Hi Elaine,
Thanks for sharing the work of Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center’s Family Services. I'd love to hear more about the specific programs that Family Services provides and the impact they've had on the community.
Thanks!
Alexis
The services include but not restricted to the following:
1. Family education and empowerment: educational activities including workshops, parent classes, and a parent resource center.
2. Family-based stabilization services: information and referral, crisis counseling, and brief interventions using intake, family evaluation and family service plans.
3. Staff development: in-house trainings to support staff who work with families.
For our workshops, we create bilingual materials and hire bilingual trainers and translators. During the workshops, we provide licensed child care and light meals to increase workshop attendance. We provide well-written, translated materials and culturally competent curricula that give participants the information they need to support their families.
The services are provided with the goal of teaching parents to learn how to be advocates themselves. We make a committment to nurturing consituents to become leaders in the community, as a BCNC parent advocate, member of Citywide advisory board or on a parent teacher council. Family Services works with similar programs serving non-English speaking families to promote policies and practices(i.e. multilingal school forms) to facilitate the involvement of all parents in their child's education and health care.
We developed Family Services to provide intervention services when needed but also to work with families long term, to build their own capacity to help their families and communities.
A larger view of our impact can be understood by the difference in how this community engages citywide to advocate for systemic change. In 2005, there was no citywide participation from parents of special needs children from the immigrant Asian community. In 2008, the first of two Asian American parents were elected to the Parents Special Education Advisory Council for Boston Public Schools and were able to join a larger effort to improve services for all of Boston's children. In 2009, we hired a parent of a special needs child that formerly received services from us. She has made the transition to being an advocate herself, facilitating parent-child play groups and coaching parents though the IEP process with schools. IEPs are Individualized Education Plans developed by the school for a child in need of special services. Also, in 2009, we collaborated with our school partner, Josiah Quincy Elementary School to host a forum with the school superintendent. Nearly 200 parents attended.
Impact on an individual level is made by our series of family education workshops. In 2009, 22 workshops were attended by 728 people. Of the 15 workshops with measurable results all but one workshop received good or excellent ratings from 85% to 95% of those attending. The individual workshops are usually at full enrolllment.
Parents who attend our workshops consistantly report that they use the information provided.
Comments
Hi Elaine,
Thanks for sharing the work of Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center’s Family Services. I'd love to hear more about the specific programs that Family Services provides and the impact they've had on the community.
Thanks!
Alexis
Alexis,
The services include but not restricted to the following:
1. Family education and empowerment: educational activities including workshops, parent classes, and a parent resource center.
2. Family-based stabilization services: information and referral, crisis counseling, and brief interventions using intake, family evaluation and family service plans.
3. Staff development: in-house trainings to support staff who work with families.
For our workshops, we create bilingual materials and hire bilingual trainers and translators. During the workshops, we provide licensed child care and light meals to increase workshop attendance. We provide well-written, translated materials and culturally competent curricula that give participants the information they need to support their families.
The services are provided with the goal of teaching parents to learn how to be advocates themselves. We make a committment to nurturing consituents to become leaders in the community, as a BCNC parent advocate, member of Citywide advisory board or on a parent teacher council. Family Services works with similar programs serving non-English speaking families to promote policies and practices(i.e. multilingal school forms) to facilitate the involvement of all parents in their child's education and health care.
If you have any other questions, just ask--
Alexis--
We developed Family Services to provide intervention services when needed but also to work with families long term, to build their own capacity to help their families and communities.
A larger view of our impact can be understood by the difference in how this community engages citywide to advocate for systemic change. In 2005, there was no citywide participation from parents of special needs children from the immigrant Asian community. In 2008, the first of two Asian American parents were elected to the Parents Special Education Advisory Council for Boston Public Schools and were able to join a larger effort to improve services for all of Boston's children. In 2009, we hired a parent of a special needs child that formerly received services from us. She has made the transition to being an advocate herself, facilitating parent-child play groups and coaching parents though the IEP process with schools. IEPs are Individualized Education Plans developed by the school for a child in need of special services. Also, in 2009, we collaborated with our school partner, Josiah Quincy Elementary School to host a forum with the school superintendent. Nearly 200 parents attended.
Impact on an individual level is made by our series of family education workshops. In 2009, 22 workshops were attended by 728 people. Of the 15 workshops with measurable results all but one workshop received good or excellent ratings from 85% to 95% of those attending. The individual workshops are usually at full enrolllment.
Parents who attend our workshops consistantly report that they use the information provided.
If we can clarify further, just ask!
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