This “little bus” brings pre-K to students, and support to families

For Adamary Sosa the building blocks for a good life start early Early childhood guidance is the groundwork for a child s future success commented Sosa the vice president of training for Xiente a local nonprofit organization that provides services to empower families and disrupt cycles of poverty Xiente offers several programs including Head Start in the communities it serves One of its more unique tools is a mobile pre-K initiative called Busesito or little bus Children attending the Busesito get six months of twice-weekly preschool sessions on a bus The initiative offers tools for parents too The kids are on the bus hours a day twice a week she announced So five hours total a week with a certified preschool mentor and they re getting kindergarten readiness Basically everything that they need to be ready like letters shapes colors names numbers all of that good stuff and then adapting them into a school setting so that they can see it While children spend time working on everything from reading to art projects Sosa noted families have access to a variety of financial and economic support Then while the kids were on the bus the families we would partner with were in local churches or centers with an economic mobility counselor who was giving them workshops on economic mobility she noted So we essentially removed the barrier of childcare for them so that they can attend these workshops And they were getting financial literacy They were getting parenting classes through a parenting curriculum They were getting workforce maturation in there as well So the idea was that within the six months they were with us we would have somehow enhanced their social mobility Public requirements addressed The Busesito operation began two years ago arising from necessities of the pandemic For plenty of family friends and neighbors FFNs have become the primary caretakers for children aged to and Busesito began by providing guidance to caretakers for children s success The issue was that the greater part FFNs don t see themselves as educators she stated And so we requested to increase the quality of learning within their initiative and just enhance the good work that they were already doing Sosa declared the activity started as a threefold model The first goal was to provide technical assistance or provider care to children through the bus The second was a business model providing FFNs with more tools and information if they longed to be care providers and or develop childcare into a business The final piece is schooling for parents Children and parents participate in these programs for six months The effort at the end is especially meaningful Sosa mentioned At the end of the six-month cohort we would graduate the kids and then we graduate the family she noted We ve already had two graduations which are so cute The parents got to watch their kids walk across the stage but then the kids got to watch their parents walk across the stage too because they finalize their activity So it was really touching really sweet Selected children head to kindergarten after the initiative is over while other younger students may join other Xiente programs like preschool centers There are presently two buses with more in the works These buses have been parked in the Frankford area Sosa noted the Busesito location priorities were assessed by group need We were just going grassroots trying to find FFNs and we were knocking on places that they would normally go to like churches shopping centers grocery shops libraries all of that she declared And it so happens that the church when we approach them they did have a group of families that were in need These programs partner with local organizations like churches Sosa mentioned to meet families and combine services They helped us recruit and build that relationship with the families she commented And they were just as invested in the effort and in their locality as we were in delivering the campaign to them as well Services can include healthcare housing assistance workforce evolution and financial counselors Sosa also highlighted materials such as food pantries or free washer-dryers in churches She disclosed with these partnerships families can access both the basic demands and the educational economic mobility offerings of Busesito which can put students on track for success Being able to have these programs in communities that need it can enhance their academic performance she announced You can enhance their social skills and now they know how to work with other children You can increase chances of high school graduation and college completion because you ve already set them up towards a pathway towards success And so they re hitting those benchmarks when they should be The Busesito campaign offers a classroom setting inside a mobile pre-K bus Photo courtesy of Xiente Setting children up for success Proper development in the first five years of life is crucial Sosa noted At this age group they re like sponges she stated Between zero to is when they re learning the bulk and they re able to retain more which is why we push the dual language because science shows children or people in general that learn more than one language tend to have more cognitive skills Children in Pennsylvania are not required to attend preschool But according to latest research from the National Bureau of Economic Research it can have a great number of benefits for children including higher earning likely later in life Sosa reported children s progress in academic areas often increases after completing the Busesito operation So the research we did it manifested that the kids on the bus within just the five hours and two days a week had better results or almost close to the results that we see at the center base she explained And we think that that is attributed a lot to the smaller classroom sizes the more individualized attention In addition Sosa explained the Busesito encourages socioeconomic progress and expansion for children If you start early on you should see improvements in school readiness she revealed So they have more of an advantage when they get to kindergarten If you start early on because you re getting that routine in they re getting particular of the material in already so they re not falling behind their peers when they get into kindergarten And they re able to advance and it increases better academic performance And that s a good way also to begin closing the achievement gap especially in underserved communities Undocumented necessities Of late the bus has helped undocumented families receive childcare We were really supposed to work with FFNs but because we couldn t find them naturally it just took us with undocumented families and that has opened doors to a need that we didn t know existed in early childhood Sosa revealed Sosa disclosed public partnerships can help to identify families in need and get services to the proper locations The bus often has two programs per day with two separate cohorts Sosa explained which helps provide services for more children and families in the area How it works is we re hours but we re running two programs a day so there ll be like a cohort in the morning that would be considered cohort A and that would be like Mondays and Wednesday mornings and then cohort B might be Mondays and Wednesdays afternoon she stated But Tuesdays and Thursdays we may be elsewhere with two more groups of kids In the future Sosa reported there are talks of a bus in South Philly Additionally she hopes to expand the bus to more areas We hope that we can have a fleet of buses in the future deployed in different areas she mentioned whether it s the middle of the city or rural PA providing early childhood development services in different innovative tactics The scheme is free Click here to learn more about or enroll in the Busesito campaign The post This little bus brings pre-K to students and aid to families appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY