Community Parenting Support Saturation Project
The Carole Robertson Center for Learning (The Center) has been dedicated to educating, enriching, and empowering children and families through comprehensive child and family development programs.
The Center was selected to implement the CPSS framework and to lead early childhood community collaboration in North Lawndale, Illinois.
The Center is dedicated to enriching and empowering children and their families through their early childhood programs and initiatives. Working in partnership with families, the Center is ensuring that every young child is served through high quality early care, afterschool enrichment, and family support services.
The Center is partnering with community stakeholders to develop parenting interventions for families in the North Lawndale community using the Community Parenting Support Saturation (CPSS) approach. By prioritizing relationships with families, caregivers, and community organizations, the Center aims to infuse the community with resources and support.
A text messaging service with evidence-based family engagement tips and community messages, Ready4K provides information to over 400 enrolled North Lawndale families about events and services.
The Ready for Kindergarten, Ready for Life Community Digital Hub provides a central location for pregnant or parenting families to identify community programs and services.
Connecting over 3,500 families to date with local service providers, the Center’s take-home learning kits offer educational materials, activities, and ideas. Since November 2021, more than 20 partner agencies have distributed the kits to families, who can stay connected to opportunities in North Lawndale by signing up for Ready4K text messaging.
A research-based parent education program, Circle of Security supports and strengthens secure parent-child relationships. Well-received by North Lawndale parents, over 10 cohorts have been completed to date with more to come. To increase its capacity, the Center has recruited additional facilitators, including one North Lawndale parent. Furthermore, they enlisted a qualified Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant to provide their expertise to parents as they navigate the difficult topics discussed during the sessions and provide 1-on-1 referrals if necessary.
Partnering with the North Lawndale Early Learning Collaboration (NLELC), the Center is working to bring the Integrated Referral and Intake System (IRIS) to the North Lawndale community. The NLELC will launch and manage IRIS and parents will be able to self-refer to access resources using a form on the Ready for Kindergarten, Ready for Life website.
Carole Robertson Center for Learning’s vision is to create family leadership at the center of the work, empowering parents as experts and working with partners to build a community-wide investment around kindergarten readiness activities. To achieve this vision, the Ready for Kindergarten, Ready for Life team will work to scale up current activities and collaborate on new initiatives. The Center is prioritizing relationships with families, caregivers, and community organizations to infuse resources that support the community with the goal of achieving saturation.
Key support for families includes their access to learning kits and ongoing outreach efforts via Ready4K community messages. By distributing kits across the community, the team ensures that there is no wrong door to access services. When families receive these kits, the Ready for Kindergarten, Ready for Life team can follow up to create deep engagement opportunities through Circle of Security offerings and family leadership, creating a pipeline to services in the community.
Sign up to distribute learning kits in North Lawndale, attend Circle of Security trainings, and promote the Ready4K text messaging service.
You can support Aurora’s littlest learners. Become a funding partner and help sustain our efforts in Aurora, Illinois!
Director of the Community Parenting Support Saturation Program
alexander.bui@actforchildren.org
Program Manager
