Federal Grant Enables Parents as Teachers to Expand in New Mexico

St. Louis, MO, August 14, 2011 --(PR.com)-- The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department will receive $1.2 million in Fiscal Year 2010 federal grants allocated for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV). About $425,000 of the grant will be used to expand Parents as Teachers services to Gallup-McKinley County schools.

The federal MIECHV program is designed to strengthen and increase program goals, coordinate services and improve outcomes for at-risk communities through early childhood home visiting programs. Parents as Teachers, the nation’s largest network of home visiting programs, has been improving outcomes for families nationwide for more than 25 years. The Parents as Teachers evidence-based home visiting model is one of just eight models approved for use under federal guidelines for MIECHV.

“The Gallup-McKinley County Schools will be the contractor,” said Dan Haggard of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. “They had a Parents as Teachers program previously, but the District lost funding for it due to budget cuts. We will be able to fund the continuation of the program, expand it, and upgrade it to an evidence-based model.”

Last year in New Mexico, over 1,100 children and their families received Parents as Teachers services. Of those, many faced a variety of family risk factors such as low income, teen pregnancy, and involvement with mental and social services, issues Parents as Teachers educators are uniquely trained to address. If left unresolved, these issues can quickly escalate and negatively impact young children. Parent educators also provide well-researched information to help all families make good parenting decisions. They screen children for developmental issues and connect families to each other and additional community resources.

“Parents as Teachers is the most commonly used model of home visiting in the state. It’s effective because it engages the whole family,” Haggard said. “It’s a popular model for use in New Mexico because it enables parent educators to make cultural and linguistic modifications in order to meet the needs of the community and individual families. It works incredibly well.”

About Parents as Teachers

Headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., Parents as Teachers champions the critical role of parental involvement and early intervention in a child’s development. Parents as Teachers supports a network of professionals and organizations who serve more than 300,000 families across the country and around the world through a proven parent education model.

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