Use of Grant Funds: Project #1: Providing support to Families

I can't imagine moving to a new country.  I'm a pretty outgoing individual so I think I would yearn to find a community that accepted me and full-filled my social needs.  But I am sure I wouldn't know where to start, especially if I struggled with the language or social norms of the new country in which I moved to. 

With our grant funds we hope to create a fun and supportive program to help newer immigrant families to the US feel more comfortable and address any needs or concerns they may have.  To do this, we have hired two social workers that are perfect for working with immigrant families.  One of the social workers was an immigrant to the US and moved here when she was in high school.  Having this experience will help her make connections with our families. The other social worker comes from a family that migrated to the United States from the Middle East. Her family culture and customs will allow for our families to feel more connected and comfortable knowing she can relate to their situations.  Having these two positions filled is a big load off my project "to do" list. It is a relief to have found two individuals that fit the job description perfectly!

Next, I secured a location for families to meet. I was able to use our community Nature Center to host these programs.  We plan to have two separate groups running at the same time.  Each group will consist of a small group of families and their children.  I'm thinking no more than 8-10 families. While the parents meet with the social workers, a teacher from the nature center will provide an educational program for the students.  During the last 30 minutes or so, the students will switch with the parents and the parents will then receive a nature tour by the teachers and the students will do a team building activity with the social workers.  Each group will meet a total of 4 times for 2 hours.  And of course refreshments will be provided at each session. 

I can breathe knowing I have the social worker positions filled, dates solidified and location determined.  The next big step in this process will be selecting and contacting the families to participate and determining if we will need translators, and if so, post these positions and hire these individuals.  

I am also in the process of working on another project which will consist of family outreach.  

This project is also in the beginning stages and will need to be completed quickly.  I have a few ideas in mind.  I contacted our public library and I'm waiting to hear back from the coordinator there.  I would like to set up an evening where I can invite new immigrant families to the US to visit the library and learn about the resources available to them.  At the same time they can sign up to receive a library card and learn about the summer programs available for children and adults.  And of course refreshments will be served!  As soon as I here back from someone at the library, I can set a date and send out invitations.  

I need to set up one more parent outreach event for our ELL Families and I am still not certain on what to do. Do you have any suggestions?  I thought about an Icecream Social where we have a guest speaker come and share their success stories about coming to America.  This could be inspiring.  

Tomorrow I hope to complete the following tasks.

1. Connect with public library/ set date

2. Determine families to invite for Nature Center

3.  Work on invitation rough draft

4. Come up with a plan for the mystery parent outreach event.

5. Post translator positions for Nature Center/library