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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Early Learning Program Helps Low-Income Kids, Caregivers Succeed

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Wednesday, January 22, 2014   

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It's been said that it takes a village to raise a child, and the YMCA is reaching out to that village through a pilot program aimed at helping neighbors, relatives and babysitters teach young children the skills they need for school.

For many working families, said Rebecca Kelley, national director for the Achievement Gap Initiative of the YMCA of the USA, informal caregivers are the most common form of child care. She said this program gives them the tools they need to help preschoolers in their care succeed.

"This is really more of a preparation gap," she said, "because we find that many low-income youth come into kindergarten with some issues related to pre-literacy skills and relationship-building, and this is really important."

The pilot program is in 43 sites nationwide, with a focus on underserved communities, including at the YMCA of Greater Kansas City. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said that expanding access to preschool programs in low-income communities is among his top priorities.

Initial results have shown promising gains for kids in the program on several measures of kindergarten readiness, but Kelley said the benefits of a program such as this aren't limited to the children.

"We have many newcomer families who are part of this," she said, "and the caregivers have reported that the language skills that are being developed not only help the child prepare for kindergarten but it helped them, and it increased their confidence and a willingness for them to learn."

It's estimated that lower-income children enter kindergarten 12 to 18 months behind the average child, particularly in areas where access to federally supported preschool programs such as Head Start is limited.

More information on the program is online at ymca.net.


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