Results

Our Success

%

of parents goals achieved

%

of parents met at least one goal

More than

in gift cards provided for families to purchase winter clothing, food and holiday gifts.

parents attended at least one parent workshop

Helped families secure over

in rental assistance to avoid eviction

external community referrals provided to support families in areas like health, housing, food security and more

Success Stories

When Iris became a single mom to her three kids, she told her Family Support Worker she would have to pull her daughter out of school. She didn’t see a way she could return to work and make drop off and pick up possible at three different schools. We needed a plan to help Iris with the transition, so that her daughter Maribel could stay in school. We enrolled Maribel in aftercare to better fit Mom’s schedule and offered her a flexible attendance policy for days mom had no one to bring her to school. We were able to provide mom with a grocery gift card and connect her with community food and diaper distributions. We also helped mom fill out an application with a local partner for a month of rental assistance. Maribel stayed in school and after a month was back to perfect attendance. Maribel made the progress we knew she could and in March when ACPS did English Language Screenings for kindergarten registration, Maribel had the highest level of English proficiency in her class!

Sam was 3 years old when he started at CFNC. It was his first time in a school setting and he had an incredibly hard time with transitions, and building relationships with new adults. He would scream from drop off to pick-up, so his Family Support Worker and parents came together to create a care plan. We created a schedule that slowly increased his time at school and introduced strategies to the classroom to teach him about routines and build trust that mom is always coming back. We worked with mom on strategies she could use at home and learned from her on his interests and what would make him happy in the classroom. The supports worked and we are happy to see Sam smiling and engaging in classroom activities.

At CFNC, we believe that parents are as important to the child’s learning team as their teachers. We incorporate their feedback and goals for their child into our planning. During our September workshop, parents had many questions about the best way they could support learning at home, and what developmental milestones their children should be hitting in preschool. They also expressed that they wanted to participate more in the classroom, and were not sure how to get involved. With this feedback, we created a parent engagement opportunity focused on literacy and teaching parents that the most influential way they could support growth at home was by reading to their children. We invited parents into the classroom, and the teacher modeled how to make the most out of reading to your child by asking questions and engaging them with the story. Together, parents and children completed a related craft to practice fine motor skills and making connections back to the book. Our students were so excited to see their parents in their classroom and to be able to share everything they loved about school.

“My daughter LOVES being part of a classroom community. She loves seeing her classmates every morning. She loves seeing her teacher and learning the new activities of the day. Her favorite part of the day is when she gets to open her book to draw or make something (last week it was sketching leaves). “

– CFNC Parent

Enroll Today

The Child & Family Network Centers (CFNC) is enrolling income qualified 3 and 4-year-olds for our 8 classrooms across Alexandria. Please fill out the form below and our Enrollment Coordinator will reach out within 24 hours.