Congress for Children September 10, 2003

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Congress for ChildrenSeptember 10, 2003

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Family Strengthening forSchool Readiness

• Strong families raise healthy children prepared
  for school and community life
• Families and neighborhoods integrate school
  readiness activities as a community norm
• Elementary school neighborhoods and businesses
  support family strengthening and early childhood
  education
• All elementary school students experience
  academic, social, and emotional success

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Two Principal Strategiesto Strengthen Families

• Promote family economic success to ensure parents
  have the financial security to support the basic
  needs of their family
• Prepare parents or primary caregivers to serve as
  their childs first teacher and partner in their
  education

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Family Economic Success Program

• Improve Family Economic Success through asset
  building to improve the economic success of low
  income families through income generating
  opportunities
• Earned Income and Child Tax Credits
• Individual Development Accounts (IDA) for home
  ownership, education and micro enterprise
  development
• Access to financial services
• Financial Literacy

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Family Economic Success Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance (VITA)

• VITA 2002
• Over 2,000 returns completed
• Taxpayers received over 2.7 million in refunds
• VITA 2003
• Over 9,500 returns completed
• Tax payers received over 14 million in refunds
• Tax payers saved over 700,000 in tax preparation
  and filing fees

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Family Economic SuccessIndividual Development
Accounts

• IDA - Individual Development Accounts build on
  low-income working families earned income
• Asset building tool enables working families to
  save money toward specific asset goals
• Continuing education
• Home ownership
• 41 match results in a maximum of 3,750 used for
  goal
• 120 total enrolled in DCI Families Save IDA
  program

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Connecting Families to Resources

• At first point of engagement, connect families to
  all eligible resources
• Early childhood development
• Head Start, Public Pre-K, CCDS
• Food security
• WIC, Food Stamps
• Health care
• Medicaid, CHIP, immunizations
• Parent support
• Precious Minds, 65-SMART
• Reputable financial services
• Financial literacy, VITA, IDAs, Credit Unions
  and Banks

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School Readiness Education Continuum
Globally Competitive Workforce
High Skilled Local Workforce
Technical Skills Success
Higher Education Success
Secondary School Success
Primary School Success
Early Childhood Success
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School Readiness Initiative

• Prepare children to enter school ready to
  succeed by focusing time, energy and money in
  four areas
• Primary Caregivers
• Prepare parents to serve as their childs first
  teacher
• Enable parents to participate in their childs
  education
• Early Childhood Centers and Schools
• Professional development
• Curriculum development and sharing
• Information exchange

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School Readiness Initiative

• Prepare children to enter school ready to
  succeed by focusing time, energy and money in
  four areas
• Elementary School Neighborhoods
• Engage entire neighborhood on school readiness
• Enroll seniors as promotoras
• Public Will Campaign
• Contract with Public Television
• Enlist public relations firm
• Use Mayors influence with media

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School Readiness Initiative

• 18 Elementary School Neighborhoods
• One public school
• Two child care programs
• Community of families, teachers, CBOs and
  businesses
• Collaborative Effort Includes
• City of San Antonio and Alamo Workforce Dev.
• Urban Systemic Project (USP)
• Bexar County school districts
• Local child care community
• Community based organizations
• University of Texas at San Antonio

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School ReadinessImpact

• UTSA Research Project
• Progress of Children
• Developmental Assessments of Children in Kinder
• Readiness Centers Since Fall 2001
• Children in Kinder Readiness Project sites had
• half the rate of potential delay than
  children not
• enrolled in Kinder Readiness sites.
• Children in almost every center have shown
• improvement in literacy skill development

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Contact Information
Dennis J. Campa [phone] dcampa_at_sanantonio.g
ov