Young brains grow and develop at an astonishing rate. A child's earliest experiences and environments help lay the foundation for learning and success for years to come. We are investing resources and partnering with caregivers and educators across the county to help pre-school and school age children reach their full potential from pre-k through graduation.
Family and Schools Together - FAST
The Family & Children First Council (FCFC) of Cuyahoga County supports the Family and Schools Together (FAST) program for children and their families as a multifamily group intervention designed to build protective factors for children and empower parents to be the primary prevention agents for their own children. FAST enlists children (3 to 10 years old) and their parents using engaging activities led by local school and agency partners in times of non-crisis.
Families and Schools Together (FAST) is a preventive and intervention program aimed at improving family functioning which is intended to increase the resiliency of children. FAST’s primary goals are to enhance family functioning, decrease risk of school failure, decrease risk of substance abuse in parents and children, and reduce identified stressors in the lives of parents and children. Most significant is the inclusion of parents within FAST to engage them with their local schools, which ultimately leads to children’s academic success. Inclusion of parents is achieved through focused, engaging activities led by local school and agency partners in times of non-crisis. That is, parents are engaged with FAST as part of their children’s activities in school, and not as an institutional response to their children’s behaviors.
Since the 2010-2011 school-year, a total of 1,295 families have engaged in FAST programming across 33 schools. More than 90% of families reported attending all eight weekly FAST sessions. Reports indicate a moderate level of satisfaction with FAST programming, with parents providing a 9.3 (out of 10) satisfaction rating and teachers providing a rating of 6.2 (out of 10), respectively.
Out of School Time (OST)
The Family & Children First Council (FCFC) of Cuyahoga County supports Out of School Time (OST) programs for children and teenagers as a proven strategy for keeping kids out of trouble, improving school performance, and preparing youth for careers and stable adulthood. These after-school and summer programs immerse youngsters of all ages in positive activities like tutoring and educational enrichment, arts and culture exposure, recreation, career exploration, and college readiness.
Out of School Time (OST) activities are coordinated by Starting Point, which disperses grant funds to neighborhood agencies to provide OST programming across Cuyahoga County. Examples of OST programming include educational and academic services, enrichment programming, career exploration activities, recreation, college readiness, and workforce development. The overarching purpose of the evaluation of OST programming is to identify potential impacts on youth development outcomes as well as report on OST dosage levels (e.g., amount of activity such contacts and total hours).
Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program
In 2017, Invest in Children’s Universal Pre-kindergarten program more than doubled in size from a capacity of 2000 preschoolers, to 4,600! The expansion was the result of a very successful campaign launched a year earlier that combined new public and private investments to fund the program’s growth.
High quality pre-kindergarten gives children a firm foundation for educational success. Research indicates that children in high quality pre-k programs make gains in early literacy, pre-reading, and early math; have more positive interactions with peers and adults; and are better prepared for kindergarten. UPK in Cuyahoga County makes high quality early care and education accessible to families at selected sites by providing funding to enhance quality, as well as scholarship assistance to low and moderate income families.
UPK sites include public preschools, Head Start programs, community child care centers, and family child care homes. All UPK sites meet a series of standards, proven through research to be the hallmarks of quality that result in improved school readiness. These standards include increased teacher qualifications and commensurate compensation, lower staff to child ratios, use of approved curricula, engagement of families, and family linkages to necessary supportive services. Starting Point, the regional child care resource and referral agency, serves as lead agency on this effort, and partners with Invest in Children to provide technical assistance and training to all UPK sites.
Keeping Our Children Safe
Every day our hotline operators answer calls about suspected child abuse and neglect. Our 696-KIDS Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (including holidays) to take calls about suspected child abuse and neglect, along with families who need preventive services or other support. When someone is concerned that a child may be at risk they can speak to a trained Child Protection Specialist who will document the allegation, assess whether it requires an emergency response, and determine whether to assign it for investigation. After investigating the allegation, if there is enough evidence that a child is in danger, Child Protection Specialists may work with prosecutors and Juvenile Court to obtain protective supervision, emergency custody, temporary custody, or permanent custody of a child. Once in custody it is our goal to find a permanent, safe home for these children.
Looking Ahead
Access to affordable, high-quality preschool is an important step toward fostering children’s development and preparing them for kindergarten and the years beyond. The Office of Early Childhood offers scholarships to families in need. At the end of 2017, UPK preschools were at about 83% capacity. In 2018 we will explore options to sustain the current funding level and to expand the UPK program to include more high-quality preschools as well as engage in a marketing campaign to publicize UPK, increase awareness of the importance of early childhood education, and fill all vacant slots. We will also expand our Special Needs Child Care program to offer more intensive services in classrooms with children demonstrating severe behavioral challenges.