hosted by the Mid Columbia Community Action Council (MCCAC) to help develop a 10 year plan to end homelessness in Hood River County.  MCCAC is also developing a plan for Wasco County.  I will be joining that conversation too.  The meeting consisted of 11 social service providers and faith based organizations and one local man who is homeless.  The goal is to get a plan down on paper that addresses the causes of homelessness as well as how to provide shelter for those who are.  As a new Board Member of MCCAC, I will continue to learn more about these two county plans and pass on information.

Ironically the same week, connections fell into place at The Next Door to help a family of five that found itself homeless after being evicted from worker housing on an orchard after over a decade.  A family friend of The Next Door’s receptionist called her to ask if she knew anyone who needed a bed.  She put out the word to our co-workers and Gabriel Muro of Nuestra Comunidad Sana told her about the family.  The one catch was that the donor lived in Portland, but Gabriel happens to have a truck and is living part-time in Beaverton.  So, he went over to the donor’s house, picked up the bed, and was quickly invited in for a snack and a tour.  He took the opportunity to tell the donor and his wife about the family the bed would be going to and their recent misfortune, and thanked them for their generosity.  Before he left, this couple gave Gabriel a check for $500 to help the family!  He told me he looked at it in disbelief and was so surprised and thankful.  When we got the check, we quickly deposited it and wrote out a check to the family.  How happy it made me to sign that check!!! 

With Gabriel’s continued support as well as that of his fellow Health Promoters of NCS along with the services and compassion of the other Hood River agencies that sat at the planning table with me, I hope the family will get back on its feet.

Here's a great photo of Gabriel helping out at the Farmer's Market after a long day of supervising Trail Crews last summer. That melon he's holding is about the size of his heart.

Two for the price of one

I love it when fundraising aligns to help more than one cause.  Every year, Hood River Rotary and Mt Hood Meadows team up to raise money for college scholarships for students graduating from high schools in Hood River.  Meadows donates an afternoon and night of skiing to Rotary for $10 per ticket.  This year, the Rotary Ski Night is this coming Monday, January 18.  Since Monday is a holiday, Rotary should make even more money from this fundraiser than it has in the past.

I am a Rotarian so I’m out selling tickets.  Since I’m also the Director of a human services agency, fellow Rotarians from Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital donated some of their tickets to our clients.

Many of our clients don’t have ski equipment or can’t afford the ski rental so even though the tickets are free, they still can’t go.  

Here’s where it gets good.  This year, New Parent Services’ Home Visitor, Tami Russell, told me that she’s thrilled to be able to offer the tickets to  three of her clients that have skis, but don’t have the money for passes or regular tickets so they jumped at the chance to get these donated tickets.  One client is going to go skiing now because he doesn’t know when he’ll get the chance to in the future since his wife is pregnant.  Two other clients are a couple whose baby is just 3 1/2 months old.  This will be their first outing since they had their baby.

The excitement on Tami’s face as she got the tickets from me to deliver to her families was wonderful.  Part of her job as a Home Visitor providing support to expectant or first time parents is to bring smiles to their faces.  On Monday, I’ll be imagining these parents with huge smiles as they’re skiing down the slopes.

Thanks to Hood River Rotary, Mt Hood Meadows, Providence Hood River Hospital and The Next Door, kids are not only getting college scholarships but parents are getting to take a break.

Brushing our teeth and other skills

Sometimes I think back to what I was like when I was 18 years old.  I thought I knew a lot, but I was unsure of so many things.  Mostly I remember trying hard not to let people know that I didn’t know something!

One of the programs of The Next Door is our Independent Living Program (ILP), which assists youth between 14-21 years old as they transition out of foster care.  Teens as young as 14 from Wasco, Hood River, Sherman and Gilliam counties can begin in the program in order to learn more about what it’s like to live on one’s own.  Once they are 18 years old, or graduated from high school, they must leave the foster care system.

Most of us are lucky to have support as we make the transition from being a teenager to being an adult.  For some it takes longer than others to learn to be responsible and take care of oneself.  It took at least four years for me and I was lucky enough to be in a safe college environment during those years.

I want to share a link to our latest ILP Newsletter.  This is written by the ILP Coordinator, Fern Johnson, for the youth involved in this program.  Every month, she chooses a different topic to highlight; this month it is health and hygiene.  Let’s all try to make it a habit to brush our teeth every day!

Happy New Year!

2010 already?  Guess I have to get used to writing that, as well as saying “Twenty-Ten” instead of “Two Thousand and Ten”–how odd.

I got good news when I got to the office today.  As I’ve mentioned before, the holidays bring an abundance of generosity our way from local businesses, churches, individuals and families.  G. Willikers, our local Hood River toy store, presented us with a check for $221, all donated by people who got their toys gift wrapped at the store over the holidays.  The money will benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters. 

A great way to start off the year! 

What’s the date?

This photo of Little John Snow Park graces February 2010

Hey, did you know that our 2010 Pathways of the Gorge calendar is still available for $10?  The photos are beautiful and it’s a great way to support The Next Door.  All proceeds go to us since our great sponsors paid for the cost of printing and Gary Fields donated his photographs.

Calendars can be purchased at Rosauers, Waucoma Bookstore and our 212 2nd St office in Hood River and at our 1005 W. 6th Ave office in The Dalles.  You can also call us and we’ll send you a calendar (we’ll add a little extra to the cost for shipping); 541-308-2201.

Leaders Informing Leaders

Two significant events happened in the past week in Nuestra Comunidad Sana (NCS), one of the programs of The Next Door.

I’ve often written about our Raices/Roots program that promotes leadership development and capacity building within the Latino community.  It has been going full steam ahead for the past two years, and before that on an informal basis as our Health Promoters taught the community about health and trained other residents to do the same.

We had a nice write-up in the Northwest Area Foundation’s annual report that was just released this month.  Check out page 6 for a great summary of our Raices project.  We are eternally grateful to have found a foundation that is as commited to leadership development and poverty reduction (wealth/asset creation) as we are.  It has been a match made in heaven!

The two significant events of the past week are proof that the project is working.  Raices and Nuestra Voz Nuestra Salud/Our Voice, Our Health, another program of NCS, hosted a forum for Latino residents to talk to the Mayor of Hood River, the Hood River City Police Chief and our State Representative.  All three came out for 3 hours last wednesday night to answer questions and learn about the community’s concerns. 

The mayor stayed even though he’d had major dental surgery that day. That’s dedication!  One thing he said that really resonated with me is that he and the City Council need to hear from people.  He encouraged the 70 people at the forum to attend City Council meetings or meet individually with members, so their voices will be heard.  It’s almost as if he’d read our project description for Nuestra Voz Nuestra Salud!

Residents attend a forum to talk with State Representative Suzanne Van Orman, Hood River Mayor Arthur Babitz and Hood River City Police Chief Bruce Ludwig

The other event that took place was a Posada, a traditional Mexican celebration of Christmas, that was completely organized by one of the women in the Raices’ leadership group.  She decided to do it on her own and had 60 people in attendance, with the adults teaching the children about arts and crafts and the culture of a Mexican Christmas.

I look forward to 2010 to see what our leaders will do next.

The Moose do it again!

We can’t thank the Moose Lodge in The Dalles enough for their annual Breakfast with Santa party for Big Brothers Big Sisters.  Each year the members of the Moose give out gifts to the Little Brothers and Sisters in the program.  This year, the fifth year they have organized the party, 40 Littles from Cascade Locks, Hood River, White Salmon, Appleton, Dufur and The Dalles received gifts.

Here are some party highlights.  Once again, pictures say it all!