New Kids Enrichment Program

Most of the children we serve are under-stimulated and aggressive.  They have poor language development and social skills, and their motor development is deficient.  Their teenage mothers—many of whom lacked positive parenting role models themselves—do not have the skills and resources necessary to raise their children appropriately.  “New Kids” is a basic school-readiness program that targets infant stimulation and social skills, providing a safe, fun, nurturing environment where children (birth-age 5) can learn and develop to their fullest potentials, while their mothers attend our programs.  
 
Each group time ends with a parent-child activity aimed at fostering positive family relationships.  Staff members mentor teen moms on the developmental stages and appropriate parenting of children.
 
In almost all cases, the New Kids Enrichment Program is the only structured, educational environment these children encounter.  The improvement we see from New Kids’ participants is often dramatic.  After experiencing New Kids’ safe, fun developmental activities, children demonstrate:

• appropriate peer  interaction
• cognitive development gains,  bringing children to a more age-appropriate level
• an increased sense of safety and  security, as evidenced by their decreased level of aggressiveness.
  

In addition to preparing children for school learning, New Kids seeks to help young children develop a strong enough self-image to resist later pressures to join gangs, drop out of school, become parents prematurely, and give up on themselves.
 
In 2007, our highly talented early childhood staff provided over 5,500 combined hours of developmentally appropriate programming to more than 150 young children.