MEAC is partnering with ParentChild+ to bring early literacy skills, books, educational toys to toddlers in Madisonville.
Madisonville Education & Assistance Center, a neighborhood-based nonprofit providing services and educational programs, is now recruiting families for a new partnership with ParentChild+, a national early childhood literacy organization with 142 sites across 15 states and in six countries.
ParentChild+ is a one-on-one, home-based literacy program, working with children as young as 16 months and up to four years of age. The mission of ParentChild+ is to ensure that all children, regardless of their race, socio-economic status or zip code have equal opportunities from the start.
Early Learning Specialists, whom MEAC will hire and train from within the community, will provide two half-hour home visits each week. These visits will not only serve as educational opportunities for the children, but they will also build a trusted relationship allowing the early learning specialist to connect families with other resources and programming to meet their needs.
Founded in 1986 to provide a centralized hub for services for the Madisonville community, MEAC provides food, emergency financial assistance, educational programming and ongoing support and resources to Madisonville and the surrounding communities.
Over the course of the 18-month program, families will receive 46 culturally-relevant books and educational toys as well as curricular guides with tips on vocabulary-building, engaging conversation, skill and social-emotional development, imaginative play, and literacy, music and art activities. This programming is provided at no cost.
“I am looking forward to identifying and building on the strengths of each family we work with in the home environment and the strengths of Madisonville as a community,” said Carol Mussio, MEAC’s ParentChild+ site coordinator.
This program is funded by the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, the Donald C. and Laura M. Harrison Family Foundation, the Scripps Howard Fund and other generous individuals.
For more information, please contact Mussio at (513) 328-0945 or carolmussio@meaccincinnati.org, or visit meaccincinnati.org/literacy.