Mom or dad, or sometimes grandma, comes to the Family Connections’ preschools with their youngsters each morning and to special family events during the year at two locations in Menlo Park and one site in East Palo Alto.
“Always, a parent stays with their child,” says Debbie Denton, community liaison for Family Connections, which provides free preschools for children from low-income families living in Belle Haven, East Palo Alto and parts of Redwood City.
“This is not a drop-off center,” says Ms. Denton. It’s a parent-participation preschool that combines parent involvement and leadership with access for some 150 children, infants to 5-year olds, to early education and school readiness each year. These preschools are under the umbrella of the Sequoia Adult School, which helps fund salaries of the teachers who have parent-education credentials.
During a visit to the Family Connections preschool on the VA hospital campus in Menlo Park, children joined in circle time, listening to a story and singing songs with their teacher. Children’s art decorates the walls. There are areas for blocks and toys, puzzles, and dress-up play. Children choose books from an eye-catching array of titles and their parents read to them. Outdoors is a sunny play area, a place to ride wheeled toys, climb on the play structure, and play in the sand.
“The children love it,” says mom Julia San Bartolome. “Every day, they ask, are we going to preschool today?”
Veronica Marin started coming to the Family Connections school four years ago with her first daughter, Valery. “I found a family here,” she said. That made a huge difference because she and her husband were new to the area and had no family nearby.
“My daughter started to get to know other children and adults and blossom. She had no struggles from preschool to kindergarten,” said Ms. Marin, participating now with daughter Victoria.
Family Connections started in 1993 when parents from ” Little Hands,” a parent-participation co-op in Belmont, opened a preschool in an apartment in East Palo Alto, serving five families. The preschool expanded and moved into a portable building on the Belle Haven School campus in 1997.
Two more preschool sites opened in 2002 at Clara Mateo Alliance Shelter on the VA campus in Menlo Park and at the Girls Club of the Mid-Peninsula in East Palo Alto.
The philosophy of Family Connections is: “Children learn best when their parents are involved in their education.”
Parents, many of whom are new to the country, take an active role in the classroom, learning and growing along with their children. Parent-education sessions are held every other week with speakers talking about timely topics such as discipline, self-esteem and conflict resolution. There also are leadership-training opportunities.
Family Connections operates on a $350,000 annual budget. Most of the money comes from the nonprofit’s fundraising activities, including the annual “Children’s Authors Night,” some foundation grants, and contributions from a long list of supporters.
The nonprofit has joined forces with several partnerships, including the Peninsula Community Foundation and the David D. Bohannon Organization and community members, to provide services and resources to transform Belle Haven School into a “Community School” model. Family Connections’ preschool at Belle Haven, which now also has with a Saturday morning class, helps preschoolers make a smooth transition to kindergarten and helps parents get their children ready for academic school years.
[bug/bullet] HOLIDAY FUND
Gifts to the Almanac’s Holiday Fund help Family Connections provide free preschool programs for low-income families. For more information, call 369-6467, go to www.familyconnections.org, or e-mail director@familyconnections.org.
