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< ECFS Programs
Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE)
ECFE is a program for parents and their children during the years from birth up to kindergarten. The program mission is to provide quality learning opportunities and resources to all young families in our school district. ECFE is a fun, informal place to meet, learn and play with other parents and young children. ECFE is the only universal access early childhood and family education program in the state.
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Types of Services
Weekly ECFE classes
- Offered mornings, afternoons and evenings.
- Even though all classes are multi-age classes, the topic of some classes may focus on specific age groups like infants, toddlers or preschoolers
- Other classes focus on topics like Kids Are Worth It, Everyday Discipline, How To Talk So Kids Will Listen, and a variety of other topics
Specialty classes
- Offered for populations that are better served with a class that deals with their individualized needs or concerns
- Weekly class for parents who became parents at a young age and need additional support and education in order to be the best parents possible
- Transportation and meals are provided to these young families as a way to increase participation
- Classes help parents develop healthy relationships with their children, learn about child development and appropriate expectations, and understand how they can make their child’s needs a priority
- A collaboration with Family Services, Inc.
- Provides weekly classes to parents who have multiple stressors in their lives and need more than a typical ECFE class can offer
- Provides a meal as an incentive to participation
- The parent group is co-facilitated by an ECFE parent educator and a Family Services social worker and focuses on very basic parenting skills and resource/referral information to parents
- A 10 week class offered for women in conjunction with the Dakota County Corrections Department
- Most of the women involved have been referred through the corrections system and are attending as a part of their community service requirements
- The focus of the class is on basic life skills like finances, relationships and parenting.
- The class is offered two times each school year
Community Collaborations
- Offered as a way to share the expertise of ECFE staff with other organizations serving young children.
- Head Start Parent Education
- Provides parenting education to parents of children in Head Start programs in the district.
- ECFE parent educators host parenting classes at regularly scheduled Head Start family events.
- Head Start is a federally funded preschool program for low-income children.
- A collaboration with area child care centers to provide parenting education and staff training at these centers.
- ECFE parent educators host parenting classes at the centers.
- This program is intended to reach families who are in need of parenting information, but lack the time to attend classes.
- ECFE also provides training to child care staff.
- Dakota Woodlands Parent Education
- A program that provides parenting classes a the Dakota Woodlands Homeless Shelter.
- Weekly visits by an ECFE parent educator provide parenting education to mothers who are residents of the center.
Drop-in Play Time
- Offered as a way to share the expertise of ECFE staff with other organizations serving young children.
- Offered to families who may not want to commit to a series of classes, but want to come to ECFE to enjoy activities with their children.
- No registration is needed and drop-in times are offered each week in the morning or evening.
- A special Baby Drop-in is offered as a way to expose ECFE to new parents.
Speaker Nights
- Offered in collaboration with elementary schools to bring in well known parenting speakers.
- Ada Alden, Jean Illsley Clark, Corwin Kronenberg, and Mary Sheedy Kurcinka are frequent presenters.
- Every other year a nationally recognized speaker is brought in to present to the community.
- On April 15, 2005 Barbara Coloroso will be speaking on Families Are Worth It.
Home Visits
- Provided to families who need one on one support in their parenting.
- The goal of home visiting is to build relationships with families before encouraging them into appropriate onsite classes.
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