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MYCP Receives March of Dimes Grant to Start Playgroups Countywide

KEY WEST, Fla. (733 words) – To help all students succeed, Monroe Youth Challenge Program plans to run five playgroups for children from birth to age 4 throughout the county in an effort to address the achievement gap in education and health. The March of Dimes recently awarded MYCP a $22,075 grant to pay trained leaders to run the playgroups.

The success of MYCP’s pilot program, Grupo de Jeugo, in Key Largo helped inspire the county-wide model. The Key Largo playgroup is to be continued under this grant and four new playgroups are to be started. An evening one in Tavernier is targeted for working parents whose children are in day care. Three other playgroups are to be started in Marathon, Big Pine, and Key West.

The mission of these playgroups is to help kids have fun and parents raise smarter, healthier children with confidence. In addition to free play, the families work with a custom curriculum written by Nancy Lucas who has voluntarily run community playgroups in the Upper Keys for the last five years. The parts of the play date were chosen from evidence-based tools to raise IQ, improve grades and SAT scores, as well as reduce the risks of drugs, alcohol, early sexual activity and violence - even before children start school.

The playgroups are to meet at the same time and place each week in convenient locations to families. As an incentive for coming to the playgroup, parents are given children’s books that are culturally relevant for their home library.

The March of Dimes grant pays for staff salaries, folic acid supplements, March of Dimes literature, and craft supplies. Additional funds are needed for audio/visual equipment, books, and food.

These playgroups are for any parent with a child from birth to age 4. The custom curriculum uses research-based methods with proven findings. “In the two years I have engaged hundreds of parents through local playgroups and speeches at state and national conferences I have yet to find one parent who knows about, much less implements, all the aspects in our curriculum,” said Lucas who is to coordinate the project for MYCP.

The playgroup curriculum teaches baby sign language which increases IQ on average 12 points and raises SAT scores. (www.mybabycantalk.com)

Parents learn a new “I Love You Ritual” by Dr. Becky Bailey each week which is proven to reduce power struggles and discipline issues. This is also a tool to help prevent child abuse. In the pilot program, half of the mothers reported feeling more satisfied with their ability to discipline just after 12 weeks. (www.consciousdiscipline.com)

Leaders facilitate a parent discussion on the 40 Developmental Assets® from the Search Institute (www.mvparents.com). The more assets children have the higher their grades and SAT scores. Conversely, the fewer assets the more likely a child is to grow up involved with drugs, alcohol, early sexual activity and violence. Even giving a child as few as five new assets can increase their grades an entire letter.

Finally, each week will include a health topic to help prevent birth defects (www.marchofdimes.com). Because half of all pregnancies are unplanned, topics to be covered include smoking cessation, diabetes, alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and the benefits of folic acid.

The free time included in the weekly playgroups allows parents to develop friendships where healthy support systems can be built for times of need like child care, sharing rides, and passing on information about other support services like WIC or free meals in the community.

MYCP Director Sunny Booker says, “If every child, especially economically disadvantaged children, were given free access to this information, I believe we could reduce the achievement gap in education and have a positive effect on the gap in health care as well.”

In the next few weeks Lucas plans to make community presentations about these playgroups funded by the March of Dimes. If you would like to schedule a presentation please contact Nancy Lucas at (305) 393-6413 or NancyLwrites@gmail.com. “My dream is to see public playgroups with paid hosts accessible to every community in our nation,” Lucas said.

Monroe Youth Challenge Program is a project of the Monroe County Education Foundation. MYCP builds Developmental Assets and creates opportunities so every child in Monroe County can feel safe, loved, and celebrated. For more information call MYCP Director Sunny Booker at (305) 293-1400 ext. 53319 or visit www.monroe.k12.fl.us/mycp.