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Southwest Counseling Solutions
Early Childhood & Family Literacy
Our family literacy programs are designed to help children and parents improve their reading, writing and language skills. At the same time, our early childhood programs teach parents and child care providers to become full partners in educating their children. The programs are bilingual and serve low-income families. Our mission is to empower families to better their lives and to pass along to their children the importance of education and lifelong learning, so that their children can achieve the success their parents dream for them.

 


Services:

 

  • Southwest Early Learning Communities provide free training and resources to parents and caregivers so that they can prepare children to be “ready to learn” when the children enter school.
  • English Language Learners - Even Start Program operates at four elementary schools and offers English Language, parent education and parental participation in the child’s academic success in the child’s classroom.
  • JP Morgan Chase Family Literacy Program operates two evenings a week and serves parents of children birth through eight who cannot attend our programming during the day. This program is located in our McGraw building.
  • Infant Mental Health encourages mothers to talk to their babies and interact in ways that are both fun and educational. The program offers infant massage classes and instruction about healthy infant development, and connects mothers to additional community resources.
  • Great Parents, Great Start (GPGS) serves families with children newborn to age four. Its goal is to promote the overall health and cognitive development of young children, and to provide parents instruction and access to services to give their children the best start in life.
  • Early Care Organizing is committed to turning solutions and ideas into action and advocacy to ensure that every child has access to quality child care. Organizing includes building on existing infrastructure and programs through the Quality Rating Improvement System in collaboration with Great Start Collaborative Wayne. Early Care Community Organizing also supports childcare providers through a network of more than 50 caregivers who share experiences, resources and program enhancement.
  • Reading is Fundamental is designed to involve families throughout the community in literacy activities by providing free books to children.

Our Early Childhood & Family Literacy main office is located at 7060 McGraw St., Detroit, MI 48210 (in the former rectory of St. Andrew Church). For more information about any of our programs and how to enroll, please contact us at 313.896.2800 or email us.

 

 


   Results
  • Our Early Learning Communities (ELC) Hubs provide training and support to 1,000 parents and childcare providers, impacting 4,000 children annually
  • 130 caregivers graduated from our ELC program in 2010, representing more than half of all 2010 ELC graduates in the tri-county area
  • 100% of children K - 3 in the English Language Learners Even Start Program (ELLES) - 80 children in total - were promoted to the next grade level
  • 93% of adults in ELLES and Chase Family Literacy programs demonstrate advancement in learning English as a Second Language
  • Significant increase in parental participation among families served
  • 202 families were enrolled in our Family Literacy programs (ELLES, Chase Family Literacy Program, Infant Mental Health, and GPGS) in 2010
  • Early Care Community Organizing program impacted more than 750 people, including children, parents and caregivers
  • Infant Mental Health program served 44 families in 2010
  • 2009 study by the National Council for Family Literacy (NCFL) rated our ELLES program "outstanding" and found that children in the program significantly improved their overall academic performance, self-confidence, classroom behavior, social skills, and family support
  • Same NCFL study found that parents participating in ELLP significantly increased the time devoted to reading to their children
  • Our Family Literacy program has been rated as the best in the nation in outcomes of parents reading to their children, parents supporting their children’s academic achievement, and parents expecting their children to graduate from high school and then complete college (these outcomes were measured when our program - now called ELLES - was part of the Toyota Family Literacy Program national network)

In southwest Detroit, more than 40% of the population is Hispanic. More than half of the Hispanic adults in southwest Detroit do not have a high school diploma, and the current dropout rate among Hispanic teens in southwest Detroit is the highest among all high school students in the city. Without a good education, the generational cycle of poverty and social alienation continues to turn. Our mission is to break this cycle. Our programs serve families at the lowest rungs of literacy and are designed to facilitate social mobility by enabling greater confidence and success in school, work, and the community.
 

   Latest News

 
Feature Story
 
Tragic Loss Motivates Mother to Learn English for Her Children’s Sake

In her struggle to express herself in English, there is a note of anguish, as if much more is at stake than the words Carolina Mendez cannot find to tell her story. It is a story that turned tragic two years ago. Six months after their second child was born, Carolina’s husband died. Jose was a construction worker and was killed at a job site.

Read More  >>
 
Early Childhood & Family Literacy Programs



Chase Family Literacy Program
Southwest Early Learning Communites
Early Language Learners - Even Start
Great Parents, Great Start