The Best Investment America Can Make

The Gift of Gratitude

We recently received a thank you note from one of our parents, and we wanted to share it with you. Enjoy, and know that as our supporter and friend, you are part of an organization that truly makes a difference in the lives of families in need.

from December 18, 2008

"Hi,I'm a parent of Gian Carlo Daproza,one of the students that your organization is helping. He's currently attending at Cora Kelly Recreational Center.
My name is Rosita-Nitz Daproza. I'm emailing just to show how our family and I are so very grateful for what your organization have done for us.. From having us celebrate the Thanksgiving Holidays with peace with the help of the food you've provided our family,I personally is very thankful. Now, for having to provide my children gifts to open for Christmas and for our gift also. Our family is really going through one of the toughest time right now...my husband is trying his hardest to make ends meet but since our economy got hit really hard the company he is now working for decided to cut their hours and its been really hard for us. While fulfilling his duty to his ill mother who is diagnosed with kidney failure and going through her weekly dialysis...
So,every blessing that my family and I are receiving is very much appreciated...

Again, Thank You so very much for all the help that your organization have done for my family and I...

Sincerely,

Rosita- Nitz P. Daproza"

Cinderella's Dress

Sergio is a four-year-old student in our program and he is in Ms. Tonya’s and Ms. Ana’s class at our Birchmere site in Alexandria. He is bright and very funny…a big ham! His sister, Heidi, was one of our preschool students and now she is in second grade. She gets excellent grades and enjoys singing and creating any kind of artwork. I have one of her drawings in my office. Today Heidi came with her Mom to pick up her brother, Sergio. She was all dressed up in what Sergio calls her “Cinderella dress” because she sang in a holiday assembly at school today. She explained to me that she and her classmates performed songs in English, Spanish and even Japanese, and then – to my delight - she demonstrated a couple of the songs! It was gratifying to see her self-assured demeanor, and to take a little credit on behalf of CFNC, for her continued success in school and life.

I love working in a setting where I often have the opportunity and pleasure to see and talk with our former students and their parents at various points along the way and see how well they and their families are doing. I encounter our former students in the public schools in which we have classrooms and in CFNC’s Birchmere site where my office is located if they have a younger sibling enrolled in our program. I also see them in Arlandria, the Birchmere’s neighborhood, where my husband and I also live. What a gift and a joy!

by Donna Bain

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.

Magic Moments

On Monday, May 12th 5th grade students from St. Stephens/St. Agnes performed a magic show for children at CFNC's Birchmere center. Enjoy the video of the American Flag trick and please forgive my shaky hands. Next time I will film from a steadier surface. For a small photo gallery of the magic show click here. The children absolutely loved the magic show, evident at the end of the short video! Thank you very much to all of the students. What a show!

A Normal Day at the Playground

We focus a lot on the educational benefits of quality preschool programming for children living in poverty (e.g. that kids from low-income families with preschool experience do better in school and ultimately in life than those who do not have the opportunity to attend preschool). However, it is also important to take time to highlight that children love preschool. They love learning. They love playing in a safe environment where they run around with abunch of children their age and scream! This is one of the things we provide to children on a daily basis that they may not othewise be able to partake in with the same sense of safety and adult supervision. Now that it is spring, we couldn't resist sharing with you how cute these kids are on our playground. For a web album with more pictures from a normal day at the playground click here. Enjoy!

What Does Success Smell Like?

Peggy Ashbrook, who developed our Preschool Science! program, recently taught CFNC kids to explore their sense of smell. She writes of this picture, "Children and teachers [are] gathering and recording the data from their activity: using their sense of smell to understand that people have different favorite smells."

For more pictures from our Preschool Science! program, click here.

It is an unfortunate truth that children living in poverty – particularly minority children – are less likely to excel in the fields of math and science and thus are less likely to have careers in math, science and technology. Early childhood programs must effectively engage children in math and science in order to close this achievement gap because, as the President of Chicago’s Erickson Institute argues, “the roots of later competence [in math and science] are established long before school age.”

Our Preschool Science! program ensures that our children have the pre-math and pre-science skills they will need. Preschool Science!, taught twice a month in every classroom, is designed to encourage our children to observe the details of the natural world, laying the foundation for their excitement of the discovery process and perception of themselves as young scientists. By participating in the Preschool Science! curriculum, the nearly 200 children who attend our programs will be prepared to succeed in the science education programs they will encounter in elementary school and beyond.