Interface Language
​Early Learning Program
This department encompass all programs and projects that focusses on early learning, family education and supports that Horn of Africa services provide for the East African community.
HOAS-Parent Child plus (formerly known as PCHP) Horn of Africa Services-Parent Child plus
The program provides two years of intensive, twice-weekly home visiting to the families from east Africa with children between the ages of 16 months – four years who are challenged by poverty, isolation, limited educational opportunities, language and literacy barriers, and other obstacles to healthy development and educational success. Through the visits, our Early Learning Specialists educate parents on the importance of parent-child interaction and give them the tools (books and educational toys), skills, and encouragement to engage their children.
The model that we exhibit is proven for over 50 years, and has been bridging the achievement gap for low-income children by strengthening the parent-child relationship and, ultimately, increasing the language, literacy, and cognitive skills, and the social-emotional development critical to school success.
How
THE PROGRAM FOCUSES ON
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Positive parent-child interaction behavior;
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Building positive parent-child verbal and non-verbal interaction;
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Promoting positive parenting skills;
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Enhancing the child’s conceptual and social-emotional development;
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Developing pre-literacy skills that are essential for school readiness; and
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Creating language-rich home environments.
Each week, the Home Visitor who speaks the same language as the family brings a new high-quality book or educational toy that is a gift to the family and often the first in the home. The books and toys that we sent to eligible families are carefully chosen. Using the book or toy, the visitor models, in the family’s native language, reading, conversation, and play activities designed to stimulate parent-child interaction and promote the development of the verbal, cognitive, and social-emotional skills that are critical for children’s school readiness and long-term school success.
Each year, each family receives a minimum of 46 home visits. Over the course of the two years, and 92 home visits, families acquire a library of 46 high quality books and educational toys and 46 curricular guide sheets with tips for verbal interaction, the serve and return of quality conversation; skill development; and additional engagement, literacy, music, and art activities. The home visiting staff, who through twice-weekly visits build strong relationships with participants, also connect families to a wide-range of community resources including food, housing, health, and educational services. As families complete PCHP, staff work with them to ensure their children are enrolled in high-quality center-based preschool (pre-k, Head Start or kindergarten) as the critical next educational step.
WHAT THE PROGRAM WANT TO ACHIEVE
By helping parents discover their role as their children’s first and most important teacher, assisting them in building brighter futures for their family, and preparing children to be successful students. We will presume children discovering the joy of reading and learning, and in parents beaming with pride over their children’s accomplishments. Most importantly we want to see our target population (the East African families) realize how important it is to be involved in schoolwork, homework, and learning activities of their own children.
Supporting Families through different interventions
This Program Supports East African families to enhance their children’s development and early learning progress. By ensuring that parents become active participants in processes for sensitization and training that will strengthen the qualities they have. Develop processes for them to examine the causes and effect of barriers and isolation in order to overcome them. Introduce them to interventions that will introduce new knowledge, impart new skills and create a change in attitude to adopt improved practices.
FCC (Family childcare providers) partnership
This program assesses, promote, and establish a collaborating partnership between HOAS, as the lead agency brings the EAHCPs (East African Home Child Care Providers) who speak Amharic, Afan-Oromo, Somali, and Tigrinya together to work with other professional institutions. These institutions train and develop partnership capacity to carry out community-driven process of awareness creation and information.
In doing so the program establishes the importance of investigating, documenting, and analyzing the community felt and expressed needs, as well as what additional knowledge and capacity the community and their supporters need to know about the many-sided childcare services. The findings will be shared with different stakeholders depending on the need and relevancy
Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope play and learn focuses on children from 0-5 and their parents with the goal of:
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provides opportunities for parents and caregivers to come together to learn about ways to support young children’s healthy growth and development.
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Providing structured play opportunities for children 0-5.
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Providing parents and caregivers referrals to other services when needed. HOAS- kaleidoscope play and learn takes place every Friday at HOAS main office. If you want to join the group, please contact us.