Grant Award Ensures Countywide Evidence-based Parenting Education Services Continue

The Oregon Community Foundation, on behalf of Ford Family Foundation and Oregon State University (OSU) has notified the CSC that its proposal for a Parenting Education Hub Grant was selected for funding.  Siskiyou County was one of 6 Parenting Education Hubs funded through a highly competitive process. Hub education services are targeted for families with children from pre-natal to six years old and provides $270,000 in funds, over 3 years.  Project evaluation services are provided by OSU and after the initial 3-year grant period, successful programs will have the opportunity to apply for an additional 2 years of funding.

The Parenting Hub grant award will allow CSC to continue its countywide parent education by building on the past 5 years of the ESPP II parenting education program. Rated as “Outstanding” by Oregon State University for all five program years, Siskiyou’s parenting program was described as exhibiting “exemplary organizational infrastructure, collaborative relationships, and parenting education programming.”

A principle focus of the new Parenting Hub grant is to continue to work with community partners to deliver quality parenting education services while building stronger and more coordinated parenting education systems.  A comprehensive planning process was undertaken to inform development of the Hub proposal and better serve Siskiyou parents with primary prevention programs and services while filling gaps and avoiding overlaps in services.

The primary goals of the grant include:

• •  To further expand access to best practice programs for parents of young children by offering parenting education class series and workshops (including in Spanish) for parents of children 0-6 at the 10 FRCs, County Jail and the Teen Parent program, utilizing evidence-based curricula recognized by the funders.  Class series will include a section on healthy eating habits, promotion of physical activities and oral health.

• •  To increase the capacity of parents to play a positive, primary role in the care, nurturing and development of their children in their first years
• To help build community for parents of young children, thereby reducing social isolation
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• •  To strengthen families while reducing the potential for child abuse and neglect
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• •  To continue efforts in building a county wide parenting education “system”
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• •  To increase efficiency and coordinate the use of parenting education resources
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• •  To raise awareness of the importance of effective parenting and promote parenting education as a community norm

• •  To increase the capacity of local service providers by offering a menu of high quality professional training opportunities in Siskiyou County.

CSC’s Hub Parenting education project will be implemented through 9 Family and Community Resource Center communities. Class schedules are currently being developed for parenting classes and workshops to begin this September.  Core project partners for the Hub parenting education program are:  Siskiyou’s 9 Family and Community Resource Centers, Siskiyou Early Head Start, Siskiyou County Probation, Siskiyou County Jail, Yreka Union High School, First 5 Siskiyou, Karuk Tribe, and Chico State University.