Old Presbyterian Meeting House Donates Clothes

Each year, Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria donates clothes and coats for our children and families. This month they donated more than 20 bags of clothes for our families! Pictured to the left is one of our preschool students who benefited from the donation. She is sporting her new coat which could not have come at better time as it turned much cooler this week and this young girl needed a jacket to play on the playground. Special thanks goes to Lisa McGonigle who coordinated the event for the Old Presbyterian Meeting House. You can learn more about OPMH here.

USA TODAY Features CFNC: It's a tough time to be a charity

The Monday cover story of USA TODAY's Money section (read here) described the economic crisis as setting off "tremors among non-profits" as foundations and corporations cut back their philanthropic giving. These tremors have already reached us in so many ways, most notably and currently with our pending $350,000 grant from the Freddie Mac Foundation, as highlighted in the article.

We are so grateful for the generous support Freddie Mac has consistently shown CFNC each year since the foundation's inception, and we count on this yearly support to sustain us until winter revenue streams arrive from our holiday mailings and other grants. However, without these funds (or if they are drastically reduced), it will likely mean that we will have to close two classrooms, serving 32 families. This means that 32 children will lose their access to free early childhood education, will have to enter kindergarten unprepared and behind from the start, and that their parents will be forced to make the difficult decision between work and leaving their child in situations that are likely not in the child's best interest.

What you can do to help. All children in this community need and deserve high-quality early childhood education. Here are two ways you can help us to meet this urgent community need:

1. Invest in a Child's Education. With the current state of our economy, investing in our children through early childhood education is perhaps the soundest, surest investment you can make. Studies have shown that the return on investment is actually higher than the stock market (even in the best of times). Supporting our free preschool today means lower rates of violent crime, poverty, and incarceration, and higher rates of home ownership and high school graduation, which benefit us all as this generation reaches adulthood. To make an investment in CFNC, just click on the link at the start of this paragraph.

2. Share this newsletter. During these tough times, it is going to take a whole village of donors giving what they can to make up for the loss of larger philanthropic gifts from corporations and foundations hit hard by this crisis. Take a moment to think of people you know who might be interested in learning more about CFNC, and share this article with them or encourage them to learn more about us on our website.

CFNC Opens New Classroom in Arlington

In November, CFNC will be opening a new classroom in Arlington that will provide 16 children with free, accredited preschool. The classroom will be located at AHC, Inc.'s new affordable housing complex, The Gates of Ballston. AHC is a private, nonprofit developer of affordable housing in the mid-Atlantic region that provides quality homes for low- and moderate-income families. AHC is providing the classroom space rent-free for the first year.

As the cost of living continues to rise and wages continue to decline during these difficult economic times, many low and moderate income families simply cannot afford to own a home. By partnering with AHC, CFNC is able to provide low-income residents with a safe, nurturing environment for their young children. Many low-income families do not own cars, so providing high-quality preschool and family support services where they live reduces the barriers these families face.

Our expansion into The Gates of Ballston is part of a growing partnership with AHC. In 2005, we opened our first AHC-based classroom at Virginia Gardens in South Arlington, which will also serve 16 families this year. This past weekend, The Gates of Ballston celebrated the opening of their new community center in which our classroom is located (pictured above). Our Executive Director, Barbara Mason, and our board member, Barbara Favola, were part of the ribbon cutting ceremony.

You can learn more about AHC,Inc. here.

Boeing Employees Give Back

This past Saturday, Boeing employees braved the rain and wind in order to help us paint our family resource room and build a shed on the playground at our Birchmere center. Undeterred by the weather conditions, they labored for five hours to improve the facilities of our Birchmere center which this year serves 54 families living in poverty. When asked what brought them out on a cool, wet day to paint and build, each of the volunteers, in their own way, cited the same reason: a desire "to give back."

The shed Boeing employees helped construct will be used to store playground equipment and outdoor toys, such as tricycles, easels, and hulahoops. The family resource room will serve as a place where parents can gain information about community resources and access the internet to search for jobs, etc.

Boeing has been a true champion for early childhood education in this region, and has been one of our major supporters over the past decade. This year, they have awarded CFNC two grants: one to purchase fundraising software that will increase the capacity of our development team, and another to fund our early childhood education programming. You can learn more about Boeing's philanthropic activities here.

Special thanks goes to Oris Davis, Joe Fore, and Dale Rainville.

Moms with Cancer

We currently serve two children whose mothers have recently been diagnosed with cancer. Both mothers are single parents and are currently hospitalized. Neither woman has health insurance. One of women was informed at hospital that had she waited much longer she would have died. The other woman was told that following her treatments she would need to take a medication that costs $2,000 for one prescription. Joint efforts have found funds for one prescription, but the woman worries what will happen if she needs additional prescriptions. Both will unlikely be able to return to work anytime in the near future.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can help these mothers in their battle against cancer, please contact our Director of Family Support Services, Blanca Leyva at 703-836-0214.

Reports from the Field

The following reports come from CFNC's Family Support Services team that includes three social workers, an ESL instructor, and a Nurse Practitioner:

I recently visited a family of recent immigrants whose child is enrolled in one of our preschool programs. The parents have two young girls, both of whom were born in the US. During my visit, the father expressed concern about the feasibility of remaining in Virginia given the current anti-immigrant climate. After expressing interest in participating in one of our immigration information workshops, and while talking about ways to support their children’s education, I asked them what they saw in their daughters’ futures; what did they see their girls’ doing 15 years from now? Both parents looked at me dumbfounded. They had not thought that many years ahead. After thinking hard, the father sadly stated that they had been so concerned with their everyday struggles that they had not taken the time to consider their daughters’ futures. With tears in his eyes he said he wanted to see them with a career, living a better life. I pointed out to him that his daughters could achieve that because as American citizens they could attend college through scholarships. Neither parent thought that could be a possibility for their children. I encouraged them that it was not too early to begin speaking with their daughters about the importance of education, so that they could begin fostering a belief and expectation in their daughters that college was a part of their future. I also encouraged them to attend our immigration workshops in order to keep informed on what they could do to resolve their immigration status.

A mother, whose daughter was enrolled in our program last year, came into the office to ask for assistance with her daughter’s Kindergarten homework assignment. As we provided her with assistance, she informed us that her daughter’s Kindergarten teacher was very pleased with her daughter’s performance in school. The teacher asked her about her childcare prior to entering Kindergarten. The mother informed the teacher that her daughter had been attending CFNC. The teacher went on to tell the mother that she was very impressed with her daughter and that she was very impressed with CFNC and how well they prepared children for Kindergarten.

When I met recently with a single mother of one of our students, she expressed excitement about her son’s opportunity to attend preschool. As a low-income, single mother who receives no assistance from her son’s father, high-quality preschool would have been impossible for her son without CFNC. During my visit, she said she was concerned about her son’s speech development, and that he was supposed to have been evaluated but she had never been able to set up the appointment for him. She was also concerned about not working enough hours to support her son and wanted to find a full-time job that would allow her to drop off and pick up her son from school. Based on her two major concerns, we set two goals: one, to get her son the help he needed regarding speech development, and two, to find a full-time job. Together we listed ideas of where she could look for a job, and how best to seek employment. Following my visit, she met me at my office and filled out the required forms for her son to be evaluated for developmental delays. She also brought job applications in and we filled them out together. Now, just three weeks into the school year, she has completed her first two goals: Her son has been referred to a speech therapist and she has a new, full-time job that is very close to her home and allows her to drop off and pick up her son each day.

18-year-old A. came to CFNC’s Family Literacy class in the fall of 2005 and stayed for one year. She was an eager student and loved communicating with others. She found a job in the summer of 2006 at a Travel Agency and a catering service and wasn't able to attend classes the next fall. This past week, two years after I had last seen her, she came in to register herself and her sister-in-law for our ESL classes. She told me that she really wants to improve her English and that this was a good time to do it. She is four months pregnant and she quit her two jobs. I tested her and found that she had maintained most of the gain she made two years ago as a participant in our program. In fact, I noticed that she was using the present tense correctly when I asked her about her daily schedule. I was thrilled to hear that because teaching the different verb tenses is a continuous challenge in my classes. Most of my students typically use only one verb tense when they describe their actions in the past, future and present. She had remembered my lessons on daily schedules and other present tense applications.
She also told me that she had tutored her sister-in-law, and now wants to learn English so she can get a better job. Her goal is to get her GED in English and go to a community college to learn a profession. I am sure she'll learn a lot in the coming four months before her baby arrives. She might even come back after the delivery. Maria Lara, the CFNC babysitter, is fantastic and A. should have no problem leaving her little one with her. I feel confident that she will be ready to raise her child in America and will find a good job to support her family. -