About Us
Even Start Family Literacy Partnerships provide intensive family literacy services that involve parents and children in a cooperative effort to help parents become full partners in the education of their children and assist children in reaching their full potential as learners. Even Start Family Literacy Partnerships help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the education opportunities of families most in need in terms of poverty and illiteracy. The partnerships are implemented through cooperative projects that build on existing community resources to create a new range of services for low income families.
Eligibility
Even Start Family Literacy Partnerships serve families meeting both of the following criteria:
- children of ages birth through seven years
- their parent or parents who are eligible for participation in adult basic education programs under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act.
Partnership
An eligible entity is a partnership with shared rights and responsibilities between:
- a local educational agency or Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and one of the following:
- a nonprofit community-based organization
- a public agency other than a local education agency or BOCES
- an institution of higher education
- a public or private nonprofit organization (other than a local educational agency or BOCES) of demonstrated quality.
Integrated Activities
Even Start Family Literacy Partnerships provide services to families that are of sufficient intensity and duration to make sustainable changes in a family. The services integrate the following components:
- interactive literacy activities between parents and their children
- training for parents regarding how to be the primary teacher for their children and full partners in the education of their children
- parent literacy training that leads to economic self-sufficiency
- an age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school and life experiences
- home-based instructional services