Homework Factory: New Schedule and Celebrating Tet!

Homework Factory has developed a new routine for its elementary school participants. At the beginning of the quarter we identified that the younger youth were having to choose between enrichment and academic activities due to the time they got home from school and the time HWF was closing. We have extended Homework Factory! It is now open Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays afterschool until 6pm for elementary students.

The new routine includes an hour of Free Choice Time (3:30 - 4:30), half an hour of Reading Time (4:30-5:00) and an hour of Academic Time (5:00-6:00).

Free Choice Time provides youth with a wide array of enrichment activities as well as time to relax right after school. Activities include: clay, painting, paper mache, dress-up, cooking projects, beading, other art activities and much more! All of our activities are designed to be youth-led, meaning there is no desired outcome other than the youth create something which helps them explore their own creativity and expand on their interests. Youth can choose to do Homework or other academic activities during this time as well.

After Free Choice Time everyone cleans up together and a volunteer reads the group a story. Our books come through the Shoreline Library's Kid Reach program and our own multicultural library. After the story, Homework Factory youth grab their journal and write or draw an entry which extends the story. They get a sticker for our sticker chart if they are good listeners and write in their journals. Those with the most stickers are invited to a Reading Party at the end of the quarter where they get recognized for their good work with certificates and fun activities.

Academic Time has been modeled to practice skills Lake Forest Park Elementary teachers are working on with Ballinger youth during the school day. After meeting with LFP teachers the Ballinger staff was able to create activites that help youth learn math facts and reading skills in fun ways. These activities have been very effective at Homework Factory and are helping our youth learn.

Homework Factory continues to celebrate and learn about different cultures. On Saturday February 6th, Homework Factory joined hundreds of other people at the Seattle Center to celebrate Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. The Tet Festival ran throughout the weekend and included many exciting cultural celebrations.

The youth were able to watch traditional Vietnamese dancing. They also participated in an art station where they made red envelopes (given on the first day of Tet, by parents, to their children for becoming a year older), forsynthia (a symbol of life and resiliance) corsages, buttons with Vietnamese art on them and much more!

The youth also saw clothes on display from all the different regions of Vietnam, sampled a Vietnamese cake called Bánh rán, heard Vietnamese music, put pins in a map of Vietnam showing where they were born and of course had lots of time to play outside in the Seattle Center Fountain.

What You Are Saying About Us

This month over 56 people gave input to our staff on what they think about Center for Human Services. These people included youth and adults who attend activities at our family centers and volunteers who help make these activities possible. We also heard from some of our partner organizations.

Some of the things you think we are doing well include:

Connection to community
“CHS has a pulse on the community.”
“Programming is close to our homes”
“Building relationships with families”

Strength-based approach
“CHS programs are a place where you are able to give back – we have been/are tutored at HWF and now we can give back and tutor younger students”
“Ability of the organization to practice family support principles in their day to day work”

Culturally sensitive, competent
“You have people who speak different languages so you can help everyone understand”
“Preparing them to go to college [speaking of pre-school age child], maintain relationships with children who speak their same language, and to practice their mother tongue”

Welcoming environment
“Space is comfortable and feels like home, it is a safe, drug free environment where we can be ourselves with staff who feel like family”

Staff
“Have a great commitment to caring for individuals”
“Always prepared and professional”
“I find the people who work in Family Support to be caring, energetic, thoughtful and intelligent.”

Some things you thought we could improve on included:

Making sure people know about us
“Don’t hear about CHS as much as other social service providers”
“Name is confusing”
“Play and learn is not overly advertised in the local area”
“Make sure every citizen in the community knows about CHS and what CHS offers. This will bolster community support.”
“I am constantly amazed at how many local residents have not heard of you.”

Staffing/volunteer levels
“At times it appears staff are stretched a bit too far – when new dollars come available it would be wise to enhance current staffing prior to any new expansion”
“Get more help for each program, I mean more people to help for each program”

Collaboration
“More community involvement in the form of guests and teachers”
“Maybe have more speakers come in for the moms (i.e. child behaviors, dentistry)”

Thank you to everyone who gave us feedback. We will be using this information to create the CHS Strategic Plan for 2010-2013.

New children, new partners

Starting this month, Center for Human Services will be partnering with Children's Home Society to serve families through Early Head Start. A new grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to Children's Home Society is making it possible for 50 families living in North King County to access Early Head Start.

20 families will participate in a center-based program and 30 families will receive weekly home visits from Children's Home Society and attend Play and Learn groups at our Shoreline and Northshore Family Centers. To learn more, please see the full press release from Children's Home Society.

To be eligible for Early Head Start families must be living with a low income and have children ages birth - 2. Families with children ages birth-2 who are already receiving assistance from Washington State such as foster care, basic food or WIC are automatically eligible. If you know a family who would be interested in enrolling in this program, please contact Velia Lara at the Shoreline Family Support Center.