Charlotte Bilingual Preschool

During the 2021-2022 school year, the number of enrolled students in the Preschool program increased with the reduction in COVID-19 restrictions, and the opening of a fifth 4-year-old classroom. Additionally, the preschool provides culturally relevant, comprehensive Family Programs that offer family members resources and support to help them lead healthy families, engage effectively in their childrens early development, and prepare their children for success in elementary school and beyond. Weekly Family Cafs are a central component of CltBPs Family Programs, through which a trained Family Educator presents information and facilitates discussion about topics chosen by families. In the 2021-22 school year, topics included supporting childrens social-emotional development, promoting literacy development, parent mental health well-being, child therapy resources, and community resources. Discussions typically share evidence-based best practices, while also providing opportunities for families to share their experiences, strengths, and challenges related to the topic. Family Cafs aim to promote positive educational involvement at home and at school, while also helping family members develop relationships with one another and learn from one anothers experiences and expertise. In turn, these relationships can promote greater social support and social capital and enhance participants capacity to promote the best possible outcomes for their children and families. Related to these goals, the Family Programs also organized several events that aimed to build community and connect families to community resources. These events included holiday celebrations, a kindergarten fair, and an entrepreneurship fair, in which families who run their own small businesses could publicize their strengths and skills to others in the community. Additionally, the Family Programs coordinated Caminando Con Proposito (Walking with Purpose), family trips to an urban farm, and a book club. Taken together, these programs illustrate CltBPs commitment to creating opportunities for fostering social support, social capital, and mutual learning among families by developing family networks that yield social, psychological, and economic benefits. Importantly, these benefits position families to effectively support their childrens development. In the 2021-22 school year, the Family Programs also implemented a new program called the Enrichment Bridge, which engaged the families of nine children who showed need for additional support. Through this program, a specialist communicated with the childrens teachers, therapists, and families to promote a mutual understanding of childrens strengths and challenges and help families implement activities at home to strengthen development in identified areas. Building on the strengths and successes of prior years, CltBP also offered ParentChild+ and the Reading Bridge program in the 2021-22 school year. For each of these programs, facilitators (referred to as Early Learning Specialists for ParentChild+ and Family Engagement Specialists for Reading Bridge) provided learning materials and supported families in the successful implementation of learning activities with their children. In addition to participating in ParentChild+ or Reading Bridge, families are invited to participate in all the Family Programs activities described above, including Family Cafs, Caminando Con Proposito, and community-building events. Notably, facilitators for ParentChild+ and Reading Bridge are hired from the CltBP family community, which provides an opportunity for family members to receive income and gain meaningful experience in early childhood education. This experience prepares family members for economic mobility despite common barriers, such as challenges accessing higher education or a lack of previous experience. In the 2021-22 school year, ParentChild+ supported 76 children aged 16 months to 36 months and their families. ParentChild+ families received books, toys, and video demonstrations and communicated with Early Learning Specialists through virtual home visits, which guided their support of their childrens early development. Specifically, Early Learning Specialists help families engage in positive reading practices and play activities with their children to develop positive relationships. Like all CltBP programs, Early Learning Specialists are committed to developing relationships with families and connecting families to needed community resources whenever possible. The Reading Bridge program was provided in fall and spring sessions for families who chose not to enroll their children in in-person classes. A total of 38 children and their families participated in the fall and spring sessions of this program. An additional session of the Reading Bridge was offered over the summer of 2021 to 38 children and their families. The majority of these students had participated in 3-year-old classrooms at CltBP in 2020-21 and returned to CltBP to participate in 4-year-old classrooms in 2021-22. In each of these sessions, trained facilitators guided families through activities targeting childrens language, literacy, and social-emotional development. The Reading Bridge program served a total of 38 children and their families in the 2021-22 school year and 38 more children over the summer of 2021. CltBP also offered services for 39 families with children from birth to age 1.5 through three iterations of the 10-week Creciendo Juntos (Growing Together) program. Through Creciendo Juntos, CltBPs Family Educator facilitated weekly group meetings (via Zoom; 10 meeting total) with groups of 10 to 13 parents to discuss evidence-based strategies for nurturing infants and newborns.The CltBP Workforce Development Program is creating pathways to careers in early childhood education (ECE) for CltBP family members and preparing the quality educators we must have to serve more children and families in the future. Charlottes Leading on Opportunity Task Force recommended increasing the cultural competencies and linguistic diversity of our early childhood workforce to better serve children and families of all backgrounds, races, and ethnicities. CltBP partnered with Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC), UNC Charlotte, and Wake Tech to offer early childhood education certification classes in Spanish. And with Charlotte Works, CltBP launched its Apprenticeship Program, to give educators a paid 40-week field learning experience with CltBP teachers and coaches.