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Date: 7/1/2019
AGAWAM – As part of the Agawam School Committee meeting hosted on June 11, Robin Fernandes and Michelle Connery provided an update about the Family and Community Engagement program. Fernandes is grant coordinator of the program and Connery is program coordinator. The Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Grant is funded by the Department of Early Education and Care.
Fernandes shared that the amount being rewarded to the program through the grant in the next school year is $45,700.
Fernandes explained, “Basically [it’s] the same amount that we have worked with for the last several years, as long as I can remember. We are always looking at what we can do more differently [and] however we can make those dollars go the farthest for the intent of the grant.”
The program team for the Family and Community Engagement program includes program facilitator Erin Cosgrove, playgroup facilitator Julie Vooys and playgroup facilitator and ESL outreach support Ummuye Alkan.
“One of the things that we have done, Michelle and I and our team work closely to try to look at what our programming is and where we’re going. As you can tell, our team for this grant has grown. It was initially me and Michelle and over the years we added Erin Cosgrove. Erin does a lot of programming for us. We also have Julie Vooys, who is one of our playgroup facilitators. And this year we were extremely fortunate to have Ummuye Alkan come on as a Playgroup Facilitator and ESL Outreach Support. As you know from other areas, Ummuye has been a support to the district as a whole and so we have certainly utilized her in the context of our grant as well,” Fernandes said.
Fernandes continued, “Our few dollars is certainly going a long way to support a great team of people who are doing some wonderful things in terms of supporting children our target age, birth to 5-6 in terms of the grant program guidelines and objectives.”
Fernandes explained the goals of the Family and Community Engagement program. “Our goal is to be a resource for families and a hub of information. Anyone who knows Michelle, she is an excellent outreach person and always is looking to gather more information and to figure out how we can incorporate that into the work that we do. We also continue to outreach to hard-to-reach families, and as we have progressed this year, certainly having Ummuye come on board has been instrumental in reaching families who may be new to our community, who may have a language barrier, who are looking for supports and ways to get connected with the community. That is one of our grant objectives and we are certainly making some strides in that area as well, “Fernandes said.
Fernandes continued, “We continue to provide opportunities for family education and family engagement. That is what we are about in terms of this grant and building relationships. And kind of seeing where we can go in terms of helping and providing programming for all different families within the community.”
Reflecting on some of the programs offered by the Family and Community Engagement program, Fernandes explained, “We do look at what our programming currently is and where we feel it needs to be going in the future. This year, some of our school administrators had the opportunity and took the time thankfully to really go and look at what that playgroup is like. It has grown tremendously over the last several years.”
Fernandes continued, “It really is an amazing group of parents and kids and the people who make it happen in terms of setting up.”
Connery added, “I think for all of us [at] playgroup, we want it to almost feel like you’re coming into our living room. A lot of places want registration, they want you to sign-in [and] they have a lot of formalities. We’re not like that. We are just happy if you were able to get out of the house with whichever kids you have. You’re welcome. You’re welcome to come in early, you’re welcome to leave early, you’re welcome to come in late and still leave early and I think all of us have really tried to create that atmosphere so when we have new people come in, you’ll see us always greet new people right away.”
Connery continued, “We really have tried to create playgroup to be a warm atmosphere. It continues to be a great launching spot for people to find out about early intervention, other playgroups from other families, preschools in town, our other programming, it just doesn’t matter. Come as you are and we try to meet any need that you have and answer a lot of questions.”
Fernandes explained that the Family and Community Engagement program has added programming for English Language Learners. “Adding the ELL support was definitely a highlight for us. In connection with that, we did have a cultural fair. The whole process this year of kind of having that evolve and we also developed an ELL playgroup so families had an opportunity to have a little bit of English instruction almost in a sense. We tried to target it to some of that language they might experience when they’re trying to connect with the school system in the community or other places in the community and have that opportunity for informal conversation, but also have a place for their children to come as part of a playgroup,” Fernandes said.
During the presentation, Fernandes explained that the Family and Community Engagement Program is hoping to continue several programs for fiscal year 2020 including playgroups, “Watch Me Grow” playgroup, Coffee and Conversation (Parent Café,) Learn, Play and Grow, a Music/Literacy program and parent workshops. The new “Watch Me Grow” playgroup will utilize the Ages and Stages tool to help families understand where their children stand developmentally. Fernandes said the program will “utilize [Ages and Stages] to help [parents] see where their children are developmentally and determine if there’s areas that they could be working on and supporting them.”
Another change that will take place for the Family and Community Engagement Program is its age target. Previously, the program focused on children ages 0-8. The program will switch gears in fiscal year 2020 to focus on children ages 0-5.
“There are definitely some programs that we are phasing out and going down to 0-5 so I think the timing of everything is good. We’re going to really kick off and do a lot of new programming. Next year I think will be keeping us on our toes because, as we roll out some new programs, we’ll find what works and what doesn’t work kind of trial by fire,” Connery explained.
Connery continued, “I think we’re all kind of interested to see what’s to come. It’s going to be pretty exciting next year.”
To watch the full meeting, visit vimeo.com/341773275.