ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Families BoardLearningForwardCenterofDirectors Julie CarieRaymondSusanSylviaSueLindaMiguelRuthMarySandyRuthPeggySarahElizabethTreasurerRonaldSecretaryMichelleViceRichardPresidentWardChildsPresidentHarringtonJohsonCarltonCampbellColemanCoyneEssermanFreemanAnneHammondLoza,Jr.LopezMillerH.PazStannardTabandehWickers Families StaffLearningForwardCenter Elva D. NutritionMariaNutritionRosaNutritionElianaNutritionMariaFacilitiesJoseProgramMarleneSpecialistFamilyPaolaAssistantJudyDevelopmentLizProgramAndreaExecutiveSandovalDirectorHuicocheaDirectorKwongDirectorBustamanteECEDirectorRodriguezEngagementCastilloAssistantAmezcuaManagerRodriguezManagerDeLaTorreMartinezTornero Early TeachingEducationChildhoodStaff Lucy XimenaVeronicaBrendaSusanaSandraDaisyMariselaPamelaSandraTanyaMarthaDelanieGriseldaDenisseDebbieMarinaAlvarezBendyChaconGarciaGomezGonzalezHernandezHernandezLearLopez-RuizPerezPedrazaMoraRiveraSotoSotelloToro
Early childhood education is a vital part of a child’s development, but right now, preschool enrollment across the nation is at its lowest in more than a quarter century. While this decline, due to Covid-19 pandemic is especially impacting our most vulnerable children, we are proud to share that enrollment at Families Forward Learning Center remains high. Our innovative Two-Generation Learning approach to Early Childhood Education continues to bring children and parents, even grandparents, together within a diverse, multi-generational learning community. Our 60th graduating class is well on its way to succeeding in school and in life. Everyday, Families Forward Learning Center provides 116 children, ages 0 – 5, with high-quality early childhood education. This year, we brought 42% of our students back onsite while the remainder continued receiving virtual instruction. Our distance learners receive daily meals and snacks, just as our onsite students do. We provide tablets and learning kits to our distance learners , ensuring each child has all the supplies they need to complete lessons and activities. When families are unable to pay for internet access, Families Forward supplies them with a Ashotspot.theCOVID-19 pandemic continued in 2021, spurred by more contagious variants, the need for human connection and family mental health services grew ever more important. The loneliness and isolation many felt in the first year of the crisis gave way to heartfelt reunions as vaccines became available. However, uncertainty continues to loom. Many children and families have been traumatized by the events of the last few years. That’s why we are adding more licensed clinical therapists to work with parents and students. Looking forward, we will bring all 116 students back to the Center and, based on the success of our virtual instruction, we will expand distance learning opportunities to families on our waiting list. In addition, we are bringing back the volunteers and our much beloved summer enrichment programs! While education gains made over past decades throughout the country are increasingly at risk, we are proud that as we celebrate our 60th year, Families Forward continues to make a positive impact for families that need it most. We are excited to share our 2021 Annual Report, which highlights where we’ve come from, what we’ve done and where we’re going. From all of us at Families Forward Learning Center, thank you for your love and support.
Elva D. Sandoval Julie Ward Executive Director President, Board of Directors
Families have the skills and support they need to work together to improve their education, the quality of their lives, and their community.
All parents are prepared for their role as their child’s first and most influential teacher and encouraged to become lifelong learners.
All children are nurtured and educated during their first five years so they enter kindergarten ready and able to learn.
FAMILIES ENVISIONSFORWARDAWORLD WHERE:
Respect: We value each individual and his or her cultural background and commit to inclusive and respectful processes that are grounded in active listening and trust.
Two-generation learning: We provide a high-quality learning environment for low-income, often isolated parents and their children through early childhood education, parenting education, and adult literacy education. Empowerment: We support our families in making positive changes in their lives, ensuring that they have a voice in building their communities.
Our Two-Generation Learning Early Childhood Program is comprised of three components: High-quality Early Childhood Education designed to help children gain the social and cognitive skills needed for a successful transition to Kindergarten and Two-Generationbeyond; Learning designed to help parents develop the skills and strategies to be active advocates for and participants in their children’s learning; Family Mental Health and Wellbeing services are delivered with a trauma-informed, familycentered, linguistically and culturally competent approach that strengthens families’ resiliency and promotes a healthy, nurturing home life. During the pandemic we expanded this component, leveraging the trust we have built with our families to combat misinformation and provide clear, accurate information on COVID-19 prevention, quarantine protocols and vaccination.
FamiliesMissionForwardLearning
Center prepares families living in isolation and poverty to succeed in school and in life through two-generation learning VALUESprograms.
Welcoming Environment: We provide a safe, nurturing, educational environment that encourages friendship and a sense of community in an atmosphere of joy and fun. Quality: We provide a high-quality educational experience for adults and children consistent with best practices and learning research for maximum positive impact.
THE FORWARDFAMILIESWAY
FamiliesandProgramsActivitiesForwardLearningCenterprovides free education, social services and mental healthcare to low-income families with children from birth to five years old. Serving the Pasadena area since 1961, our services are based on a two-generation learning model that empowers both parents and children to gain knowledge and skills that improve outcomes for the entire family. In so doing, we ensure that children in our program are safe, healthy and developmentally on-track, while enhancing parents’ skills, literacy and self-sufficiency so that they can be active participants and advocates for their children’s education.
• 27% have less than a 9th grade education
• 60% are English language learners
POSITIVE IMPACT Engaging children and families in reading is key to literacy. Our Reading Buddies program was started on Zoom with volunteers reading to our children, going through a lesson plan and having fun with a project all related to the book being read. We will bring Reading Buddies on site two Saturdays a month for children and their parents. They’ll attend our popular Reading Buddies program and take home a copy of the featured book for their home library. Over the next year, we will be bringing back onsite volunteers, as well as a weekly father’s support group and free ESL courses through a partnership with PCC.
FAMILIES SERVED:
• 60% have had a reduction in earned income since the pandemic began
• 90% live at or below the federal poverty line
WHO WE SERVE Despite significant needs, families in the Northwest Pasadena area are often overlooked for vital services and support because the surrounding areas happen to be among the wealthier communities in Los Angeles County. The reality, however, is that families in our immediate service area are struggling.
GOALS Families Forward is built on two guiding principles: in order for significant, long-term change to occur within a family, you must reach both parent and child and educate them together; and, the most critical time to reach a family is when children are proven to be most vulnerable and impressionable, between birth and five years old.
• 36% of parents do not have a high school diploma
• 38% of families live in households shared with one or more other families
ADAPTING TO COVID-19 The pandemic has touched nearly all aspects of preschool. It has reshaped policies and practices, altered the delivery and content of professional development, and shaken families’ confidence about sending their kids to school. At Families Forward, we acted quickly to: • Move to virtual learning (then hybrid as time progressed) • Establish family engagement via Learning Genie • Provide tablets to remote learners • Furnish mobile hotspots as needed • Distribute learning kits • Weekly distribution of school lunches and snacks for distance learners • Expand essential health and wellness programs • Add more licensed clinical therapists • Offer vital assistance for urgent basic needs like food, clothing and shelter • Provide families with accurate, timely information on COVID-19 mitigation strategies and one-on-one assistance with accessing vaccines.
OUTCOMES Despite the pandemic, in the 2020 to 2021 program year, children and parents met or exceeded their learning benchmarks, demonstrating children’s readiness for school and parents’ ability to support their education, as well as their own personal development. • 90% of infants and toddlers demonstrated appropriate developmental growth • 100% of children entering kindergarten possessed school readiness skills • 80% of parents consistently participated in TwoGeneration Learning components, with • 100% increasing their capacity to support their children’s education and development • 100% engaged in literacy activities at home with their child • 75% improved their resiliency to stress LONGITUDINAL STUDY A five-year long RAND study found that third-grade alumni of Families Forward ECE program scored so high on English Language, Arts and Math standardized tests, they closed the learning gap between Latino and white students by almost 50%!
Mothers’ Club continues to grow and adds a Volunteer program. Volunteers are critical to augmenting our students’ experiences inside the classrooms.
One hot summer afternoon in 1961, Mara Moser strode confidently up the walk and knocked at the door of a Pasadena home in the poorest part of the city. Although Mara herself lived very simply in a small apartment not far away, she wasn’t used to destitution or disorder. But if she was nervous in this strange environment, given her own European upbringing, her small stature, and her nearly 75 years, she didn’t show it. Whatever reluctance she may have felt was overshadowed by her sense of mission and her commanding presence.
Mothers’ Club was started– a safe place where mothers and their children were able to share experiences across racial lines and build self-esteem.
1961
A co-op nursery school was opened focusing on diversity and parent engagement.
1970s
1980s
Mara’s lovable, benevolent and determined face gained her entry at the home of a mother with several children underfoot. Her husband had recently been sent to jail. Mara just wanted to know if she could be helpful. And so started a solo crusade of Mara reaching out to needy, lonely and often overwhelmed mothers in Pasadena to offer her help and support. Despite the tumultuous backdrop of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and antiwar protests, and the emerging “generation gap,” a group of mothers, from different backgrounds, ages, races and ethnicities, came together to form a community in which differences were as celebrated as similarities. Mara didn’t have much she could share financially from her small schoolteacher’s pension, but with the help of generous and caring support of the local church, Orange Grove Friends, Pacific Oaks, and many supporters and volunteers throughout the community, Mothers’ Club was born—a safe place where mothers and their children were able to share experiences across racial lines and build self-esteem. As Mothers’ Club continued to grow, the Mothers’ Club Cooperative Nursery School was established in the spring of 1970 which expanded enrollment to those families able to provide their time and resources and who desired an enriching, integrated learning environment for the early development of their children and their own continuing growth.
OUR STORY
2000s
1990s Mothers’ Club expands to reach more at-risk families in our state-of-the-art sustainable facility in Northwest Pasadena.
Mothers’ Club, which had grown to include families and children from Altadena and surrounding communities, became a haven for sharing hopes and dreams, wants and needs, and fears and joys that transcended any superficial differences.
Mother’s Club name changes to Families Forward Learning Center to better reflect our Two-Generation program that encompassed the whole family.
2010s
Taka Nomura, a preschool teacher at nearby Pacific Oaks, joined forces with Mara early on, and took over the Mothers’ Club reins upon Mara’s passing in 1968, following a one year battle with Takacancer.always felt that the youngest child should be engaged up to the limit of his or her capacity. She encouraged the mothers to talk to their children One mother complained, “What’s the use? My child is too young to understand.” But Taka asked her to experiment at home. Soon afterwards the mother returned to the Club to share her experience. She had been cooking and talking to her child in the kitchen of her home. Her husband in the living room had called out, “What’s all the chatting about?” “Taka told me we should talk to our children,” the mother replied. And they both noticed some progress in the child’s development. Maybe children understand more than we know. So just as “What would Mara do?” because a constant refrain from Mothers’ Club meetings, “Taka told me” became a watchword in many Pasadena households. By the 1980’s Mothers’ Club programs included offerings for mothers, fathers, infants, toddlers, three and four-year-olds, parent education, summer swimming and camping for the entire family, and professional counseling for mothers. Rei Osaki, president of the board of directors at the time, aptly summarized core tenets that apply to this day. “My most rewarding moments were with families of Mothers’ Club. The mothers who come ... are trying to do the best they can for their families in very difficult situations. I am full of admiration for them. With our love Mothers’ Club establishes the Two-Generation learning model that empowers both children and parents to gain knowledge and skills that improve outcomes for the entire family.
Taka’s guiding principle – to provide a safe and nurturing environment that promotes the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of young children while responding to the needs of families –endures to this day. And as we celebrate our 60th year, we know that Mara, Taka and all the mothers, fathers and children that have had their lives transformed since our inception, would be proud.
and support, they grow stronger and we all benefit. This is the task before us, to make it possible for families to grow stronger, to make friendships, to learn more about themselves and other people. This is what makes Mothers’ Club the unique place that it is and will continue to be.”
Fast forward. We have a permanent home, which opened in 2008, and name that now reflects the true depth and scope of our early childhood education programs and the positive impact we make for entire families.
ANDREVENUEEXPENSES Despite record profits during the pandemic, corporate philanthropy continues to decline nationwide. That notwithstanding, Families Forward made meaningful strides to improve corporate giving and successfully expanded individual donation programs, most recently culminating in our year-long 60th anniversary celebration.
POSITIONFINANCIAL Families Forward maintains a small reserve fund to offset capital expenditures for maintenance and pay for employee development, as well as cover expenses should awards promised be delayed due to grant cycles.
THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION ANN PEPPERS FOUNDATION ROTARY CLUB OF ALTADENA THE ATLAS FAMILY FOUNDATION THE EMANUEL BACHMANN FOUNDATION LOUIS L. BORICK FOUNDATION EDMUND AND MARGUERITE BURKE FOUNDATION THE CARL & ROBERTA DEUTSCH FOUNDATION FITZBERG GOODWINFOUNDATIONFAMILYMEMORIAL TRUST THE GREEN FOUNDATION CALLIE D. MCGRATH FOUNDATION NO KID HUNGRY PANDA CHARITABLE FAMILY FOUNDATION PASADENA CHILD HEALTH FOUNDATION PASADENA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION PASADENA SHOWCASE HOUSE FOR THE ARTS PATRON SAINTS FOUNDATION THEQUEENSCAREROSEHILLS FOUNDATION ROTARY CLUB OF SAN MARINO ETHEL J. SCANTLAND FOUNDATION THE MAYER FOUNDATION THE THEODORE J. FORSTMANN CHARITABLE TRUST TIKUN OLAM FOUNDATION TOGETHER TOWARD HEALTH YES, VIRGINIA FOUNDATION FOUNDATIONS Richard & Susan Biggar Judy & David Brown Richard & Vicki Childs John & Bonnie DeWitt Jason Freeland & Jennifer Levy Ellen & Harvey Knell Nurit & Ron Kotick Marla JenniferMatal&Shawn McCreight Judy & Stephen McDonald Margaret & David Mgrublian Norah Morley & Anthony Koerner Wendy Munger & Larry Gumport Sylvia & Benjamin Paz Jessica Sandoval Salazar & Romulo Salazar Marie Campbell, Sapphos Monica & John Shaffer Armineh & Ara Tavitian Julie & Scott Ward Randy & Judy Wilson Ruth Wolman John Zeutzius CIRCLE FRIENDSOF
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