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Thank you for helping support families

Published 8:00 am Sunday, July 24, 2016

Dad's "dig" the Parents As Teachers program at a monthly parent Group Connection at Sandy Beach. From left to right: Jon with Freyja Weaver, Shay with Novella Wilson and Ben with Cooper Peyerk.
Dad's "dig" the Parents As Teachers program at a monthly parent Group Connection at Sandy Beach. From left to right: Jon with Freyja Weaver, Shay with Novella Wilson and Ben with Cooper Peyerk.

Thanks to the Hope Endowment through the Juneau Community Foundation, nearly 60 families received support and resources to support the healthy growth and development of over 70 Juneau children this past year. The Juneau Parents As Teachers program is offered through the Association for the Education of Young Children Southeast Alaska. Each month a parent educator visits with the family to answer questions and provide top notch information on child development, connect the family to community resources, provide health and developmental assessments and support parents in achieving their own goals for their family. Parents and children look forward to a basket of activities and new books each month as part of the visits, and to once a month family nights, with a light dinner and time to connect with other families.

Parents exit surveys show being in the Parents As Teachers program has a tremendous impact on dealing with the stresses of parenting, understanding of their child’s development, knowing how to meet their child’s social emotional needs, establishing routines and setting reasonable limits.

Thanks to funding from the Juneau Community Foundation, Hope Endowment, the CBJ Social Services grant and Alaska Children’s Trust, families were buffered from the stormy seas of the fiscal year ups and downs. Now that the Department of Education and Early Development funding is back, thanks to strong support from Rep. Sam Kito, D-Juneau, and Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Alaska, the waiting list for the program is once again open for new families with children ages 0-3.

Thanks to funding support from the Juneau Community Foundation, a monthly Mother Support group is offered on the third Thursday of the month from 5-6:30 p.m. A new parenting series called Circles of Security will also be offered multiple times throughout the year. For more information about Parents As Teachers, Mother Support Groups or Circles of Security parenting sessions, call AEYC at 789-1235.

Emily Thompson

Juneau Parents As Teachers Coordinator

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