<<  Back to Grants Email This      Printable Version   Education offers path out of poverty HIPPY is a catchy name that stands for an important concept – Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters.  As a partner in The Community Foundation’s focus on preparing young children for success in school, HIPPY works with parents in mostly rural areas of Walker and west Jefferson counties. “Education is the only ticket out of poverty,” said Susan Swartz of the RUSH Initiative, which coordinates this and other programs in the area. “But what seemed a simple concept has proved incredibly complicated as we began teasing out the threads of poverty.” Many parents do not have a good model from their own childhood, Swartz said. The HIPPY program uses neighborhood residents to go from home to home, teaching effective parenting skills. “We tell them, ‘you are your child’s first teacher, and the first school they attend is called home,’” she said.  “Fundamentally, this is about family.” Many of the residents have no positive pattern from their own families, she explained, so they have to learn basic skills in order to help their own children. Swartz recalled the words of one parent educator, who saw great results in her pre-schooler.  "I'm sorry we didn't know about this for my older kids," she said.  "Now my three-year-old knows more than his brother and sister."  With the help of the program, that mother is starting to do work at home with her elementary age son and daughter to supplement what they do in school.  Now all three children have the chance to break out of the cycle of poverty that prevents them from making the most of their opportunities to learn. Since its founding in 2001, the RUSH Initiative has worked to help children succeed in school, making their work in rural Walker and west Jefferson counties a natural partnership for The Community Foundation's focus on school readiness. "We operate in the nooks and crannies of neighborhoods that dot our community," Swartz said, "and we see how so many larger issues resonate with this.  The Community Foundation has helped us better understand how reality works (by reporting back on successes and failures)." In addition to the grant to support the HIPPY program, The Community Foundation has supported school-based medical clinics, a thrift store, job training and the work of an outreach director. Community Fund grant interest area:  Education Priority: Early care and education   RELATED ITEMS $133,000 in grants to boost community health Arts educate, inspire changes in prisoners Hope House offers one-stop shop for help   Email This      Printable Version