Entries For: 2010

Over 300 families attended the 2010 holiday party hosted by the Skyway-based Urban Family Center. While a fierce wind storm initially knocked out power and delayed the start of the celebration for an hour, the lights eventually came back on and the festivities began.

The UFC’s holiday celebration included activities and treats for children of all ages including photos with Santa at gingerbread lane, a raffle for bikes and other prizes and a Wee Lil Ones Shopping Center where children “purchased” gifts for loved ones.

“The Urban Family Center creates events like our holiday celebration to bring a sense of conscience back to recipients” remarked Shantel Patu, Executive Director of Urban Family Center and Foundation for Early Learning grantee.

“Our hope is that families leave knowing it’s not only about what they received, but also about how to give to others and especially back to our community.”

With help from volunteers, the Urban Family Center was able to host this event as part of a series of programs to support the learning and development of over 900 children who live at the Creston Point Apartment Community.

Foundation for Early Learning is proud to support successful early education programs like Urban Family Center. To learn more about the Foundation’s grants and sponsorships, please visit www.earlylearning.org.

Foundation for Early Learning is delighted to feature a guest blog post from Kristin Piepho of Sno-Isle Libraries, a member of the Early Learning Public Library Partnership. If you are interested in being featured in the Foundation's blog, please contact Joel Ballezza, Communications Manager at joel@earlylearning.org.

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Here’s a riddle for you:  what has no words, yet helps children build vocabulary and learn narrative structure?  A wordless picture book!

As a children’s librarian, I frequently come across puzzled adults at the picture book shelves glancing over selections such as The Snowman by Raymond Briggs or Zoom by Istvan Banyai and wondering how on earth to “read” these.  I encourage them to allow their children to invent their own stories by interpreting and describing the actions in the pictures.  Few books spark such creativity and interactivity as a story without words.

Sharing such stories can also provide a fun opportunity to bond.  At a recent early literacy presentation, my heart warmed as I watched a mother share a wordless picture book with her 18 month old daughter.  As she turned the pages, her voice softened, “look at the girl, what is she doing?  Yes, she’s running away from the wave.  Uh oh… the wave splashed her and she’s all wet!”  The daughter smiled and helped turn the pages.  Though still not yet talking in full sentences, she was fully engaged.

Here are a few favorites to share with your favorite little one that both of you will enjoy:

Mirror by Jeannie Baker
Side by side collages compare a typical day of shopping in Australia and Morocco, showing that even though we may not drive the same vehicles or eat the same food, we are all connected.

Wave by Suzy Lee
A little girl spends her day teasing a playful wave in this gorgeous book, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2008.

The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
It’s no surprise that this stunning book won the 2010 Caldecott Medal!  Pinkney has taken the classic Aesop tale to the African Serengeti.

Chicken Thief by Beatrice Rodriguez
Oh no, fox has run away with chicken!  How will the animals rescue her?  Does she even need to be rescued?

Chicken and Cat Clean Up by Sara Varon
When Chicken starts a housecleaning service with best friend Cat, Cat does everything wrong – but maybe Cat has another skill to share with the world.  While this book has a few incidental words (mainly onomatopoeia), it still relies on the pictures (and the child) to tell the story.

Thanks to a $1,500 Community Action Project grant from Foundation for Early Learning, Megan Spires and a small group of parents were able to organize a special concert series featuring Rachel Coleman. Rachel is co-creator of Signing Time, a fun and engaging video program that helps young children of all abilities learn and communicate in American Sign Language. 

Rachel’s engaging and heart-warming performances were held at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Northgate Community Center and benefited nearly 300 children and their families.

Rachel performed many of her well-known songs and talked about the benefits of signing with kids of all abilities. Parents connected with her story and children’s faces lit up as Rachel read and signed stories like “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”
 
“For three months prior to the concerts, we had people calling and asking if it was true—the woman who’d given their child language was REALLY coming to Seattle” remarked Megan Spires, parent, organizer and Foundation for Early Learning grantee.

Thanks to donors of all levels Foundation for Early Learning is able to support innovative and creative programs like Megan’s. Together, we are working to ensure all children have a bright and successful start in school.

To learn more about our Community Action Project grant, please visit www.earlylearning.org/grantmaking.

2010 was an amazing year. Here at Foundation for Early Learning we had many memorable moments—some big, some little, some extraordinary, and some wondrous in their ordinariness. 

As a team we welcomed several interns who graced us with their talent, personalities, and wit. Thank you Elana, Evette, Mary, Patrick, Shino, Inshik, Aisha, and Arigin. Through their good work, we were able to reach more people and take on some bold projects.

We also welcomed our tiniest team members; Naomi Elise Borgida was born in July to Program Officer Sarah Borgida. We also met baby Enzo who was born to our intern Shino. 

Here is a short collection of our favorite 2010 memories:

• Vaughnetta: Eric Liu making the ask at the luncheon, “not investing in early learning is stuuupppid.”
• Doug, Finance Manager: a successful audit and working with very collegial staff.
• Jessica, Development Manager: Our March 2010 luncheon--the panel was great!
• Erin, Program Associate: My favorite memory was meeting a senior citizen at one of our workshops. After I explained what we were doing he said: “That is good work. Humanity needs you to continue doing good work. Early years are important.”
• Sarah, Program Officer: My favorite memory was meeting my daughter for the first time. And hosting statewide Early Learning Community Fairs.
• Arigin, Intern: Joining the Foundation for Early Learning staff.
• Joel, Communications Manager: I enjoyed the luncheon and thought the panel format was great. Dr. Christakis’ comments on spending were the most memorable, ‘[spending in the] last six months of life, equal or more than first five years.’
• Jenna, Office Manager: My favorite Foundation for Early Learning memory is, after weeks and weeks of hot contention, Sarah decided to name her daughter Naomi and I love it!

We also asked ourselves the following, In 2010 I never thought I would…

• Vaughnetta: See the end of the 2010 legislative session.
• Doug: Ride the bus to work every day and learn the crazy metro system.
• Jessica: Own my own home--insane!
• Erin: Move into a split level house. I also never thought I would mistake plums for olives; as it turns out I’m an amateur fruit tree grower. 
• Sarah: Have two kids under age two or sleep through the night.
• Arigin: Help to coordinate the Grantmaker/Grantee Exchange with 104 people registered, but only 96 chairs.
• Joel: Achieve some of the distance and time running goals I had for myself.
• Jenna: Motorcycle 3,000 miles in 10 days; Seattle to Denver and back, every inch of it epic.

Looking forward in 2011 we want to…

• Vaughnetta: Spend more time in Eastern WA with our early learning partners. 
• Doug: Continue to support the Foundation’s growth and promote the Foundation’s growing positive influence in the early learning and larger community. 
• Jessica: In 2011, I want to see the libraries working with Reach Out and Read.
• Erin: Read more children’s books and eat more veggies. 
• Sarah: Get a good night's sleep. 
• Joel: Keep blogging, stay healthy and compete in some type of adventure race this summer.
• Arigin: Go skydiving! My goal is to jump off a plane in the summer blue sky!
• Jenna: I want to re-learn how to play the piano.

Thank you to the grantmakers, grantees, and community program representatives who joined us today at the Seattle Central Library for the Youth Focused Grantmaker / Grantee Exchange.

You made this event a huge success!

Over 100 members from the philanthropic and non-profit sectors participated in the exchange, sharing details of their work and exploring ways to collaborate.

Program officers from ten grantmakers including Social Justice Fund, Pride Foundation and United Way of King County shared their funding tips with the program participants through three rounds of small group discussions.

For the second year in a row Val Thomas-Matson, founder of Look, Listen & Learn emceed the event.

Following the Grantmaker / Grantee Exchange, Chris Korsmo from Community Center for Education Results shared a presentation outlining the important work being done in South Seattle as part of the Roadmap for Success. To learn more about this program, please visit http://www.ccedresults.org.

Foundation for Early Learning would like to thank all our partners for helping us put this event together.