Parenting, Early Childhood, School Success

Section Description/Goal

To support healthy development, particularly among those with economic, social, and developmental disparities, their families and the professionals who work with them to reach their potential through policy, education and interventions grounded in best practices and proven research

Partnerships for Positive Parenting and Family Engagement

These Center initiatives promote positive parenting by creating, enhancing, or evaluating partnerships parents may have with various service providers or community systems.  Current projects focus on partnerships with health care providers, early education providers, the school system, the court system, and employees.

  • Early is Best:  This is a joint initiative of UNCG’s CYFCP, the United Way of Greater Greensboro, the Guilford County Department of Public Health, and the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina with a focus on promoting positive parenting and evidence-based interventions to support the social emotional health and development of young children and their families.  Programming and services will include staffing a nurse specializing in infant and maternal mental health and the Universal Newborn Home Visitation Program.  In addition, the project will support a positive parenting collaborative (GCPEC) to enhance early parenting intervention an education programs and to build the capacity of community partners to deliver effective programs.  Funded through the Cemala and Byran Foundations.
  • Family Engagement Training and Mentoring:  The goal of this Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant is to provide intensive professional development to educational staff in nine NC counties through training and technical assistance utilizing the Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework (PFCE) to promote family engagement and positive parent-child interactions.  Funded through NCDPI.
  • High Point Center for Children and Families:  This program promotes the health, well-being, and safety of young children through comprehensive intervention program, including therapeutic child and parent groups, coached parent-child DSS visitation, parent education, and family strengthening.  The Center was developed as a collaborative effort among leaders within the City of High Point, the United Way of Greater High Point, and the University of North Carolina Greensboro in order to leverage resources and fill the gap for needed services for vulnerable young children and their families in High Point.  It works in concert with the Victim’s Justice Center.
  • Juvenile Court Infant Toddler Initiative:  Juvenile and Family Court judges are responsible for the well-being of the children in their courts and can be powerful agents of change.  This initiative combines judicial muscle with child development and mental health community partners so that babies and toddlers are given the attention and life-changing help they need.  Funded by the Cemala, Bryan, Weaver, and Ellison Foundations, and the Guilford County Partnership for Children.
  • My Sister Susan’s House:  A family engagement specialist provides program development, consultation, and evidence-based parenting interventions for clients of this program  It is funded by Youth Focus.
  • Nonstandard Maternal Work Schedules (Women, Work, and Wee Ones) Project:  The goal of this longitudinal project is to better understand the impact of nonstandard maternal schedules on maternal well-being, and in turn, parenting, child health and emotional behavioral development.  It is funded through NICHD.

Partnerships for School Success

These Center initiatives promote school success by creating, enhancing, or evaluating parterships.

  • Bringing Out the Best, Janet Howard, Director:  A clinical intervention and professional development project to build the capacity of childcare providers, families, and professionals to support the social/emotional development of children ages birth to five.  The program is funded by the Guilford County Partnership for Children and the Cemala Foundation.
  • Closing the Gap:  Professional Development to Support Best Practice:  The QE STEP model (Quality Enhancement:  Supporting Teachers through Evidence-based Practice) blends strong evidence-based practice (the CLASS) with professional learning teams, mentoring, and reflective supervision.  Funding through Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and Guilford Child Development.
  • Ready for School, Ready for Life:  Commissioned by the Cemala Foundation and the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation, this advocacy committee brings together business and civic leaders to advance strategic action steps which ensure that children in Guilford County arrive at school ready to learn. Ready for School, Ready for Life
  • School Readiness Collaborative:  The School Readiness Collaborative (SRC) brings together schools and agencies serving at-risk preschoolers, higher education faculty and researchers, and community supporters for early education to ensure the readiness of children who are vulnerable to school failure.  Funding for the SRC’s work has been provided by the Weaver Foundation, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, and the Administration for Children and Families Office of Head Start.
  • STEP:  Supporting Transformation through Evidence-based Practice:  The STEP program is a model delivery system for providing evaluation, professional development, training and technical assistance to schools, early education programs, and community agencies to enhance evidence-based practice.  We have developed STEP programs for pre-k and Head Start programs to improve classroom quality, teacher-child interactions, mentoring, and reflective supervision.  Two STEP initiatives are currently funded.
  • In STEP Innovations in Promoting Responsive Relationships in Head Start:  Supporting Transformation through Evidence-based Practice:  This is a three year project funded by the Office of Head Start through the Administration for Children and Families.  The purpose of this project is to test, through a randomized intervention, the effectiveness and implementation of an innovative model of professional development utilizing the CLASS and an enhanced delivery system comprised of mentoring, effective use of technology, and culturally responsive learning materials.