NEW YORK — Faithful Harmoni Harris attends Bronx Regional High School every day, where she learns emotional, motor and language skills. Royal is a little younger than the other students in her high school, in fact, she is only 2 years old.
That’s because Royal is part of New York City’s own program called LYFE (Living for Young Families Through Education). LYFE provides free early childhood education to parents of students attending public schools in the city. Royal’s mother, Honesty Melendez, 16, attends the high school in the same building where her daughter is studying.
LYFE is not new. With over 30 years of history, he has hosted over 300 young children at 31 centers across the city. But since its beginning as a childcare initiative for young mothers, LYFE has grown into an educational program that spans three generations, allowing authorities and professionals to help not only parents of students, but also their children and families. says.
“We became more than just babysitters,” says Mignon Callender, parent of a former LYFE student and current LYFE teacher. “We know we are teaching more than just the kids with this program.”
Some of the benefits of such programs for parents of students are obvious. Free child care makes it easier for children to stay in school and stay on track to graduate school. LYFE Centers have expanded their hours to allow students’ parents to participate in extracurricular activities and continue working.
But LYFE also offers other services. Parents of all students are connected with a social worker who helps them plan their course and think about their future. Social workers help other family members find jobs and deal with other issues. Experienced educators help students learn parenting skills. Special workshops and outings give students an idea of university and other graduate school opportunities.
And leaders say the program provides a judgment-free haven for students who often face prejudice.
“One of the things we don’t do is go in without preconceived notions of why families are here,” says James Williams, principal of the LYFE program. “They’ve been judged by a doctor. They’ve been judged by their bus driver, their friends, their parents. They won’t be judged by us.”
Melendez, Royal’s mother, said she sometimes feels judged by her peers, but the LYFE program has helped her focus on other priorities. Melendez didn’t know about the program at the time of her birth, and she often missed school to care for the baby. Now, her hopes are not only to graduate, but also to attend university and become a lawyer.
“I love being here. I love that they support not only the babies but also the parents,” Melendez says. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for the LYFE Center, I don’t think I would have made it to high school.”
For young children, the center is more than just a safe environment to play. This program aims to provide high-quality education to young children without income restrictions. (Programs like Early Head Start limit eligibility based on income and other factors, but in New York City, it serves 4-year-olds in preschool across the city.) In the classroom, a company called Teaching Strategies’ A teacher-led, project-based curriculum called The Creative Curriculum is used. , outline your goals and design your instructional plan.
Bronx Regional’s rooms are colorful and filled with learning tools such as water and sand tables and interactive areas for play and books. Children learn how to decorate trees and learn words about nature and camping.
“This work with children across the school system starts with the youngest learners,” said Kara Ahmed, currently the City’s Deputy Prime Minister for Early Childhood Education at the Ministry of Education and a former principal at LYFE. I’ll tell you. “LYFE has an amazing opportunity to start as young as six weeks.”
Teenage mothers and their children often face negative consequences as they grow older. However, this is not primarily due to the age of the parents when they have children, but rather to the fact that teenagers who have children are often from particularly disadvantaged social and economic positions. says Stephanie Molborn, a professor at Stockholm University. He is a research associate at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he studies adolescent health and development. For example, approximately 30 percent of parents of LYFE students live in temporary housing. And about half of the families in this program do not speak English as their first language.
Teenage parents begin to catch up with other children during the first few years of their child’s life, but the children themselves tend to start falling behind Molborn said it affects academic, cognitive, behavioral and health outcomes.
“By the time these children start kindergarten, they are already at a significant disadvantage, and when you look at the causes, chronic poverty is a big problem,” she says. “If a kindergarten or first grade student enters the school with a significant disadvantage, it can almost be game over. These disadvantages tend to snowball.”
However, Molborn’s research found that children whose teenage parents were able to maintain center-based care had better developmental outcomes than those who were not. According to city officials, approximately 90 percent of children in the LYFE program meet or exceed developmental outcome goals.
“Teen mothers and fathers have a strong desire to do the right thing for their children and give their children a really good life,” Molborn says. “These people can particularly benefit from early childhood education for their children.”
City officials say the LYFE program costs about $14 million a year to maintain.
Ayanna Brandt, who has a young son in the LYFE program, is currently not only a student but also an intern. She wants to pursue her career as an ultrasound technician.
“If it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t be in school as much as I am now,” she said. “And I would never have been able to accomplish as much as I have accomplished.”